Shanghai - The Paris of the East

Prior to the arrival of communism in 1949, Shanghai was a city with European-style mansions and was the most important trading post in Asia. We observed a blend of cultures; the modern and the traditional, along with the European and Oriental. Modern skyscrapers and towers intermingle with 1920s 'Shikumen' buildings.

Our hotel was close to the Shanghai Railway Station, which was fortuitous as we had some time to kill prior to formally joining the others on our tour. Easily navigating the metro, we arrived in the People's Park area for shopping and sight-seeing.

Nanjing Road, east of People's Park, is a dedicated commercial zone and pedestrian mall (see below). It forms the world's longest shopping district, around 5.5km long, and attracts over 1 million visitors daily.

Now formally on our tour, we view the superb antiquities and fine arts at the Shanghai Museum, which has eleven permanent galleries and three temporary exhibition halls. As a teaser to entice further study and a personal visit, a fine example of carved jade is shown (below left) from the jade gallery, and some colourful costumes and adornments (below right) from the national minorities gallery.

Xintiandi was once a dilapidated strip of 'Shikumen' buildings, a mixture of English-styled terraces and traditional Chinese courtyard houses. Unique to Shanghai, they were originally designed for the many Chinese workers that flooded the city in the early 1900s. The area was later purchased by Jackie Chan (film star) who restored the buildings, some of which are featured below.

The historical riverfront area, known as The Bund, is recognised as Shanghai's former 'Wall Street' and home to an impressive collection of buildings, from the early trade houses of the 1850s to the glamorous Art Deco modernism of the 1920s. It runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River and features many famous buildings, including the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank with its distinctive dome (behind the bull in the photo below left); Customs House, next to the bank with its clock and bell tower; the Peace Hotel with its green steepled roof (photo below right); and next to it, the Bank of China Building with the twin flag poles.

The weather was clear enough to allow a worthwhile visit to the Jinmao Tower (below left), an 88 storey skyscraper in the Pudong district, directly across the Huangpu river from The Bund. It contains a shopping mall, offices and the 555 room Grand Hyatt Shanghai Hotel, which occupies floors 53 to 87. The photo below right shows the hotel atrium, looking down from the Skywalk on the 88th floor, which is an indoor observation deck offering panoramic views of Shanghai.

Additional towers in the Pudong district are the Oriental Pearl Tower (below left) and the Shanghai Tower (below right) with its twisting exterior and which was still under construction at the time of our visit.

If you get a chance, take the Maglev Train, which runs from Central Shanghai to Shanghai's Pudong International Airport and back. It reaches a maximum operational speed of 431km/h, although, once on board, you hardly know you are moving, it is so smooth.

After this excitement, we had a relaxing walk through the moon gates and latticed pavilions of Yu Gardens (also known as Yuyuan). The inspiration for willow patterned China (see photos below), these gardens were first conceived in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty.

The gardens lie in the Old Town of Shanghai, adjacent to YuYuan Bazar. Here we visited cobbled streets lined with traditional shops selling herbal medicine, handicrafts, Chinese tea and a variety of tantalising snacks. We also found a popular Starbucks. See if you can see the tiny sign in the photo below right.

Close to the Bazar is the Mid-Lake Pavillion with Zig-Zag Bridge (below left). The Shanghai Tower dominates the skyline even from here, through the haze and smog.

All photos taken by Ken Boddie.

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The author of the above, Ken Boddie, besides being a consulting engineer, is an enthusiastic photographer, rarely leisure-travelling without his Canon, and loves to interact with other like-minded photographers and people with an artistic background.

Ken's three day work week (part time commitment) as a consulting engineer allows him to follow his photography interests, and to plan trips to an ever increasing list of countries and places of scenic beauty and cultural diversity.

When not analysing consulting issues or writing posts,  Ken chases his creative side, the results of which can be seen as selected photographs of his travels on his website at:

http://ken-boddie.squarespace.com