To allay the effect of the international financial crisis on China’s economic development mode, China must move from the first wave of economic globalization, which is characterized by export orientation, to the second wave of economic globalization characterized by expanding domestic demand in the global rebalancing process. Enhancing the level of opening up in the Yangtze River Delta on the condition of expanding domestic demand means that the region must move its industrial focus from manufacturing to services, and also promote the globalization of the local service industry on the basis of the globalized local manufacturing industry. For opening up under the new condition, the Yangtze River Delta should stay with its own strategic positioning, take the lead in realizing modernization, construct a support system for the innovation-based economy development in this region, promote its movement of focus from manufacturing to the innovation and entrepreneurship of emerging industries, and develop a service-dominant modern industry system. We should fully understand that the key to economic transformation and upgrading is first developing the modern service industry. We should adhere to the general and solution-based thinking that only by transforming the development mode of the service industry in the first place can we effectively promote economic transformation and upgrading. We should continue, therefore, to promote industrial transformation and upgrading through further urbanization, promote the transformation of the medium-low-tech industry in the Yangtze River Delta from “massive economy” to modern industrial clusters, and fulfill the cluster development of the high-tech industry. Meanwhile, at the institutional level, we should modify the existing cadre performance evaluation objectives, guide the government to shift its goal from simply boosting GDP growth to promoting high-quality and harmonious economic growth through introducing various indicators, and thus finally provide system guarantees for the transformation and upgrading of the Yangtze River Delta.
