About Shanghai

Shanghai is China’s second city with almost 25 million inhabitants but it was the most prosperous city in the Far East up until the Second World War and has remained China’s most developed city and has seen further economic growth over the past two decades and heightened its international position further in 2010 by hosting the World Expo and recorded the greatest ever number of visitors to the event. Shanghai is the face of modern China and has a fast-paced energy and sophistication making it hugely attractive to international visitors. The city is split in two by the Huangpu River and Puxi on the West Bank is home to the older city centre with the Bund being its colonial riverside which traditionally housed the city’s financial institutions and trading houses whilst the futuristic skyline of the Pudong is on the East Bank and is now the hub of commerce and finance, along with a number of museums and shopping and entertainment facilities, serving the visitors coming in to Pudong International airport. Back on the West Bank, further along from the Bund is the Old City where much of the old wooden architecture of Shanghai is still prevalent and is also home to a number of historic attractions including Yu Garden, the City God Temple and Huxingting Tea House. Further along still is Huangpu which is the traditional centre of Shanghai and includes the main people-watching spot of the city, People’s Square and People’s Park, the Shanghai Museum, City Hall and Shanghai’s largest metro station underneath the huge East Nanjing Road shopping Mall.