---
node: dest_shanghai
type: destination
slug: shanghai
title: "Shanghai"
lead: "Shanghai is China's largest city and its financial powerhouse, where a river divides a colonial waterfront from one of the world's most futuristic skylines. The Bund and the towers of Pudong facing it are the city's signature view."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: shanghai.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pudong_Shanghai_November_2017_panorama.jpg"
image_author: "King of Hearts"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

Shanghai grew from a treaty port into a metropolis of some twenty-five million at the mouth of the Yangtze, and the Huangpu River still splits it in two. On the west bank the Bund keeps its parade of early-twentieth-century banks and hotels; on the east, Pudong answers with a cluster of supertall towers built in a single generation. Between them lie the plane-tree streets of the old French Concession, canal-town escapes and a restless appetite for food, shopping and the new.

## Highlights

The Bund promenade faces the Oriental Pearl and the Shanghai Tower across the river, best seen at dusk when both banks light up. The classical Yu Garden and its bazaar sit in the old town, while the French Concession offers shaded streets, cafes and boutiques. Nanjing Road runs as the great shopping spine, and a short trip reaches the water towns of Zhujiajiao or Suzhou.