Shanghai Travel Guide
Travel guide to Shanghai , China with comprehensive information about events, shopping, and major Shanghai sporting events to help you enjoy your visit more.
Shanghai Overview
Shanghai seems to be a city that has grown up overnight. Not long ago, it was a grimy port city, a place that exported the low quality disposable goods that China's limitless workforce produced in sweatshop factories. Then, all of a sudden, it became the economic miracle city of the Far East, a place that has outstripped Hong Kong as the financial powerhouse of China, a city without parallel in the world, a place where lifestyles and the skyline both seem to change at light speed, where every time you look up, you see yet another new skyscraper poking up into the clouds.
Shanghai is many things, but it is never dull, it was once a seedy backwater, a French Colony on the fringes of China, a place from which legends as well as opium and silk were imported to Europe, Shanghai is now modern, yet retains much of its mystique and history.
Shanghai is popular as the entry point to China at the start of a tour, or even as a stand alone destination for sightseers and shoppers looking for the biggest party in Asia to gatecrash, Shanghai is becoming one of the most popular tourist and business destinations in the Far East, and the awesome Pudong Airport is well served with several direct flights from the UK, as well as plenty that take you via other cities.
Top Shanghai Attractions
The most popular place to visit in Shanghai is the Bund. This waterfront path is the place to hang out in the evening, or wander through during the day. You can find plenty of noodle stalls, and curious little shops, as well as enjoying the architecture from back in the days when Shanghai was an international city divided amongst the great European powers.
Across the river from the Bund, you can visit the all-new, shiny Pudong region of Shanghai. Here you can see the amazing new buildings such as the Jin Mao tower and the Oriental Pearl Television Tower. The forest of skyscrapers is very much the impression of modern China that is publicly promoted by the nation, but if you look beyond the modern part, you can still see the traditional temples and shops - as well as quite startling poverty in this amazing city of contrasts.
Shopping in Shanghai
Aside from the many small markets and shopping centres, the jewel in the crown of Shanghai's shopping scene is the famous Nanjing Road. Here among the neon lights and bustling people, you will find a huge selection of shops selling everything that you could possibly want or need.
Whether you are looking for the cheapest electrical goods available in the whole world; a bespoke suit made in the latest European style; beautiful sculptures that would grace any museum; or just a few Chinese herbs and spices, you will find it on Nanjing Road.
The shops are open late into the evening, and the bustle never seems to let up, meaning that a trip around the shops is as tiring as it is exciting.
Shanghai Sporting Events
Although Shanghai has a number of football teams of its own, the most popular league in the sports bars is somewhat inevitably the English Premiership. Teams such as Manchester United are followed almost religiously.
