Shanghai
Shanghai Disneyland, Century Park & the New Eastern Shanghai
Shanghai Disney Resort (上海迪士尼乐园 — opened June 16, 2016, in the Pudong New Area, approximately 30 km east of the city centre — the first Disney theme park in mainland China and the sixth Disney resort in the world): the Enchanted Storybook Castle (奇幻童话城堡 — the centrepiece castle of Shanghai Disneyland, the largest and tallest Disney castle ever built (73 metres), and the only Disney castle to feature all Disney Princesses simultaneously rather than a single princess) is the largest single Disney attraction structure ever built.
Yu Garden, Old Town & City God Temple — Ming Shanghai
The Yu Garden (豫园), the City God Temple (城隍庙), and the Old Town of Shanghai (南市 — Nánshì) together form the surviving pre-colonial core of Shanghai — the city as it existed before the opening of the treaty ports in 1842 and the development of the foreign concessions that created modern Shanghai.
West Bund, M50 & Shanghai's World-Class Art Scene
Shanghai's contemporary art scene (one of the most dynamic in Asia, centred on two main districts: M50 Creative Park (M50创意园 — the converted textile mill complex on Moganshan Road (莫干山路) in the Putuo district, the oldest and most established contemporary art district in Shanghai, founded in 2000-2002 by artists renting cheap industrial studio space) and the West Bund cultural corridor (西岸 — the redeveloped former industrial waterfront south of the French Concession along the Huangpu River, now home to multiple world-class museums and galleries)): the West Bund has become the most ambitious art district development in China, with the Long Museum West Bund (龙美术馆(西岸馆)), the Yuz Museum (余德耀美术馆), and the West Bund Art & Design Fair (西岸艺术与设计博览会 — now one of the world's top contemporary art fairs) as its anchors.
Shanghai Cuisine — Hairy Crab, Red-Cooked Pork & the Art of Xiaolongbao
Shanghai cuisine (沪菜 — characterized by its sweetness, its celebration of seasonal produce (the hairy crab, the spring bamboo shoot), and its masterful use of slow braising): Shanghainese food represents one of the great regional cuisines of China, deeply connected to the flat, water-rich Yangtze delta landscape and the city's history as a port of trade.
French Concession, Tianzifang & Xintiandi — Old Shanghai's Soul
The French Concession (法租界 — Fǎ Zūjiè — the former French colonial district of Shanghai, covering approximately 10 square kilometres of the western part of the central city (Xuhui and Luwan districts)) is the most atmospheric and architecturally rich neighbourhood in Shanghai, famous for its Art Deco mansions, tree-lined avenues, shikumen lane houses, and the converted creative districts of Tianzifang and Xintiandi.
The Bund, Pudong & the Shanghai Skyline — East Meets West
Shanghai (上海 — 'Upon the Sea' — the largest city in China by population (approximately 24-25 million in the urban area), the world's busiest container port, and the financial and commercial capital of the People's Republic of China): the confrontation across the Huangpu River between the Bund (the 1920s-1930s European colonial banking and trading district on the west bank) and Pudong (the ultra-modern financial district that rose from farmland between 1990 and the present on the east bank) is the defining image of Shanghai and one of the most dramatic urban spectacles in the world.
Shanghai Maglev, Metro & the World's Fastest Urban Transport
The Shanghai Maglev (上海磁浮示范运营线 — the magnetic levitation train line connecting Pudong International Airport to Longyang Road metro station in Pudong, operated since 2004 — the world's first commercially operated high-speed maglev train, reaching a maximum operating speed of 431 km/h (the highest regular commercial operating speed of any ground transportation vehicle in the world)): the 30 km journey from Pudong Airport to Longyang Road takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds, passing through the flat Yangtze delta landscape at a speed at which the details of the landscape become a blur.
Zhujiajiao & the Water Towns — Day Trips from Shanghai
The Jiangnan water towns (江南水乡 — the ancient canal towns of the Yangtze River delta (the area south of the Yangtze known as Jiangnan — 'south of the river') within day-trip distance of Shanghai — the most characteristic surviving examples of the traditional southern Chinese waterway civilization that developed in this region during the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties): the water towns closest to and most easily accessible from Shanghai are Zhujiajiao (朱家角 — 48 km, 1 hour from central Shanghai) and Tongli (同里 — 80 km, in Jiangsu Province).
Longtang & Lane Houses — Everyday Life in the Real Shanghai
Longtang (弄堂 — lòngtáng — the Shanghai term for the lilong (里弄) lane house neighbourhood, the form of dense urban housing that housed the majority of Shanghai's population from the 1870s through the 1940s and still houses millions of Shanghai residents today): the longtang neighbourhood (the block of terraced houses organized around a system of private alleys (弄堂) branching off the public street) is the defining form of Shanghai's ordinary urban landscape, quite distinct from both the grand colonial buildings of the Bund and the shikumen of the French Concession.