Established with the approval of Shanghai Municipal People's Government, SEC is an economic entity specializing in offering large-scale conference and exhibition services.

With its buildings completed in March 1955, SEC is the first ever site for conference and exhibition after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Over the past four decades or so, SEC has been the venue for quite a number of important political events and foreign affairs, where CCP leaders of the first, second and the third generation arrived to attend meetings and to meet scores of heads of states foreign countries. SEC is a center for important political, economic, science & technology and cultural activities.