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INTRODUCTION Shanghai is a city of some 20 million people. Crowded and congested, it is, but perfectly manageable for the traveler. Safe, colorful, easy to navigate and a shopper’s paradise, Shanghai is swiftly becoming the new Hong Kong and a symbol of China’s growth in the 21st century.
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Interested in planning your vacation to this city of old and new? Start your trip at Expedia.com/ Shanghai. |
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Our exploration of the city
concentrates on three main areas: the
waterfront, or
Bund, the old town, and the shopping street called Nanjing Donglu.
Then we venture outside the city to the gardens of Suzhou and exquisite
canal town, Zhouzhang. |
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Growth in Shanghai in the past decade has been
dizzying. Every week, older sections of town are razed to make way for
gleaming skyscrapers. More than 5,000 new high rise buildings have gone
up,
thousands more wait on drawing boards. |
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Shanghai experienced an earlier heyday, albeit under foreign occupation. During the 1920’s and 30’s the city was famous for its dynamic growth and prosperity as well as for its gangsters, drugs, and nightclubs. The expression “to be shanghaied” came from the practice of drugging sailors and throwing them on ships leaving the city.
Set on the delta of the mighty
Yangtze River, Shanghai was an isolated little fishing port until the
British opened a trading post here in 1842, exporting exotic goods home and
importing opium from India. Stately European style buildings sprang up on
the riverfront, known as the Bund. At its height, the city thrived and
became known as the
Paris of the East. The party was over when the Japanese invaded during
World War II.
In 1949, the communists marched in to the city.
TIP For a little more
history of Shanghai, check out
uk.holidaysguide.yahoo.com.
For forty years, Shanghai slept, to be awakened again in 1990 when China’s
leader,
Deng Xiaoping declared the city open to trade. Money came rushing into
the city from the central government and then from local and foreign
investment –
Shanghai began to prosper.
NANJING DONGLU SHOPPING
All of Shanghai
loves to shop. Exotic tea and grocery shops,
Western franchises and teeming
bazaars fill the streets. And everywhere, young women sweep along with
shopping bags and boyfriends in tow.
The main shopping street,
Nanjing Donglu stretches west from the Bund. A pedestrian only shopping
area makes a colorful, intriguing adventure.
Dispensary #1, is a pharmacy with some wild looking cures. Next door,
Food Store #1 offers up mounds and mounds of fruits, candies, meats and
vegetables – figuring out exactly which is which can be challenging.
The western end of
Nanjing Donglu grows upscale with elite shops that the average Chinese
worker can only afford to look at. Still, the streets are thronged with
eager shoppers --Shanghai’s youthful, growing middle class.
TIP
For more on shopping in Shanghai, go to
www.travelchinaguide.com and
www.entershanghai.info.
TAXIS
Taxis in Shanghai are clean, safe and extremely inexpensive. It’s the
way to get around – the only catch is drivers don’t speak or read English.
Get the concierge at your hotel to write down the destination in Chinese and
away you go.
TIP For more on taxis and getting around Shanghai, visit
www.fodors.com.
Good guidebooks will also have a list of Shanghai destinations in
Chinese characters. I’m headed for tea at the Yu Yuan bazaar.
YU YUAN THEATER TEAHOUSE
Tea began in China. The Chinese domesticated tea plants
five or six thousand years ago.
In addition to green and oolong tea, the Chinese drink a variety of flavored teas. The most dramatically beautiful is jasmine tea that blossoms when steeped in hot water.
Romeo and Juliet are Jasmine infused tea leaves wrapped around flowers – Romeo has a slightly stronger flavor than Juliet.
TIP For a visit to the Huxinting Tea
House, check out
www.wcities.com.
YU YUAN BAZAAR
The Yu Yuan Theater teahouse is located in the center of
the YuYuan bazaar, a bustling shopping area loaded with souvenirs for
tourists. Shanghai’s best dumpling shop, Nan Xiang, is here, serving up
thousands of fat steaming rolls to hungry customers.
Yu Yuan attracts dumpling lovers, sightseers and local musicians – it’s
a crowded, friendly, spirited scene. Yu Yuan’s traditional architecture is
charming, but recently built.
TIP For a peek at
the Yu Yuan gardens, go to
www.thebeijingguide.com.
SHANGHAI MUSEUM
For genuine antiquities, there is no place more stunning than the
Shanghai Museum, which
opened in 1995 to international acclaim.
The Chinese name for their country is Chung-kuo -- or central land. For many centuries, China was the most advanced civilization on the planet. Theirs is an amazing 4000 years of unbroken history.
The museum’s bronze collection includes food, wine and water vessels, many three to four thousand years old. The larger water vessels were used for bathing, as a mirror or to hold ice to chill food. The collection includes ancient bells that could produce two tones when struck with a wooden hammer and drums used in rituals.
Jade, or the stone of heaven as it is known, dates from the Neolithic period in China. A sacred stone, jade accompanied the dead on their journey and served as a link between the spiritual realm and earth. The color varies from green to creamy white, depending on the amount of iron in the stone. Jade was thought to possess healing and even magical powers.
In the Neolithic Age, pottery was developed in China when people baked mud on baskets to harden them for food vessels. Using fine white Kaolin clay and baking it at a higher temperature, the Chinese further developed the art of pottery by inventing porcelain some 1, 500 years ago.
The
sculpture gallery focuses on
Buddhist works.
Buddhism was introduced to China with the opening of the
Silk Road in 200 BC. At first a minor cult, Buddhism soon flourished
because of its simplicity and resemblance to
Taoism, an indigenous religion popular at the time.
TIP
The museum offers an excellent audio guide in English. If you’d like to take
a virtual tour of Shanghai Museum, go to
www.shanghaimuseum.net.
JADE BUDDHIST TEMPLE
Modern day Buddhism is on
display at the
Jade Buddhist Temple, just north of downtown. Buddhism is experiencing a
renaissance since China relaxed restrictions on some religious practices.
Both a religion, and a way of life, Buddhism teaches self- awareness and a
love of wisdom.
The Jade Buddha for which the temple is named is an exquisitely jeweled
statue, serene and slightly bemused. It was brought here from Burma in the
late 1800’s.
TIP For more history on
religion in China, visit
www.historyforkids.org.
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Jade Buddhas, silk, fans and fake designer goods – you can find just about anything in Shanghai’s dynamic markets. At any bazaar it’s expected you’ll bargain and bargain hard.
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At Shanghai’s fashion market, tailors whip your favorite cloth into a jacket.
When bargaining at any market, start at 80% off the asking price …. and if you settle around 50% off, you’ve done well. TIP For quick overviews of shopping in Shanghai, check out www.travelchinaguide.com and www.chinatour.com.
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TIP
Want to know what you’re looking for when buying porcelain objects at any
market?
Try
www.shanghai-star.com.cn. You’ll find a list at the bottom of the page.
CRICKET MARKET
Tucked down a small street with skyscrapers looming overhead, a little piece
of old town China survives in a
cricket market. These intense shoppers
aren’t looking for pets but rather for the
strongest cricket for
fights. There's no gore - the winner simply
backs off the more cowardly cricket.
DINING IN SHANGHAI
Dumplings for breakfast anyone? How about lunch or dinner? Shanghai loves
dumplings, but all kinds of wonderful taste sensations can be found
throughout the city. All over town,
Shanghai restaurants serve up traditional cuisine with a modern flair.
Zhapu Road, not far from the Bund, is the local’s lively street of restaurants. Many of the restaurants include some English on the menu. With a sense of adventure, you won’t go wrong, well not too wrong, anyway.
TIP You’ll find a handy guide to dining in Shanghai at www.usatoday.com.
TIP Want to try your own hand at cooking Shanghai dumplings? Get the recipe at recipes.chef2chef.net.
XINJISHI RESTAURANT
For a sure bet, the concierge at my hotel suggested this happening
restaurant in the
Xintiandi
section of town. Shanghai cuisine is a mix of traditional dishes from
nearby provinces. It often involves a complex, savory sauce and chicken or
fish. Owner Yvonne Han described
Xinjishi’s specialities.
TIP Discover more on the section of town at www.travelchinaguide.com.
Four and five star accommodations in the city are plentiful and new hotels burst skywards all the time. Mid range accommodations are more difficult to find, but as tourism grows, so do the options.
NEW WORLD RADISSON HOTEL
A reasonably priced luxury hotel is the Shanghai New World Radisson,
conveniently
located near the Nanjing pedestrian shopping area, the Shanghai museum
and the Bund. Most hotels offer buffet breakfasts with the stay and many of
Shanghai’s
fine restaurants are associated with hotels.
TIP Find out more about
this hotel at
www.radisson.com.
PORTMAN RITZ CARLTON HOTEL
Further west along Nanjing Road the impressive Shanghai Center is home to
the five star Portman Ritz Carlton.
Rooms vary from classic deluxe to lavish suites. And at the
spa, guests can experience traditional
Chinese massage or acupressure. On Saturdays, local musicians often
play classical Chinese music in the lounge.
TIP Find out more about
this hotel at
www.ritzcarlton.com.
TIP The concierge desk at any fine hotel can book everything from excursions outside the city to an acrobat performance – a valuable service when you cannot speak or read the language
SHANGHAI ACROBATIC TROUPE
Shanghai acrobats juggle, tumble and fly through the air at the
Shanghai Center nearly every night.
Acrobatic arts began as a folk art
as early as 200 BC and later became a favorite of the Imperial Courts.
Swallow diving, an acrobatic tumble through hoops, dates back two thousand
years and imitates the graceful flight of swallows. Physical strength and
mental focus characterize the Shanghai acrobats. Their balance and timing
derives from the Chinese philosophy of
Chi Kung that stresses manipulation of energy, or chi, through breathing
and meditation.
TIP For tickets,
visit the
Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe website.
TIP To view some streaming
acrobatics, go to
www.thebeijingguide.com.
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SHANGHAI AT NIGHT BY
BOAT |
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TIP To find out more about cruising the night-time Huangpu river, check out www.china-cruise.com, www.frommers.com, www.city-discovery.com, www.chinahighlights.com, chinadaily.com, or www.affiliate.viator.com.
It’s day for night here in the city that never sleeps. Neon abounds and I never could figure out when the shops finally closed.
TAI CHI IN THE PARK
The next morning – well, every morning – some of the locals are up at 6am.
These are not the revelers of the night before, but likely their
grandparents. While young people belong to trendy athletic clubs, the older
generation turns out in droves in city parks to practice the
ancient art of Tai Chi. I wonder: will Shanghai itself know grace,
balance and good health in generations to come?
SUZHOU CLASSICAL GARDENS
Balance and proportion are the fundamentals in traditional Chinese gardens.
We’ve left the big city behind and driven an hour west to the city of
Suzhou, famous for its
classical gardens.
With 1 million people, Suzhou is hardly what you’d call a small town, yet once inside one of the dozens of gardens, the city slips away. Chinese gardens frame nature – capturing it through windows and mirrors. Trees, ponds and rocks are delicately arranged so that each scene is a fusion of art and nature.
The art of making gardens was exported from China and Korea to
Japan in the 6th century.
Many of these gardens were originally laid out in from the 16th
century. . Twists and turns and hidden views, keep the visitor perpetually
surprised. The pavilions were designed for contemplation – for reading,
drawing, meditating or playing musical instruments.
TIP
For details on each garden, go to
www.suzhou.gov.cn and find the list of individual gardens at the top of
the page under “Place interest”.
TIP While you’re in Suzhou, check out the
Suzhou Gardens Museum. It introduces the history of Suzhou’s ancient
gardens and explores the technology of building gardens.
TIP Haven’t had enough learning about the gardens yet? Then visit the official website of Suzhou Gardens: www.szgarden.sz.js.cn.
One can spend hours here, admiring a detail, or framing a delicate scene
from inside a latticed bridge . . . or under an archway. Zigzagged bridges
protect the pavilions from evil spirits that the Chinese believed could only
travel in straight lines.
TIP For interesting
reading on Asian gardens, check out
www.gardenvisit.com.
SUZHOU SILK FACTORY
The silk industry created Suzhou’s wealth. Suzhou’s silk factories afford a
glimpse into the precise process of boiling cocoons from silk worms, then
spinning the fine threads onto spools. You can also see how cocoons
themselves are stretched out to make comforters and bedspreads.
This is the place to buy silk – the prices are much lower than in Shanghai.
The quality is guaranteed and there’s no bargaining.
TIP Trains go to Suzhou but a car and driver is easier and reasonably priced.
TIP If you want to learn more about silk after touring the factories, visit the Suzhou Silk Museum.
TIP
Just want to know how silk is made? For a visitor’s-eye view, check out the
personal websites
www.anniebees.com and
www.tylersterritory.com. For a broader and historical review, go to
www.silkroadfoundation.org.
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ZHOUZHANG RIVER TOWN |
