>> What to see

The Market of birds and flowers
This market is just outside tourist tours and has remained almost unknown to the majority of visitors. It offers a look into the daily life of Shanghai, and is worth visiting. The streets are lively and populated with fish, orchid and bonsai sellers. You can see women airing their blankets and students walking in the street.

The Bund Tourist Tunnel
If you really want to know Chinese kitsch, do not miss a tour under the Huagpu. You will travel in cars made of plastic accompanied by a Disney style show, complete with stroboscopic lights, gaudy colours and images which follow one another projected on the cement wall. This five minute tour will surely wake you up and offer amusement for your whole family.

The Cao Bang Building of Antiques
This charming local market occupies all the four floors of the Cao Bang of antiques. During the week visitors can explore the permanent stands selling a variety of items from relics to crossbows, and from porcelain to jade. Each Sunday this market opens before dawn. Sellers from the nearby provinces arrive early in order to be sure of finding a place for selling their objects.

The Dongtai Lau market of antiques
Some blocks of houses far from the Old City you can see long rows of antiquarians with their stands. The keen collectionists will find porcelain, jade and a variety of relics. The stands selling similar objects are not a few and then, if you are not successful at your first attempt of negotiation, you will certainly find another oppurtunity of purchasing similar objects.

Dounlun Lu
This famous street is called the ‘Cultural Street” of Shanghai and it will certainly impress travellers. This street will take you back to 1930, when it was the favourite destination of the writer Lu Xun and of social activists. The bronze statues of literary personalities are scattered in the luxuriant gardens between the well preserved villas and the houses. Many buildings house on their first floor, antiques shops, cafes and art galleries. At the corner of this street you can find the majestic Museum of Modern art Shanghai Duolon.

The Big Theatre
This majestic theatre has a façade only made from glass flashing in the sun. It houses three stages with the best national and international shows always on the bill. The theatre is covered with an arched roof which reminds to people the old Chinese saying:‘the Earth is squared and the sky is round'

The Huangpu Park
This municipal park was once banned for all Chinese people. Today the situation has changed and every week-end you can see Chinese families enjoying the structures of this park. It is situated at the intersection point between the Suzhou Inlet and the river Huangpu and offers a splendid view of both the river shores. In the middle of the park you can find the monument devoted to the Popular Heores, in memory of the so many people who fought for the liberation of China. Here you can also find the Museum Bund which tells about the role of Bunds in the history of Shanghai.

The Bund
It is the name given to the port front of Shanghai. This name is English-Indian and literally means “mud bank”. In 1920 the Bund became the first foreign street of the city. American, English, Japanese, French, Russian, German people and other Europeans built here banks, buildings, clubs, Consulates and hotels. With Shanghai which was becoming a flourishing trading centre, the warehouses and the port were in the middle of this development.
With the arrival of communism, and the consequent mass emigration of foreigners, the Bund was neglected until the Chinese government decided to transfer here banks and offices.
Today the town government has restored many of the old buildings to their glorious past, creating a popular tourist attraction. The area of the Bund along the river has become a lively meeting place, animated by tourists and local people. In the morning the Bund is crowded with people doing gymnastics, Kung fu, walking their dogs and enjoying their breakfast. In the rest of the day you can see people walking along the bank, taking photos or simply looking at the world passing by.
Pudong
From the Bund, to the opposite shore of the river Huangpu, there is the Pudong area, with its bright buildings it is the pride of China towards the world. It is a financial centre, made of skyscrapes, luxury hotels, a concrete expression of the run of China towards modernization. Among the most imposing buildings, the crystal building Jinmao Dasha outstands, it is 420 metres high, it was the highest building in the Country. The World Financial Centre of Shanghai is today the highest skyscrape, it is 492 metres high and has got 101 floors, it is also provided with the quickest lift in the world. In Pudong you can admire a show of big dimensions and modernity, but the majority of tourists in Shanghai often prefer to visit the old traditional Chinese city.

The old Shanghai
The old Shanghai lies just to the south-west of the Bund, here many of the old buildings of the town still exist, among which there is the labyrinthic Yu’s Garden, which is a pleasant oasis far from the city chaos. Then there is the Yuyuan Bazar, in which you can really find everything, feeling as you were in a big amusement park and then a multitude of little shops where you can find the most charming souvenirs.

ShanghART – Avant-garde modern art
The abandoned area and the ShanghART are situated in the artistic avant-garde centre of Jingan, which houses over 100 galleries. The ShangART gallery has been the first space devoted to modern art in Shanghai, while the warehouse houses the biggest works and installations.

Museum of Science and Technology of Shanghai – Futurist amusement
The very wide futurist area of the Museum of Science and Technology of Shanghai in Pudong includes 12 exhibition spaces, all of them house interactive exhibitions including laser musical instruments. Besides an IMAX 3D cinema, there is a “4D” cinema, in which the seats move and the wind blows inside the auditorium.

Museum of Shanghai – Collections of jade objects and calligraphic poems
The Museum of Shanghai at the People’s Square is one of the most visited attractions in the city. Over 120,000 remains tell the Chinese history from the Neolitic Age up to date. The collection of jade objects, calligraphic poems, sculptures and coins is one of the best in China.

Museum of Contemporary Art- Fantastic artistic showsThe “coolest” Museum in Shanghai is an airy space wholly made from glass in the middle of the People’s Park. The temporary exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) are always bright, fantastic and quite cheap, and deserve a visit for the panoramic view of the city they offer.

Museum of Shanghai urbanization - Shanghai in 2020 Even the most expert travellers gon into raptures in front of the gigantic scale model of Shanghai as it will be in 2020, the biggest urbanization example in the world. The Museum of Shanghai urbanization shows the development of Shanghai by plastic models and interactive exhibitions.

Museum of the First National Congress of the Communist Party- Here Communism was born
This little house made of red bricks, in Xintiandi in Huangpi Nan Lu, is the place where the Communist Party was founded in July 1921. The most important piece is a waxen diorama of the First Congress with Mao in the middle of the scene. The exhibitions help to recreate the historical context.

Jin Mao Tower – Views from the 88th floor
The Jin Mao Tower in Pudong, in the quarter of Lujiazui, has lost its record as the highest building in Shanghai in favour of the Shanghai World Financial Center, but the view you can enjoy from its 88th floor remain one of the best ones you can enjoy in the city. Taste a cocktail at the bar on the 87th floor, the Cloud 9.

The Tower Pearl of the East – Iconic tower of the television
The Tower Pearl of the East (468 mt), with its views of Pudong, is the monument symbol of Shanghai. This futurist building shines outside and inside thanks to a technicolour lighting. Inside it there are a panoramic platform, a revolving restaurant, a disco hall and bars with karaoke shows.

Shanghai Ocean Aquarium – The longest water tunnel in the world
The biggest aquarium in Asia is situated in Pudong, it houses sharks, penguins, and other 10,000 sea species. There are nine kinds of depths, those of Antartic and Africa included. It also includes the longest underwater panoramic tunnel (55 mt).

The Temple of the Buddha from jade
It can be easily recognized for its safran coloured walls, it is the destination of many believers and is called so after a statue of Buddha scuplted in one block of jade which weighs one thousand kilograms and was taken from Burma in 1882 by a Chinese monk. The scuplture, adorned with jewels, represents Buddha while entering Nirvana.

A cruise along the river Huangpu
The river Huangpu, which means Yellow bank, crosses Shanghai up to the sea. A boat tour on this river offers you the possibility of admiring the city from a historical perspective. This cruise allows you to admire the modern and surprising aspect of Pudong with its majestic (TV) Tower of the Pearl of the East, one of the most important elements of a boat trip on the river Huangpu. We strongly recommend you to go on a cruise along the river at night, because you can see huge multicolor light beams coming from the water up for flying over the monuments of Pudong.

Taste the local cuisine in the very many places you can find all over the city. Look for the places where the Chinese people go, in order to be sure to taste a good cuisine. Local delicacies include the pancakes xiang you shan hu e xie ke huang. For an authentic experience go to Yunnan South, Huanghe and Zhapu streets.

Live the night-life in the city which never sleeps. Bars and clubs are open until the first hours in the morning and many people do their round of bars even after midnight. The night-life here is quite standardized, but it is pleasant. If there is live music, very probably it is played by Philippine bands, hotels often offer jazz and cigars, gay bars are not advertised outside and the prices of drinks are quite expensive.