Located at the center of the mainland's coastline, Shanghai has been a major hub of communications, transportation, and international exchange for a long time. It is also a tourist resort renowned for the Oriental Pearl Tower, and its new reputation as a cosmopolitan center of culture and design. It has a rich collection of buildings and structures of various architectural styles. It’s mixed by western and eastern, modern and contemporary.
The well-known Bund is a must for visitors to Shanghai. Fifty-two buildings lining the narrow shoreline of the Huangpu River offer a living exhibition of Gothic, Baroque, Roman, Classic Revival and Renaissance architectural styles, as well as combinations of Chinese and Western styles.
They are also a condensation of the recent history of the city. The wide embankment offers ample room for strolling and is used by locals for morning exercises and evening gatherings. In the evening, colorful illuminate the area and create a shimmering image deserving of the name Pearl of the Orient.
The Orient Pearl TV Tower is 468 meters high, the tallest in Asia and third tallest in the world. It faces the Bund across the Huangpu River. When viewed from the Bund, the tower and the Nanpu and Yangpu bridges create a vivid imagery known as “two dragons playing with a pearl”. The sphere at the top has a diameter of 45 meters and is 263 meters above ground. The observation deck in the sphere offers a sweeping view of the city. The tower integrates broadcasting technologies with sightseeing, catering, shopping, amusement, and accommodations. It has becomes the symbol of the city and a major tourist destination.
Nanjing Road, honored as “China’s No. 1 Street”, has become an all-weather pedestrian arcade. Shops and restaurants provide products and services with their own characteristics, making it a paradise that integrates shopping, restaurants, amusement and sightseeing.
Xin Tian Di has becomes an urban tourist attraction that holds the historical and cultural legacies of the city. It is a fashionable pedestrian street composed of Shikumen and modern architecture style.
People’s Square has becomes the political and cultural center in Shanghai since 1994, when it was rebuilt. In and around the square are a massive fountain named the Light of Huangpu River, 10,000 square meters of the lawns, six groups of relief carvings that depict the history of Shanghai, the New Shanghai Museum, the offices of the municipal government, an underground shopping plaza, the Shanghai Grand Theater and the Shanghai Exhibition Center.
Shanghai Maglev Train is notable for being the first commercial high-speed maglev line in the world. It can reach 500 kilometers per hour or more, is the world’s fastest transportation tool in the ground.
