The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and Shanghai Hengshan (Group) Corp. officially sign the Astor House Hotel Lease Contract on December 29, 2017. The signing aims at offering a venue for the capital market series exhibitions in 2018, and Astor House Hotel is to be used as the SSE’s investor education base and the cultural exhibition and exchange base of international exchanges. Among those attending the signing ceremony include SSE Party Chief and Chairman Wu Qing, President Huang Hongyuan, Vice Chairman Zhang Dongke and Vice President Xu Yilin, as well as Party Chief and President Lu Yang, Vice President Xiong Kai of Hengshan Group and chiefs of relevant departments (subsidiaries) of the group.
Wu said at the signing ceremony that Astor House Hotel represents a century-old memory, and it not only concentrates the development and changes of modern and contemporary Chinese history and culture, but also witnesses the birth and growth of the Chinese capital market after the implementation of the opening-up policy. At the sprint period of building Shanghai into an international financial center, the SSE forms a tie with Astor House Hotel after 20 years, which is of great significance as it represents the advanced socialist culture’s spirit of not forgetting the essence, assimilating the exotic and embracing the future and is a kind of inheritance and continuity of history and culture and also a kind of upgrading and promotion of cultural value. History will be collected here, and exhibited here. As an investor education base and an international culture exhibition base, it will further display the cultural value of historical buildings, be endowed with new historical mission and vitality in the new era, and assist in constructing an international cultural metropolis in Shanghai.
As included in the 3rd batch of outstanding historical buildings under the 2nd-level protection of Shanghai, Astor House Hotel is of significant historical and cultural value, and also has a long-standing and well-established relationship with the SSE: the hotel is the SSE’s business place at its initial founding. On December 19, 1990, the SSE rang the 1st trading gong in the Peacock Hall of Astor House Hotel, marking its official opening. In the 7 years afterwards, the SSE has experienced rapid development, developed a national market with certain scale and also a safe and efficient operation system, and made achievements of world interest.
To better reflect the historical achievements over the 40 years since the implementation of the opening-up policy, demonstrate the development progress of the capital market, publicize the capital market’s efforts on serving the Belt and Road initiative, promote the exchange and cooperation among all capital markets in the world, and contribute to building Shanghai into an international financial center, the SSE is now preparing for an exhibition showing the development and achievements of the Chinese capital market since the implementation of the opening-up policy, an exhibition showing the culture of exchanges along the “Belt and Road”, and the Shanghai Financial Culture Corridor. These exhibitions will be displayed to the public in Astor House Hotel in 2018.
Meanwhile, to better carry out the exchanges on financial and securities culture, the exhibition on capital market’s history and culture, and other relevant social activities, the SSE is setting about to establish the Shanghai Financial Culture Development Foundation, whose office place will be set in Astor House Hotel.
In addition, to strengthen the efforts on investor education and enhance the investor education level, the SSE has made Astor House Hotel the newly investor education base, thus strengthening the education on the popularization of financial and securities knowledge and the development and history of the capital market.
The SSE will not change the original appearance of Astor House Hotel during the renting and will, under the supervision and guidance of the Cultural Relics Management Department and the design and planning of relevant domestic and foreign historical building protection experts, effectively display the use function of this historical building, reserve the urban culture gene, and continue the urban historical context under the premise of maximally protecting and maintaining it.