Few would call China a model of unrestricted
capitalism. It’s internal financial and administrative openness has left quite a bit to be desired.

               So the new Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone is quite understandably turning a few heads.

               The free trade zone itself is hardly groundbreaking—if anything, it’s simply a “redistricting” of existing zones—but the broader implications behind it might be.

               Some see it as the first step in a plethora of long-desired financial, trade, and investment reforms. Banking, trade, and investment may gradually become more open and less regulated.

               Want a more tangible sign of what this all could means down the road? Just look at China’s formal lifting of bans on foreign video game sales.

               An alleged lifting of social media bans in the zone proved to be false, certainly to some disappointment within the city.

               But who knows? Perhaps things will continue to loosen up in Shanghai–and elsewhere.