Sexy Shanghai

On the sea...

Shanghai is modern China's largest metropolis and one of the greatest cities of the 21st century. Like any great city, it is many things to many people—c.f. its old nicknames "Paris of the East" and "Whore of the Orient". A young city in Chinese terms, you won't find it on any map of antiquity—simply because the land which Shanghai occupies, just south of the mouth of the mighty Yangtze river, was still below sea level two thousand years ago! A sleepy fishing village for hundreds of years, Shanghai really took off after the First Opium War in the mid 1800s, when it was opened to foreign trade as a treaty port. The British, American, and French, and later the Japanese, came and settled in their respective concessions, and commerce boomed. As a free city, Shanghai provided shelter to fleeing white Russians in the late 1910s and persecuted Jews in the 1930s, becoming one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. In the 1920s and 1930s, the city became a magnet for tycoons, gangsters, opportunists, and dreamers. Fortune magazine, in 1935, called it the inheritor of ancient Baghdad, pre-War Constantinople, 19th century London and 20th century Manhattan—high praise indeed. The party was halted in 1949, when the Communists took control (an event which, incidentally, triggered the largest capital flight in the world; its beneficiary: Hong Kong). In Maoist China, Shanghai had to play second fiddle to Beijing, but even then it occasionally occupied centre stage in shaping the course of modern Chinese history. The notorious Gang of Four who orchestrated the Cultural Revolution, for example, operated out of the city. Shanghai missed out during the early liberalisation of the Chinese economy post-Mao, when attention was concentrated on the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian. Since the 1990s, however, Shanghai is rising again. A whole new city of skyscrapers has been built in its Pudong district. The Shanghainese are the most dynamic of Chinese and they provide the largest tax contribution to the central government. And the foreigners, from other parts of Asia, Europe and America, are pouring in to catch a slice of the action, creating an intoxicating atmosphere of energy and possibility.

Quick Tips:

Fasten your seat belts...

Shanghai is one of my favourite cities in the world and certainly my favourite Chinese city. Yes, like any megacity, it can be crowded and noisy and polluted, but it remains the most cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and progressive city in mainland China. Shanghai is a good place to visit if you want to catch a feel/glimpse of the future of China. Other than a few sightseeing highlights, the main draws are eating/drinking, shopping and people watching - similar to highlights of a visit to, say, New York or London. It is also a good base to explore the more rural and classical sights of nearby Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Don't come to Shanghai expecting a thoroughly "Chinese" experience (whatever that may be)—this is, after all, the most "Westernised" of mainland cities. Do come, however, and let yourself be sucked into its pulsating energy...

Sightseeing highlights:
1. The Bund
2. Shanghai Museum
3. Yu Gardens and Bazaar
4. Oriental Pearl TV Tower
5. Xintiandi
6. Dongtai Road Antiques Market
7. Shanghai Art Museum
8. Jing'an Temple
9. Jade Buddha Temple
10. Longhua Temple and Pagoda.

Favourite things to do:
1. Dining, late-night drinking and people watching in Xintiandi
2. Browsing for gifts in Yu Bazaar and Dongtai Road Market
3. Drinks at Cloud 9 at Grand Hyatt Pudong, the highest hotel bar in the world
4. A cruise on the Huangpu river to the Yangtze
5. A night-time stroll along the Bund and neon-lit Nanjing East Road.

Best Way To Get Around:

Central Shanghai is relatively compact, and you can walk easily between the Bund, Nanjing East Road, People's Square and the Old City (Nan Shi), where most of the sights are located. The metro system is clean, efficient, air-conditioned, and cheap; tickets cost between RMB3 and RMB6 depending on distance. Taxis are also easy to hail in Shanghai—they are affordable compared to taxis in other major cities, with fares starting at RMB11. Shanghai taxi drivers are generally more professional than those in Beijing and elsewhere in China. You can buy a stored-value travel card for use on the metro, buses and taxis—a returnable deposit of RMB30 is payable.

If you visit only one museum in China, make it this one. Although its collection cannot rival that of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, it is nonetheless very impressive—it has the largest collection of ancient Chinese bronze artifacts, for example. Exhibits are arranged by material, rather than dynasty, which is slightly unusual for a Chinese museum, but in fact aids understanding and appreciation. There are 4 to 5 floors of state-of-the-art galleries, and clear explanations/signs in Chinese and English. The attached gift shop is also very good, with a wide selection of books, in Chinese and English, on Chinese art, architecture, and history. The building itself, on People's Square, is designed to resemble an ancient Chinese bronze vessel, the ding.

The Bund, along the Huangpu river, is the quintessential Shanghai sight. Its name is derived from the Hindi word "band", meaning embankment, and strung along it are a series of colossal Art Deco buildings, mainly dating from the first 4 decades of the 20th century. These were in the past headquarters of multinational banks and companies, testifying to Shanghai's status as a global financial and trading centre in the inter-war years. A good place to "take in" the Bund is actually from the other side of the river, in Lujiazui, Pudong. The best time for photos is in the morning, when the sun is behind you. After you've satisfied yourself gazing at the Bund from afar, you can cross the Huangpu by the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, which takes you to the northern end of the Bund. You might seeing elderly Shanghai residents practising qigong very early in the morning here. Most visitors on Bund-side are drawn to the modern skyline of Pudong to the east, but don't forget to take a look at the matronly buildings behind you. Some of these still house banks and offices, and some have been converted to high-end retail spaces. The former HSBC headquarter, at no 12, is worth popping into (it is now an office building with a branch of the Pudong Development Bank on the ground floor). Just inside the main entrance are original mosaics depicting the world's leading banking centres, and you'll find Shanghai's rightful place alongside New York, London and Tokyo. The main entrance is framed by two bronze lions - these are replicas and the originals are now in the Shanghai History Museum. The Bund is also a good place for a stroll after dark, when the buildings are brilliantly lit up.

Yu Garden is a 5-acre green sanctuary in the midst of Nan Shi, the old Chinese quarter of Shanghai. It's still a relative sanctuary, if you can ignore the inevitable masses of tourists. Originally built in the 16th century, it has been restored numerous times and consists of a series of inter-connected open spaces, typically centred on a hall or pavilion. It is a good place for a stroll away from traffic fumes. A bit of trivia: the Exquisite Jade Rock in the garden was originally destined for Beijing but didn't get beyond the Huangpu river bed—it was fished out centuries later. Yu Garden is open daily between 8:30am and 5pm, and there is an entrance fee.

Shikumen (literally meaning "stone-framed door") houses are unique to Shanghai, and sadly disappearing all too fast in the face of rampant development. Developed in the early 1900s to meet the housing demands of booming old Shanghai, they are urban Western adaptations of traditional Chinese courtyards. Behind the stone-frame front door of a shikumen house lies a small courtyard, which is itself enclosed on the other sides by the building of the house.

Xintiandi (literally meaning "new heaven and earth") is an area south of Huaihai Zhong Lu where two blocks of old shikumen houses have been restored and renovated to house upscale bars, restaurants and shops. It is now a firm favourite hang-out place among visitors and locals alike.

One of these shikumen houses has been preserved as a museum, the Shikumen Open House. You can wander through the re-created rooms of a typical shikumen house, and there are anecdotal explanations in English and Chinese of life in old Shanghai. There is also a small exhibition of the development of Xintiandi. Entry fee is somewhat steep at RMB20. Open daily 1000-2200.

Shanghai's Urban Planning Exhibition Centre, located on the northern side of People's Square (Ren Min Guang Chang) by People's Avenue (Ren Min Da Dao), is actually not a bad place to start your visit to Shanghai. The centre showcases the architectural history and future of the city. There are faded photographs and maps of old Shanghai, as well as exhibits on the future urban structure of the megacity. The exhibition is quite extensive, covering not just the development of commercial Pudong, but also outlying satellite towns and issues involved in managing the growth of a city of Shanghai's scale. The highlight is a model of the city envisioned in 2020, which occupies a whole floor and which can be viewed at eye level or from above. Entry fee is RMB30.

468 metres high, futuristic and pink, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower - third highest in the world - is an unmistakable Shanghai landmark. The building was designed to evoke a series of different-sized pearls (the spheres) falling onto a jade plate (the base), famous lines from a Song dynasty poem on the pleasurable sounds of a Chinese musical instrument. The upper sphere observatory has panoramic 360 degrees views of the city - you can see as far as the Yangtze river! There is also a revolving restaurant, though I've never tried it out.

Admission charge is RMB100. Open daily from 9am to 9pm.