Trade and geographical advantages are important but most important of all is a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit.

For example, Gu Rui is chief marketing officer of a startup that developed a camera application from scratch.

Within just four years, it has grown to be China's most popular camera app for smartphones. Of course, he experienced many setbacks in the process. But looking ahead, he is still not complacent. He said the biggest challenge for his company is to transfer the app from a "tool" to a "platform" that helps its users manage their photo albums and share photos with others, much like the Facebook's Instagram.

It is this unyielding spirit of entrepreneurship that kept his company, and this city, moving forward. It is the very spirit that the country needs to march to the next growth stage.