 SHANGHAI
BRIEF INTRODUCTION |
| SHANGHAI, the
name meaning "on the sea", lies at the gateway to the Yangtze River
on the middle of China's East Coast. Shanghai is situated at 31.14 degrees latitude
and 121.29 degrees longitude. A municipality directly under the administration
of the Central Government and an open city on the coast, Shanghai is the largest
economic and trade center, a comprehensive industrial base and the leading port
in China, as well as a famous historical and cultural city. Covering a total area
of 6,341 square kilometers, including 523 square kilometers for Pudong New Area,
Shanghai has a total population of more than 13 million (plus a mobile population
estimated to at least five million), of which around eight million live in the
city proper. |
| BEFORE the first
opium war 1842 Shanghai was only a small walled Chinese city known under the name
Hu or Shen around Yu Garden in Nanshi (Huangpu). Following the first opium war
when Britain, France and the USA set up the concession areas the city underwent
explosive development attracting Chinese workers from other parts of the country
and merchants, fortune hunters and adventurers from all corners of the world.
The large number of western style houses and buildings, especially on the Bund,
are a witness to this colonial era that lasted until the Communist revolution
in 1949. When we use the terms old house or old
property we refer to properties built before 1949. |
| TODAY Shanghai
is a modern metropolis "the New York City of China". Nowhere else in
the country can you feel the same pulse, dynamism and fervor. Across the Huangpu
River, which joins the Yangtze at Shanghai, the city's most important project
Pudong New Area, a 21st-century financial, economic and commercial center is being
built. Rising from land dominated just a few years ago by rice paddies, is the
Oriental Pearl TV Tower - a gaudy, flashing, spaceship-like pillar, the tallest
TV Tower in Asia. New shopping centers and malls pop up on every corner. |
| SHANGHAI's open
policy has also made the city a hot attraction for foreign enterprises. Shanghai
has now, as before the second world war, become home to tens of thousands of expatriates.
Foreign influence has made today's Shanghai a Chinese consumer heaven. Nanjing
Road known as "China's No. 1 Street", Huaihai Road, Sichuan Road, the
Yu Garden Shopping and Tourist Area and the Xujiajhui Commercial Center are arrayed
with rows upon rows of shops. Shanghai is also a paradise for gourmets. There
are thousands of restaurants serving China's 16 major styles of cooking including
Beijing, Sichuan, Guangdong, Yangzhou, Fujian cuisines. There are also French,
Russian, Italian, German, Japanese, Indian and other kinds of foreign-flavored
cuisines. In Shanghai you can have a taste of nearly all the different kinds of
food in the world. |
| SHANGHAI is
also a major tourist destination with a number of tourist attractions. The Bund,
Yu Garden, Jade Buddha Temple, and the ancient pagodas and temples of ancient
towns such as Longhua have always been major scenic spots in Shanghai. In addition,
there is a number of tourist attractions with modern flavor, like the Oriental
Pearl TV Tower, Jinmao Tower, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Library, Shanghai Stadium,
Shanghai Grand Theatre and the high speed Maglev magnetic railway. |
