"Paris of the Orient" was the name Shanghai earned in the early 20th century, when it was the financial capital of Asia, a haven for adventurers, exiles and gangsters, and the most cosmopolitan city in the world. The Communist victory in 1949 closed the port and stripped the city of its glamour for four decades; the reopening in the 1990s and the explosion of Pudong have made it once again one of the most dynamic places on earth. Today's Shanghai is a city of 25 million people that holds both halves of its history at once.
Most visitors start on the Bund, the curve of grand colonial-era buildings on the west bank of the Huangpu, and then look across at the futurist skyline of Pudong — the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai Tower and their neighbours, all built on what was farmland a generation ago. Behind the Bund lies the original walled Chinese city, where the Ming-dynasty Yu Garden is hidden in the bazaar lanes of the Old Town. South-west, the French Concession keeps its plane-tree-lined streets, Art Deco apartment houses and the densest cluster of bars, cafes and indie shops in the city.
The Shanghai Museum on People's Square holds one of the great collections of Chinese bronzes and ceramics. M50 and the Power Station of Art anchor the contemporary art scene. Shanghai is a famously walkable city by Chinese standards — the metro is excellent — and despite its commercial intensity has dotted parks, water gardens and quiet temple courtyards through almost every neighbourhood.
