Shanghai is such a large and complex city that going with a tour guide and driver to see Shanghai's modern wonders and classic side helps make your visit less stressful and more rewarding. To avoid crowds, heat and storms, avoid July, August and the first weeks of October and May. Winter in Shanghai is windy and chilly, so to visit the water towns, enjoy the Bund and see the scenery during clear warm (or hot) weather, the period from March to the end of November is better. Tongli Water Town is one of several that our tourists prefer near Shanghai. Go to Zhujiajiao Water Town, a water town with fascinating canals, bridges, and architecture, for countryside excursions.Ride a river boat to see the light and color in the evening.Discover the French Concession - Walk among colonial architecture, shop, snack, and enjoy modern art.Dine at the World Financial Center and the revolving restaurant at the Oriental Pearl.Visit the Shanghai Museum that is one of China's best and where you can see masterpieces of Chinese art and ancient artifacts.See the grand skyline views of colonial-era buildings and tall skyscrapers. Stroll the Bund promenade: It is the top TripAdvisor Thing to Do.More Reasons to Visit Shanghai> Top Things to Do in Shanghai From Shanghai, it is easy to travel by plane or bullet train to most major Chinese destinations. Though the city is vast, good planning and the subway helps you to get around. Ease of onward trips: Shanghai has two huge international airports from which you can tour the huge Yangtze Delta for 6 days visa-free.It is an art, science and culture trendsetter where Western culture stemming from its colonial past, international connections, and large expat community and Eastern culture are fusing. Cultural reasons: Shanghai is one of China's cultural hubs with its own cuisine, opera and dialect.Modern reasons: With some of the world's biggest buildings with observation decks and the Bund, Shanghai oozes an atmosphere of vitality and rivals New York and London for modernity.Ancient reasons: Water towns, traditional gardens, and ancient sites.The Pudong district's prosperous features are guaranteed to wow visitors. Shanghai is at the front line of China's economic development. Shanghai's colonial past is retained in the Bund and cosmopolitan air. It is the largest economic and trade center in China, and one of China's cultural centers. IT'S DIFFICULT TO CUT THROUGH THE SPIN TO FIND A REALISTIC DEPICTION OF CHINA, XIAO JIA GU WRITES.Shanghai has a long history as a gateway to China on the Yangtze River Delta. In his recently published diary entry about the handover of Hong Kong, Prince Charles described the Chinese leadership as "appalling old waxworks". Yet Jiang Zemin, the president at the ceremony Charles attended in 1997, hardly fits that description. China's leaders want to challenge this stereotype and convince Westerners that the country's inhabitants are just like everyone else - willing participants in the global economy.Ī bear-like man given to bursting into song, he strikes most Chinese as a buffoon rather than a stuffed dummy.Ĭhina's current President, Hu Jintao, who visited London in November, is no waxwork either: young and energetic, he presents himself as managing director of China Inc, the world's fastest-growing corporation.Ĭharles's use of the term "waxworks" expresses a Western view of the Chinese as stiff, formal and inscrutable. Yet the message they put across is often highly confusing. Hu was in London last month to promote business links with the United Kingdom, China's third-biggest trading partner.Īt the same time, he opened the Three Emperors exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, a lavish display of treasures from China's last imperial dynasty, including paintings, jades, bronzes, porcelain and ceremonial robes. The show is a prelude to China in London 2006, a season of events celebrating Chinese arts and culture and China's historic links with the British capital.īy associating himself with the exhibition, Hu is, in effect, positioning himself as the legitimate heir to the country's imperial past.Īs China's economic expansion brings it into closer contact with the West, its leaders are increasingly seeking to bolster their positions by promoting a historicised image of their country that has little to do with contemporary reality.
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