Shanghai shining

The most impressive views of Shanghai can be had from the Bund, a historic waterfront area that sits on the west bank of the Huangpu river. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Bund was part of the International Settlement—the section of Shanghai that was administered by a consortium of western nations rather than by the Chinese. The riverbank itself is elevated and people stroll along the Bund or sit under the shade of its trees, perhaps to talk of the changes taking place in their city. Most visitors approach the Bund along Nanjing Donglu. On the northern corner is the famous Peace Hotel, an Art Deco masterpiece that was built as the Cathay by Victor Sassoon in 1926. Its guest list included the likes of Charlie Chaplin, George Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward. Next door is the imposing Bank of China, an architectural mishmash designed in a New York style and later topped with a blue Chinese roof.

For all its energy and wild traffic, Shanghai remains a great walking city. We headed next to the former French Concession, which is one of the most rewarding districts in the city to explore. It has some of the best shops in Shanghai and exudes the feel of an elegant European metropolis—grids of tree-lined streets with carefully restored houses and apartments built in stone, masonry and wood.

Shopping over, we left for Pudong New Area, which consists of the entire eastern bank of the Huangpu river. Two decades ago, the Pudong constituted marshy farmland that supplied vegetables to Shanghai’s markets. It is now the city’s financial and trading hub and a magnet for foreign businesses. Nothing illustrates this better than the German-engineered Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) train, which takes tourists from the city to Pudong airport at a speed of around 450 kmph.

Two of China’s tallest structures are here in Pudong: the 1,500-foot Oriental Pearl Tower, Asia’s tallest TV tower, and the nearly 1,380-foot Jin Mao Tower.

We shot up to the 88th floor of the second in a superfast elevator in less than a minute. The building is highly symbolic. Its 88 floors are auspicious (eight is a lucky number to the Chinese) and the name Jin Mao, meaning ‘economy’ and ‘trade’, also carries the additional meanings of ‘gold’ and ‘prosperity’.

It certainly wasn’t lonely at the top. The observation deck can reportedly accommodate 1,000 people and many tourists were milling around at that hour. A good time to go is apparently early morning before smog shrouds the city or at dusk, when you can stay until dark and watch the glittering skyline created by neon lights.

Smog hangs low over Shanghai on most mornings—supposedly the result of using low-grade coal as the primary fuel for cooking, heating and running factories. Of late, bicycles are giving way to automobiles and buses and this, too, is polluting the air. Moreover, low-grade petrol is often used to run cars.

While you’re at Jin Mao, you might as well send a postcard from what is officially the world’s highest post office. The tower came under media scrutiny in May this year when Frenchman Alain Robert climbed the skyscraper without permission wearing a Spiderman suit. He was jailed briefly and then deported after making the bare-handed ascent. That perhaps explains the ‘No Climbing’ signs at the foot of the building.

We moved on to the Old Town for a lunch of fried pork dumplings, spicy tofu, stir-fried cabbage with Schezuan peppers, sticky rice and chicken pieces cut really small and deep fried in the Cantonese style. The food, it seemed, had taken an ‘oil bath’ before it reached our table. I wondered why Chinese food is often dubbed healthy and fat-free.

Meal over, we entered the Yuyuan Gardens, which was built in the 16th century by a family of rich Ming Dynasty officials. The walled gardens with their shaded alcoves, glittering pools teeming with carp, rockeries and stony recesses are one of Shanghai’s premier sights. From the Yuyuan’s zigzag bridge, children can toss fish food into a murky pond. The garden has been overshadowed by its bazaar, jammed with antique and souvenir shops and teahouses. The shops are excellent for browsing, if you can shake off the persistent shop-owners and staff.

Our last stop for the day was the Jade Buddha Temple, one of the city’s few active Buddhist monasteries. Tourists were pouring into the temple to view the two splendid jade Buddhas, each carved from an individual slab of Burmese jade purportedly brought to Shanghai by a monk in the late 19th century. People were also flocking to the Hall of Heavenly Kings, which houses a superb statue of the Laughing Buddha, and the Great Treasure Hall, where devotees pray to the past, present and future Buddhas.

As we left the city the next day, we carried with us memories of a city on the cutting edge of China’s race for modernisation. A haven for gangsters in the 1930s, Shanghai has reversed its decline with such acumen that it has become the talk of the town. The smog that perpetually hangs over the city may not allow people a glimpse of the sun too often, but it will not be wrong to say that Shanghai has found its place in the sun and is making the most of it.