Shanghai(780 views)

Release date:2009-08-24 15:43:00

Shanghai, the Paris of the Orient, is perhaps China's most enigmatic city. It is also China's most modern city, with high-rise office blocks, luxury shopping malls and haute-cuisine restaurants jostling for position with the historic Bund and the older sections of the city.

The Bund, with its iconic German architecture, trendy bars for high-flying jet-setters, and great river views is of course a must-see, but the People's Square is worth a trip too, as it contains all kinds of museums and art galleries. The Shanghai Museum houses some truly fantastic ancient coin and traditional seal displays, and the more modern Shanghai urban planning museum, although not very dynamically named, is an interesting place to have a look around too. Despite all the glitz and glamour, peace and serenity can be found in the middle of this metropolis, at the Shanghai City God temple. Here Daoist priests go about their daily duties, performing esoteric rituals and playing traditional music. the monks regularly hold performances and it's definitely worth catching this piece of ancient Chinese tradition whilst you're in the city.

Nanjing Road is touted as Shanghai's shopping centre, although here you'll find mostly clothing shops, all the major brands are represented. Those on the look out for a bargain should try some of the smaller markets where haggling is absolutely essential. For more Chinese-style knick-naks, 'old Shanghai' and Mao memorabilia, you can try the old town, which still preserves some of Shanghai's more traditional, poorer housing. Walking round these narrow alleyways, listening to the oldsters playing mahjong or taking in the smell of the smoked fish and cured meats being sold on the sidestreets, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in some other city altogether. Look up however, and the skyscrapers still dominate the skyline above the tiled eaves of the old-town streets.

The major draw of Shanghai, aside from the shopping, is its hedonistic, decadent lifestyle. All manner of bars, from seedy dirt-cheap dives (if you like that kind of thing), to German beer halls and even Russian vodka ice bars can be found in this city, and all kind of restaurants too.

Shanghai's transport hubs are some of the best in the world. Shanghai's two airports, Hongqiao and Pudong, are both out of the city centre, Pudong in the newly developed Pudong district is mainly an international travel hub, serviced by the world's fastest train - the Maglev - which is worth a ride even if you don't want to catch a plane. Hongqiao is a slightly older airport that is used mostly for domestic flights to other Chinese cities. The newly built Shanghai South railway station is a masterpiece of modern design, circular in shape, and somewhat reminiscent of a spaceship, it allows easy and quick access to all trains by means of a circumnavigable donut-ring, with all platform entrances in the centre.

In some places in China, people will stop and point at foreigners. But not Shanghai, for this is a metropolitan, cultural centre, where east meets west.

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