Superior business environment, high-quality government services, broad development prospects, beautiful environment and convenient transportation: almost every executive of US-funded enterprises had high praise for Shanghai’s Jing’an District when attending the opening ceremony of the Jing’an stop of the photo exhibition “Trans-Pacific Exchange and Cooperation – Shanghai Commemorates the 40th Anniversary of China-US Diplomatic Relations” on Oct. 22.

This year, the photo exhibition has been displayed in the Shanghai Municipal Archives on the Bund and in Houston, one of Shanghai's sister cities in the United States. It showcases the exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai and the US in various fields over the past 40 years. Now it has moved to Jing'an District since Oct. 22 with an added section specializing in Jing’an, and is set to last until Dec. 28.

Owen Messick, President of doTERRA China, stated in his speech on behalf of the corporate attendees that his company came to Shanghai from the US in 2014 and embarked on its splendid Asian journey in Jing’an, noting that “we have become one of the leading essential oil companies across the world, which vividly proves what a wise decision we made.”

“The continuously improving business environment here lays a good foundation for doTERRA to further grow,” the president added.

Mr. Messick is glad to have found that consumers have become more knowledgeable about essential oils over the past five years.“We have a database of over 650,000 customers and we do a lot of training, including online and offline, to help them how to use essential oils,” he said.

Owen Messick, President of doTERRA China, delivers a speech.

Messick also noted that about 93% of the consumption of essential oils happens in Europe and the U.S., while only about 6 or 7% of the consumption is in China. So he believes that the future is bright here.

It is worth mentioning that Messick himself moved to Shanghai in 2007 and won the Magnolia Silver Award in 2013 and the Magnolia Gold Award in 2016, conferred by the municipal government of Shanghai for his outstanding contributions to the city.

“Four decades ago, the leaders of China and the United States, acting in the fundamental interests of the two peoples, made the historic decision to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries, opening a brand new page in China-US relations,” Messick said, emphasizing that, “we believe the cooperation between the two sides should be mutually beneficial. doTERRA is willing to contribute more to promoting business cooperation between the two countries and improving people’s lives on both sides.”

Sha Hailin, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress and President of Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SPAFFC) talks with representatives from US-funded enterprises ahead of the exhibition’s opening ceremony.

When standing in the Jing'an District Cultural Center, which houses the exhibition, Coco Zhang, Vice President of External Affairs and Branding of Mary Kay China, happily recalled that when her company entered China in 1995, its first office space was located in this building. Since then, they have remained based in Jing'an and have owned their own office building since 2014.

“In 2014, another good and important news was that the sales volume of our China company ranked first across the world, surpassing the other 35 subsidiary corporations of Mary Kay, including that in its home country of the United States,” she added.

Zhang noted that with the continuous development of China, the beauty brand has also gone through three stages in the country, from initially bringing the American model, to gradually adapting to the local market. She cited an example that, “Chinese consumers especially like whitening and anti-aging products, so we have been strengthening the research and development in this area.” And now, the company appears to be in the third stage when Chinese experiences have been brought to inspire innovation in the US, she said.

Pfizer, one of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies, located its China Management Center in Jing'an in 2004, and then set up its research and development center in Zhangjiang. “Shanghai is our lucky place,” said Xi Qing, Vice President of Pfizer Investment Co., Ltd.

He noted that cardio-cerebrovascular (heart, brain and body tissue) diseases have the highest mortality rates in China. In addition to making efforts on developing related drugs, Pfizer has been working with government departments, industry associations, hospitals and other professional institutions to carry out their project “Bending the Curve”.

The project is aimed at curbing the high incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases through multiple measures such as helping patients develop a healthy lifestyle, improving rescue efficiency and so on. “In Europe and the US, the “turning point”[in fighting these diseases] appeared as early as the 1970s and 1980s,” he said.

Pfizer’s China headquarters was registered in Jing’an when it entered China 30 years ago. Xi appreciated the district government’s proactive and warmhearted services to enterprises, exemplifying that, “A few years ago, Pfizer announced an important internal structural adjustment, and the next day Jing’an’s relevant department came to visit us, taking the initiative to know about our needs and provide help.”

Sha Hailin, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress and President of Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SPAFFC), visits the Jing’an exhibition with Chinese and foreign guests.

"I was deeply impressed by the high-quality and efficient service of Shanghai and Jing'an. We obviously feel that the business environment in Shanghai has been significantly optimized, the service level has been continuously improved, and the degree of openness has continued to expand,” stated Julio Gay-Ger, President and General Manager of Lilly China.

The year of 2018 was the 40th anniversary of China's Reform and Opening Up, which also coincided with the 100th anniversary of Lilly's entry into China. Lilly China Innovation and Partnerships was established in Shanghai in the same year, opening a new chapter in the collaboration with local pharmaceutical companies to research and develop innovative drugs.

"It took only 57 days for Lilly's latest diabetes biopharmaceutical product, Trulicity®, and 49 days for their rheumatoid arthritis product Olumiant®, to be launched in China. The speed created a new record for Lilly’s new product launch in China since its first entry into China in 1918, which gives me a new understanding of 'Shanghai Speed'," said the president, adding that, "these living examples reflect Shanghai’s opening-up expansion and service improvement, which creates a new environment and new opportunities for Lilly’s development in China and deeply impresses me."

Yu Yong, Deputy Secretary of CPC Jing'an District Committee and District Mayor, delivers a speech.

Yu Yong, Deputy Secretary of CPC Jing'an District Committee and District Mayor, said at the opening ceremony that as an important window of Shanghai's foreign exchanges and one of the most internationalized districts in Shanghai, Jing'an has been deepening its exchanges and friendship with the US, with cooperation results constantly emerging.

Especially in the economic and trade field, as Yu said, a number of well-known American enterprises, including doTERRA, Pfizer, Kohler, and Kenna, have been rooted in Jing'an for many years. They have not only achieved their own high-speed development, but also provided important support for Jing'an's economic agglomeration and high-quality development.

Jing Ying, Vice President of Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SPAFFC), delivers a speech.

Jing Ying, Vice President of Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SPAFFC), noted that since China and the United States established diplomatic ties 40 years ago, people-to-people exchanges and cooperation have always been the springhead for the development of relations between both countries.

At present, many US-funded enterprises are gearing up with confidence for the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) slated for November in Shanghai.

Owen Messick, President of doTERRA China, said that the company took part in the first CIIE with a small booth since they didn’t know about it before, adding that, “We were wowed at the first expo. It was huge and great. It gave us a lot of confidence. So this year we upgraded the booth to over 100 square meters with a nice design. I think it will be very exciting.”

Pfizer and Lilly will participate in the CIIE for the first time. Pfizer will conduct an all-round display, including innovative drugs and featured projects in its 600-square-meter booth while Lilly will introduce to China its globally innovative new drugs such as Trulicity® for treating diabetes and Taltz® for treating psoriasis.

The photo exhibition also drew many foreign college students studying in Shanghai. Nicholas Jarrett, a freshman at Shanghai New York University comes from Jacksonville, the largest city in Florida. He thought the exhibition was interesting and exciting, providing him with a better understanding of China, Shanghai, and the history of China-US exchanges.

California girl Anna is studying at Fudan University after arriving in Shanghai two months ago. She has a nice Chinese name, Gu Zhiqing. Shanghainese are very friendly and patient to newcomers, said the girl, explaining that when faced with a language barrier, locals talk with her little by little in Chinese, English and even sign language, which makes her feel very warm.

Anastasia, studying at East China University of Science and Technology, is a Russian girl who has been living in Shanghai for three years. This was her first visit to the Jing'an District Cultural Center. She liked the layout and design of the photo exhibition and was deeply impressed by the Shanghai stories therein.

Some of the foreign students pose for a photo in front of a display board of the Jing’an exhibition.

The opening ceremony was also attended by Deputy District Mayor Zhou Haiying, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Archives Cai Jiwan, Executive Director of Shanghai Institute of American Studies Hu Hua, officials of the Consulate General of the United States, and American business representatives.

The Jing’an exhibition was co-hosted by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Shanghai Municipal Archives, the Information Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, Jing'an District Government, Shanghai Institute of International Studies and Eastday, and organized by the Foreign Affairs Office of Jing’an District Government, the Culture and Tourism Administration of Jing’an District, Shanghai Institute of American Studies and the Editorial Department of Shanghai Foreign Affairs.

Video and Story by Wang Jiaye

Photos by Ni Dengjie