Tania in China

Where am I? Shanghai

Here is a brief overview about Shanghai, again shamelessly stolen from wikipedia.org... From this map, Shanghai looks almost next to Nanjing. When you realize that the distance is a 3 1/2 hour train ride, you start to realize how big China really is!

Shanghai, situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the People's Republic of China and the eighth largest in the world.

The city has had various nicknames in English, including "Paris of the East", "Queen of the Orient", "Pearl of the Orient", and even "The Whore of Asia" (a reference to widespread corruption of vice, drugs, and prostitution in the 1920s and 1930s).

Shanghai spent most of it's history as a sleepy fishing village, until after the First Opium War when the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing saw a number of treaty ports, Shanghai included, opened for international trade. The importance of Shanghai grew radically as the city's strategic position at the mouth of the Yangtze River made it an ideal location for trade with the West. The city was divided into autonomous consessions administered concurrently by the British, French, and Americans. The consessions were all independent of Chinese law, and Chinese citizens were restricted from entering these sections of the city.

In the 1920s and 30s, Shanghai was the place to be - it had the best art, the greatest architecture, and the strongest business in Asia. With dance halls, brothels, glitzy restaurants, international clubs, and even a foreign-run racetrack, Shanghai was the city that catered to every whim of the rich.

During World War II most foreigners fled and the concessions ere ceded to the Japanese. After the war The Nationalists and the Communists fought a 3-year civil war for control of China, and in 1949 the Communist People's Republic of China was born and all remaining foreigners left the country. For the next 30 years the city slept, although it remained the largest contributor to the country's tax revenue.

After Richard Nixon visited China in 1972 and signed the Shanghai Communique, Shanghai led the way in normalizing relations with the outside world, as well as spearheading the concept of a socialist market economy.

Shanghai is often regarded as the center of finance and trade in mainland China. Shanghai is one of the world's busiest ports. In 2005, Shanghai ranked first of the world's busiest ports in terms of cargo throughput, handling a total of 443 million tons of cargo. The 2000 census put the population of Shanghai Municipality to 16.738 million, including the transient population, which made up 3.871 million. As in many other areas in China, Shanghai is undergoing a building boom, with 1/5 of all the building cranes in Asia currently being used in Shanghai.

Shanghai is split in two by the Huangpu River, with the older town on the west bank known as Puxi and the brash new development on the east side being Pudong. The major tourist areas are:

The Bund — the colonial riverside of old (and reborn) Shanghai, including the Yuyuan Gardens

French Concession — the leafy district once knows as the Paris of the East, including the refurbished shikumen houses of Xintiandi and the shopping district of Xujiahui

Nanjing Road — China's most famous shopping street, including People's Park and Jing'an

Pudong — the skyscraper-laden new financial and commercial district on the east bank of the river, identified by the architectural icon of Shanghai, the Oriental Pearl Tower. The spheres on and around the tower represent pearls, in reference to Shanghai's nickname, "The Pearl of the Orient".

My hotel was on Nanjing Road right next to the People's Park, about 6 blocks away from The Bund.

posted by Tania @ 6:10 PM