Shanghai 上海

Shanghai is not “traditional China”, and that is exactly why you should go. It was a fishing town until 1842, when the treaty ports opened it to foreign trade; within a century it was the most cosmopolitan city in Asia. The result is layered rather than ancient: a colonial waterfront of granite banks facing a sci-fi skyline across the river, plane-tree streets of 1920s villas, art-deco apartment blocks, and the country’s best coffee, cocktail and restaurant scene. Come here for how China looks now, and pair it with Beijing or Xi’an for the history.

• Region East China
• Suggested stay 2–3 days
• Best season March–May and October–November
• Getting there Pudong (PVG) + Hongqiao (SHA) airports; high-speed rail 4.5 h from Beijing, 1 h from Hangzhou

Shanghai sits on the west shore of the Pacific at the mouth of the Yangtze, on flat alluvial land cut by the Huangpu River and a web of canals — the reason it became a port and the reason it floods.Getting there: Pudong (PVG) for international, Hongqiao (SHA) for domestic and some regional; both are on the metro (PVG also has a maglev that does 300 km/h for 8 minutes to the city). High-speed rail: 4.5 h from Beijing, 1 h from Hangzhou, 30 min from Suzhou. Shanghai is a 240-hour transit port, and one of the easiest places in China to arrive in.

• The Bund — the colonial waterfront: 1920s banks, customs house, and the best free view in China, which is Pudong’s skyline from the promenade. Go at dusk when the lights come on.
• Pudong — go up the Shanghai Tower (546 m, the tallest in China), the Jin Mao or the SWFC observation decks; walk Lujiazui at ground level afterwards.
• The French Concession — plane-tree streets, villas and cafés: Wukang Road, Anfu Road, Ferguson Lane, Sinan Mansions. This is the neighbourhood to just walk.
• Yu Garden & the old city — a Ming scholar’s garden (1559) surrounded by a touristy bazaar; go early.
• Shanghai Museum (bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy — free and superb) andPower Station of Art (contemporary, in a converted power station).
• Tianzifang andM50 for studios and galleries;Xintiandi if you want restored shikumen with expensive coffee.

Shanghai was a minor county town until the First Opium War; the 1842 Treaty of Nanking made it a treaty port, and the British, French and American concessions grew into a city within a city with their own laws, police and tramways. By the 1930s it was the “Paris of the East”: banks, jazz, opium, refugees, revolutionaries — the Chinese Communist Party was founded here in 1921. The Japanese occupied it in 1937; the foreigners left in 1949. Since the 1990s Pudong has been built from farmland into a financial district of 100-storey towers in a single generation — the clearest physical evidence of what China did in those 30 years.

Shanghai runs on money, eyebrows and appointments. It is the most Western-facing city in China, the most punctual, and the most brand-conscious; people dress well and queue properly. The local language, Shanghainese (Shanghaihua), is a Wu dialect mutually unintelligible with Mandarin — younger people speak Mandarin, older people speak Shanghainese, and everyone codeswitches. Social life is in cafés, not parks. Sunday-morning ballroom dancing still happens in some parks. Eating out is a genuine hobby here, and restaurant reservations matter on weekends.

Shanghai food (benbang cai) is sweeter and more delicate than the rest of China:xiaolongbao (soup dumplings),shengjianbao (pan-fried pork buns, breakfast of choice),hongshao rou (red-braised pork belly),drunken shrimp,scallion oil noodles, andcrab in autumn. The city also has the country’s best regional restaurants (Yunnan, Sichuan, Xinjiang), the best bakeries and the best coffee. Take home:Butterfly brand biscuits,white rabbit candy,Qiandao lake tea, and“Shanghai” brand watches andWarrior/plimsoll shoes from the retro shops.

Allow 2–3 days. Day 1: the Bund at dusk, Nanjing Road, Pudong tower at night. Day 2: the Concession on foot, Shanghai Museum or Power Station of Art, dinner in the Concession. Day 3: Yu Garden early, then Suzhou or Hangzhou (both under 1 h by train — easy day trips or overnights).Timing: spring and autumn; June is the plum rain, July–August is 38 °C at 90% humidity, and typhoons happen.Mistakes: only seeing the Bund and Pudong; paying for a Huangpu cruise when the promenade is free and better; and staying in Pudong when the Concession is where you want to be.