China’s most international city is a huge, hectic, intoxicating stew. Despite its overwhelming heft, Shanghai is trying to make itself more attractive, cleaner and more fun. During the pandemic, lockdowns hit the city hard, but it’s working to find a new lease of life.
Pedestrian paths have made the Bund district and Nanjing Road more pleasant to walk on, and swish new shopping districts are popping up across the city. David Chipperfield Architect’s new West Bund Art Museum is one of many new museums and galleries cementing the city’s art scene.
What to do
Historic happenings
The former International Settlement on the Huangpu River is a complete confection of colonial architecture that borrows from Gothic, Greek and Victorian pomp; the chunky Custom House and the old banking, telegraph and railway company HQs squatting either side of it almost make you think you’re in Liverpool. Here is where Shanghai’s goods were traded and millions made when foreigners ruled the roost in China’s main entrepôt.
Shanghai’s Custom House wouldn’t look out of place in Liverpool
(Getty Images/iStockphoto/Christian Ader)
Check out the view
Ascend the Oriental Pearl Tower for a panoramic view over Shanghai. The tower looks like a space rocket ready to launch and is one of China’s tallest structures. From up here, you can gaze down on the Bund and get a feel for how far this massive city stretches in every direction.
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Walk the West Bund
A fascinating Sunday morning stroll takes you through one of the city’s newest districts. Take the Metro out to Lunghau and you can follow the course of the Huangpu river right back into the centre of Shanghai on a two-hour walk (in fact, the whole path runs for more than 40km). On the way, you’ll pass old dockyards with permanently berthed boats, as well as new squares and skate parks on old industrial land. You’ll also find a lot of poodles being walked.
A crash course in JG Ballard
One of the greatest writers of the 20th century was born and raised in Shanghai – and it shaped him tremendously. Jim Ballard became the writer JG Ballard, coming to England after surviving the Japanese camps at Lunghau during the Second World War. That story is told in the book (and Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation) Empire of The Sun. You can see where the Ballard family lived at 31A Amherst…
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