Windsor Evergreen Hotel Shanghai

At the Shanghai Museum

by goglobe

Visit this magnificent cultural venue located in the People's Square, easily accessible by the metro.

The external look of the Museum is like a Chinese 'ting' , a historic relic for court banquets and entertainment, which is a three-legged pot-like utensil made of gold or copper. It was also used for offering to the heavenly gods too.

But the special feature of the building is the line-up of 8 fortuitous unicorn statues guarding the venue as shown in the picture. Chinese unicorns are animals that bring good fortune to the country, families and individuals alike.

Xiantindi

by JEKIE2

Xiantindi is a very nice place to go to at night, there are alot of restaurants and bars and dessert places to choose from. The ambiance is great, it reminds me of the Rocks in Sydney and the French Quarter in Paris.

Western Chinese food in Shanghai

by gaolei about Uighur

This Resturant features food from the far west of China, Xinjiang province. The food they like in Xinjiang is lamb, so you can get any part of the lamb here from eyes to tail.

Everyone dresses in the Western Chinese style. Also, there is live music and dancing from the western province. You can get a good lamb meal, try the black beer and see a small dance show here for a reasonable price. Lamb! Western Chinese tend to be Moslim, so the food is more middle eastern.

Huxining Teahouse inside the Old Chinese City

by bellatrix

At the center of the Old City is the Yu Garden, in which stands the Huxining Teahouse, said to be the model for the design on the willow-pattern plates much loved by Europeans in another era. The Tea House is a renowned structure central to the Old City. Situated upon a lake, its zig-zagged Bridge of Nine Turns is designed to prevent evil spirits from crossing.

Showcase of Chinese entrepreneurship

by ravigateway

Shanghai lies in central-eastern China, exposed to the East China Sea. Broadly, central Shanghai is divided into two areas: Pudong (east of the Huangpu River) and Puxi (west of the Huangpu River). Shanghai still has no single focus and the feel of the city still owes much to the original concessions.

The city's prosperous sheen belies the ongoing social concerns for a disintegrating welfare system. Shanghai is shackled to a past it is both suspicious and proud of. Nobody can predict what the city will look like two decades from now, but as the Chinese saying goes, if the old doesn't go, the new won't come.

For visitors, most attractions are in Puxi, including the Bund - the tourist centrepiece, though not the physical centre of town. West of the Bund is the former International Settlement and one of Shanghai's main shopping streets, Nanjing Lu. South of the Bund is the Chinese city, a maze of narrow lanes. West of the old town and hidden in the backstreets north and south of Huaihai Lu (Shanghai's premier shopping street) is the former French Concession, with tree-lined streets, 1930s architecture, and cafes and bars. At its western end is a major collection of Western-style restaurants and bars.

Continuing southeast, you come to the massive shopping intersection of Xujiahui. Farther south is Shanghai Stadium. Western Shanghai is dominated by Hongqiano, a hotel/conference centre/office zone. Farther west is Gubei, an expat area. Northeastern Shanghai has an industrial feel and is home to several universities. Further northwest is Zhapei and Shanghai train station. On the east side of the Huanpu is Pudong, a special economic zone of banks, skyscrapers and new residential complexes. Street names are given in Pinyin, which makes navigating easy, and many of the streets are named after cities and provinces.

"Does the Future Belong to China?"

The most astonishing example of growth is surely Shanghai. Fifteen years ago, Pudong, in east Shanghai, was undeveloped countryside. Today it is Shanghai's financial district, eight times the size of London's new financial district, Canary Wharf, in fact only slightly smaller than the city of Chicago.

Photos courtesy of Ravindran THANIKAIMONI. All copyrights reserved 2005.