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Shanghai is one of the largest cities in China and belongs to the east coast belt, where economic development takes on very fast. When you wander through the streets, you can see many construction sites. And with thousands of medium and high rise buildings, it just looks like a megalopolis.
The international flair has been brought in European countries who settled up so called concessions within the town. The English and French people have enormously affected the city development. Nowadays also the Germans influence it, known by the Jiading district. Shanghai is quite modern and convenient to live in. What I noticed first when I arrived in China is that you can have the most modern complex and when you turn around the corner, you can see the Chinese ‘traditional’ or pre-modern way of living - people hanging out their washed clothes outside over the streets or people transporting tons of things on their electro bicycle. Oh yes, and it seems that the majority of motorbikes are electrical, which was very unusual to me as I wouldn’t expect this to be here. Haven’t seen this in any other country but it’s a good step forward, at least noise and pollution-wise. My time in Shanghai was full of contrast. While being there and finishing my thesis in the evening and at nighttime, my fellow students had the opportunity to go for some drinks or see the evenings. Me in turn had to sit in the hotel room to care about my writings. I could enjoy my time on our return trip from Chongqing, but of course this was only 4 days. Shanghai has many clubs and you can drink everyday. Drinks are also comparable cheap (for us westerners). And you feel more welcomed as a foreign guest, because people are always interested in you and often want you to join them for a drink, even though you cannot communicate with them (like really talk) ;) The highlights of my travel in Shanghai are these:
- Nanjing Road: Around this place, you can shop as you know this from any other metropolis. Every more or less important retailer has a store here and if not, I’m quite sure they have settled down in some of the shopping malls. You should check out “Shanghai warehouse #1” and the nearby Shanghai Museum at people’s square. Right at the Exit of Nanjing East Road there’s also a shopping mall with a big food court on the top floor. Fuzhou Road is just a parallel street where you can shop for Chinese books.
- The Pudong Area habitats the famous Oriental Pearl TV tower, which give you a nice view over Shanghai especially in the evenings but it’s also good to go there on daytime. They also have a rollercoaster and a Shanghai city development museum inside.
- Tianzifang is an art street that was formerly a complex of factories. Now they have a lot of cafés and souvenir shops around. Yuyuan Garden is the same, actually too many tourists go there but it’s OK as you bargain really hard on their gifts.
- Zhujiajiao - a watertown is one of the most visited places, too. It’s not really inside Shanghai and you need 45 min by bus to see it, but everybody says it’s quite worth to go. Unfortunately I was sick that day…
- Xintiandi covers older housese, haven’t been there.