Sunday, October 14th, 2007
The Bund, also called the Zhongshan Road, is a famous waterfront and regarded as the symbol of Shanghai for hundreds of years. It starts from the Baidu Bridge, which is at the connecting point of the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Creek, to the East Jinling Road and winds a 1500 meters (less than one mile) length. Walking along The Bund, which is at the west shore of the Huangpu River, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower can be seen on the opposite side and also the Jin Mao Tower.Being one of the Top Ten Shanghai Attractions, The Bund is a really beautiful and special place which is worth visiting. The newly-built Flood Control Bank takes the function of preventing the oversize flood; the square with the statue of Marshal Chen Yi is an open air podium which gives new views of the Shanghai Plaza Culture; the Cenotaph which stands on the man-made island is a monument of people’s heroes; the riverside greenbelt, the Electronic Waterfall Bell, and the Great Mural Carving are all representatives of The Bund.
As you walk through Shanghai, it may feel as though you are entering a fair of world architecture or an art gallery of human civilization. In fact, Shanghai is unique among world cities in its variety of architectural styles. This variety reflects the wisdom and efforts of architects, engineers, and workers–both foreign and domestic–and is a precious legacy to the world.
Take a walk along The Bund (Zhongshan Road), once the most famous street in Asia. It is a tree-lined promenade along the Huangpu River. The major firms of the Far East had their headquarters in the buildings facing the river. First among them is the former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, which after 1949 was used as the city Communist Party Headquarters. It is now the home of the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. One of the conditions for the bank to move to this building was that they restore it to its original grandeur, which apparently was quite grand. (Note that in 1992 the waterfront was raised for anti-flooding purposes and to provide more room for visitors to take photographs of each other!)
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Sunday, October 14th, 2007
Shanghai is split in two by the Huangpu River (黄浦江 huángpǔ jiāng), with the older town on the west bank known as Puxi (浦西 pǔ xī) and the brash new development on the east side being Pudong (浦东 pǔdōng).
Areas within Puxi:
- The Bund (外滩 wàitān) - the colonial riverside of old (and reborn) Shanghai, including the Yuyuan Gardens (豫园 yùyuán)
- French Concession - the leafy district once known as the Paris of the East, including the refurbished shikumen houses of Xintiandi
- Xujiahui - Southwest part of Shanghai
- Gubei - Close to the Hongqiao airport, a Carrefour, and with a large expat population
- Nanjing Road - China’s most famous shopping street, leading to People’s Park (人民公园 rénmín gōngyuán) and Jing’an (静安 jìng ān)
- Hongkou (虹口 hóngkǒu) - home of Fudan and Tongji university, plus a park and museum for famed writer Lu Xun.
- Yangpu (杨浦 yángpǔ) - contains the excellent and spacious gongqing forest park (共青森林公园 gòngqīng sēnlín gōngyuán)
and across the river:
- Pudong - the skyscraper-laden new financial and commercial district on the east bank of the river
Outlying districts:
- 嘉定 - Jiādìng
- 青浦 - Qīngpǔ
- 金山 - Jīnshān
- 南汇 - Nánhuì
- 松江 - Sōngjiāng
- 宝山 - Bǎoshān
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Sunday, October 14th, 2007
Shanghai, also named “Hu” or “Shen” in short, is situated at 31″14′ north latitude and 121″29′ east longitude, and in the middle of China’s east coastline. It occupies a total area of 6,341sq.km. (of which Pudong new Area occupies 523sq.km.), with a total resident population of 16,000,000. It has a pleasant climate, with four distinct seasons. The average temperature is around 18oC and the annual precipitation is 1,240mm.
Shanghai, an open city on the coast and a famous historical and cultural city, is a gate to the Yangtze River delta. It is a municipality under the direct jurisdiction of the Central Government, the largest economic and trade center, a comprehensive industrial base and the leading port in China.
Shanghai is well known in the world not only for its prosperous cosmopolitan feature but also for its rich humanistic resources. In recent years, a number of modem buildings have been added to the city, such as the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Library, Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Shanghai Circus City, Shanghai City-Planning Exhibition Hall and Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai Science & Technology Museum. They have become new scenic sights in Shanghai. Colorful festivities, like Shanghai Tourism Festival and Shanghai China International Art Festival, have attracted an increasing number of tourists from home and overseas.
Shanghai’s tourist infrastructure is getting more and more accomplished. By the end of 2002, there were 40 international travel services, 524 domestic travel services and 300 star-rated hotels with about 50,000 rooms. Shanghai is an ideal “paradise for shoppers”. There are commercial streets and shopping areas like the famous Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall, Huaihai Road, Sichuan Bei Road, Yuyuan Commercial and Tourist Area, the Ever Bright Commercial City, Xujiahui Commercial City and Zhangyang Road Commercial City in Pudong. There, shops stand rows upon rows with large collections of beautiful commodities, meeting the needs of tourists of different levels. Shanghai is also the paradise for gourmets. There are over a thousand restaurants serving the 16 different styles of food in China, such as the Beijing, Sichuan, Guangdong, Yangzhou, Fujian, etc. There are Western restaurants serving French, Russian, Italian, English, German, Japanese and Indian food and also Muslim and vegetarian food. In Shanghai, one can have a taste of all the delicacies in the world. Shanghai is well developed in communications by land, water and air. There are over 40 Chinese and foreign air companies opening about 300 air routes dispatching from Shanghai. Shanghai Railway Station dispatches everyday 80 pairs of trains back and forth from Shanghai. There are the Shanghai-Nanjing, Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Freeways. The Pudong International Airport has opened for traffic. Its annual passenger transport volume will be 20,000,000 person/times. Plus that of the Hongqiao International Airport, it will be 30,000,000 person/times. Subways No.1 and 2 and the light-rail first phase project are in operation. Together with the 10 special tour bus lines connecting Shanghai with neighbouring tourist areas, they will render faster service and more convenience in urban communications to tourists. Recently, the magnetic buoyant train has been opened to the public. It offers travelers a zero height of flight at 430 km/hr.
On Dec. 3, 2002, Shanghai succeeded in winning the bid for the sponsorship of World Expo 2010. The world has given China a share of luck and Shanghai will add more splendor to the world Shanghai is ushering in excellent opportunities for development. People of Shanghai warmly welcome visitors from home and overseas.
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