SHANGHAI - Pudong today evokes ready images of glistening skyscrapers, financial and futures markets, and shipping giants - a global city for a globalized world.

But Zhao Qizheng still vividly remembers the time 20 years ago, when the country's financial center was a big patch of mostly barren land across the Huangpu River from The Bund.

Talking about his part at the start of the Pudong project, Zhao said he is filled with emotion even after two decades.