Top Ten Attractions
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The Bund
It means embankment and it was historically the seat of Shanghai's most powerful businessmen in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Bund is a fabulous place to see examples of Shanghai's rich architectural history, illustrated by the HSBC Building, built in 1923. http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/shanghai/sh...
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The Shanghai Museum
With eleven galleries and three exhibition halls, this is one of China’s finest showcases for its ancient art. http://www.shanghaimuseum.net
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Huangpu River Cruise
This offers some remarkable views of the Bund and the riverfront activity. Tour boats depart from docks on the Bund. http://www.china-cruise.com
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The Old Town
The most traditional area of Shanghai, which includes the Yuyuan Gardens and the surrounding traditional teahouses and bazaars. http://www.regenttour.com/chinaplanner/sha/sha-...
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Oriental Pearl TV Tower
The world’s third tallest, with a space-age design. Travel up and down in double-decker elevators.
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shan... -
The Jade Buddha Temple
The present temple dates from 1928 and contains two precious jade Buddha statues. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shan...
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Jin Mao Tower
The tallest building in China and third tallest in the world. It contains modern offices, a 5-star hotel, exhibition halls and an observation deck. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shan...
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The Parks
Nice places for a stroll, particularly in the early morning when the locals gather for exercises ranging from ballroom dancing to tai-chi.
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Nanjing Road
China’s premier shopping street, starting at the Bund in the east and ending in the west at the junction of Jingan Temple and Yan’an West Street.
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Tea
Take it Chinese-style at the quintessential teahouse of Mid-Lake outside the Yuyuan Gardens in Old Shanghai.
Eating and Drinking
Eating out in Shanghai is about more than the food. It’s a social occasion, a time when families get together and a major pastime of the city’s chic. While friends in the West might opt to go for a beer, the Shanghainese will choose a meal … punctuated with numerous shots of rice wine. One method of saying ‘How are you,’ (ni chifan le meiyou?) translates literally as ‘Have you eaten yet?’ Traditional Chinese cuisine is just one of the many you can sample in Shanghai. If you don’t want to make the effort to go to a restaurant, grab a bowl of noodles at one of the food stalls at the Bund and let the world pass by. Shanghai is famous for its exotic seafood: expect to see a lot of shrimps and crab. It’s also known for its sweetmeats, including pastries, rice cakes and fruit pies. Most top-end Chinese restaurants have some kind of English menu. In general, it’s best to eat in a group, as you’ll get a better variety of dishes. If you’re on a tight budget, it’s worth knowing that some of Shanghai’s most famous restaurants often have a cheaper, less fancy downstairs option serving snacks and less expensive main dishes. A word about table manners: many westerners struggle with chopsticks, with small and loose rice grains a particular menace. It’s perfectly acceptable to raise the rice bowl to your lips and shovel the elusive morsels into your mouth. Scraping and slurping are not considered impolite. Don’t, however, commit the faux pas of sticking your chopsticks vertically into your rice. This is said to resemble incense sticks in a bowl of ashes and is considered an omen of death.
Shopping
Shanghai is well known among Chinese as the place to shop. Ever since the 1930s, the city has held the cream of China’s department stores and today it’s rivalling Hong Kong as a shopper’s paradise. Bring some extra spending money – you’ll need it. The major shopping areas of Shanghai are Nanjing East Road, Huaihai Road, and Xujiahui. These three areas are all known for their mid-scale to high-class department stores and boutiques. Also, Shanghai offers two smaller clothing and souvenir markets: Xiangyang Market with its clothing deals (much like Silk Alley in Beijing), and Yuyuan Market with its folk atmosphere. Shanghai also has a few bird and flower markets that are worth a visit. Haggling over prices in the markets is all part of the shopping experience. Shopping in the Pudong area centres on the Super Brand Mall - Asia’s largest. Whatever it is you want you will find it here. There is a huge supermarket in the basement which offers great value food compared to the western options. There’s nothing particularly exciting or atmospheric about Super Brand Mall - you really could be in a mall anywhere - but it does its job well and if you tire of shopping, the fifth floor offers heaps of choice for places to eat and drink. Some even boast a great view over the Bund. Shanghai has some traditional arts and crafts to offer, including Chinese silk, gold and silver jewellery, rugs and tapestries, and jade and ivory carvings.
Night Life
Less than a century ago, Shanghai was the most notorious city in Asia, with a nightlife that rivalled that of Paris. Dubbed ‘the Whore of the Orient,’ old Shanghai presented countless opportunities for debauchery in its gambling dens, opium joints, rowdy nightclubs and glamorous theatres. After the Communists came to power in 1949, the city was cleaned up overnight; drugs and prostitution were ended by decree and entertainment was reduced to a few politically acceptable plays and dances. Until well into the 1990s, visitors retired to their hotels after dark unless they were part of a group tour going to see the Shanghai acrobats. In the last few years, however, the possibilities for an evening on the town have multiplied, and while Shanghai is still not quite in the same league as Hong Kong or Paris, it is fast becoming again a city that never sleeps.
Nightclubs and bars are booming, with joints opening and closing faster than night turns into day. Barflies now have a choice of everything from glamorous Art Deco lounges to the seediest watering hole, live rock and jazz can be heard into the wee hours (although 2am is the official closing hour), and the dance club scene now employs DJs, foreign and local, to keep the younger set raving. Check the entertainment listings in Shanghai Daily or the free English-language monthly papers for tourists and expatriates such as that's Shanghai (www.thatsshanghai.com), City Weekend (www.cityweekend.com.cn) or Shanghai Talk. Also for the latest club news and details of venues, check out www.smartshanghai.com.
