Jin Mao Tower
by imstress
Jin Mao Building in Pudong is the tallest skyscraper in China and a soaring monument to Shanghai's economic boom.
Jin Mao has 88 floors and an octagon floor plan. It was topped out on August 28 last year and completed on August 28 this year.
The 420.5-meter-tall building is an engineering triumph. Many technological breakthroughs were required to erect it. The builders drove 1,062 steel pipes as far as 83.5 meters down -- the longest steel piles ever used in a land-based building -- and poured a four-meter-thick concrete base 19.6 meters under the ground to support the building.
Jin Mao is sheathed in glass and a framework of aluminum alloy pipes that give the facade a silvery patina. The top level is an observatory deck for sightseers. Two high-speed elevators can send up to 35 people straight to the 88th floor in 45 seconds. Grand Hyatt Shanghai, a five-star hotel, occupies the 53rd to 87th floors. The lower floors are for offices, retail and dining outlets.
Airports
by Sharrie
From the 2 airports, ie. Pudong International & Hongqiao International Airports there are special bus routes to town. It should cost around RMB18. As for taxis, it costs about RMB50 to Pudong from Hongqiao I. Airport.
Subway: 2 lines. Line 1 costs about RMB4 from Shanghai train station to Xingzhuang & line 2 costs about RMB5 from Zhongshan Park to Longyang Road.
The Garden of Peace and Comfort
by Anjin-san
Yuyuan Garden located in the center of the Old City next to the Chenghuangmiao in Shanghai, China, is considered one of the most lavish and finest Chinese gardens in the region.
The garden was reportedly first established in 1559 as a private garden created by Pan Yunduan, who spent almost 20 years building a garden to please his father Pan En, a high-ranking official in the Ming Dynasty, during his father's old age. Over the years, the gardens fell into disrepair until about 1760 when bought by merchants, then suffered extensive damage in the 19th century. In 1842, during the Opium Wars, the British army occupied the Town God Temple for five days. During the Taiping Rebellion the gardens were occupied by imperial troops, and damaged again by the Japanese in 1942. They were repaired by the Shanghai government from 1956-1961, opened to the public in 1961, and declared a national monument in 1982.
Today, Yuyuan Garden occupies an area of 2 hectares (5 acres), and is divided into six general areas laid out in the Suzhou style:
Grand Rockery - rockery made of huangshi stone (12 m high), featuring peaks, cliffs, winding caves and gorges. Thie scenery was possibly created by Zhang Nanyang in the Ming Dynasty.
This area also contains the Sansui (Three Corn Ears} Hall.
Heralding Spring Hall (Dianchun) - built in 1820, the first year of the Emperor Daoguang's reign. From September 1853 to February 1855, it served as the base of the Society of Little Swords (Xiaodao Hui).
Inner Garden - rockeries, ponds, pavilions, and towers, first laid out in 1709 and more recently recreated in 1956 by combining its east and west gardens.
Jade Magnificence Hall (Yuhua) - furnished with rosewood pieces from the Ming Dynasty.
Lotus Pool - with a zigzag bridge and mid-lake pavilion.
Ten Thousand-Flower Tower (Wanhua)
Garden areas are separated by "dragon walls" with undulating gray tiled ridges, each terminating in a dragon's head. It is not clear how closely today's garden resembles its earlier versions.
Riverside Promenade (chinese: ~{1u=-4s5@~})
by sunnywong
The Riverside Promenade runs from Dongchang Road Ferry corssing along the Huangpu River, passing by the Oriental Pearl TV Tower to Taitongzhan Wharf, with a total length of 2,500 m. Standing on the west bank of the river one can see the beautiful Riverside Promenade, called the New Bund of Pudong, which combines a riverside thoroughfare, a waterside terrace, a music fountain and a yacht wharf into an attractive scenic sight. The yacht wharf rebuilt from an old wharf is specially attractive with a giant iron anchor erected high and several mooring columns. The huge fountain spraying water from a hundred fountainheads is fitted with color lights that glitter with brilliance at night. Admission 5RMB (@2002)
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