Shanghai Things to Do Tips by Guantanamera Top 5 Page for this destination

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank dome.

Shown here, the exterior of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank as seen from the Bund Promenade... Notice the old European style architecture in the columns and dome... Of course, today the Chinese take care to show that the building is not owned by the European imperialists by topping it with Chinese flags...

Address: 12 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu.

Shanghai Library Internet Room.

Here is an actual digital image of Shanghai Library's internet room. The person standing in the foreground is checking in at the desk. This is where you will show your passport and pay the very inexpensive RMB 4/per hour (USD $.50!) rate to use the internet. Then you'll be assigned to one of the approximately 40 computers available...

Address: 1555 Huaihai Zhonglu.

Shanghai Library interior.

Shown here is the interior of the Shanghai Public Library, highlighting the ultra-modern architecture as noted in the graceful spiral staircase, atrium windows and beautiful integration of plants and trees into the space... Shanghai Library is open every day of the year from 08:30 - 20:30...

Address: 1555 Huaihai Zhonglu.

Website: http://www.library.sh.cn/english/

Shanghai Library.

Pictured here, the grounds and entrance stairway to the Shanghai Public Library, a new and very modern facility which is one of the 10 biggest libraries in the entire world, in addition to being the largest library in China... The library is open to visitors from anywhere in the world...

Address: 1555 Huaihai Zhonglu.

Pudong. Pudong Review

Pictured here, a nocturnal view of the exterior of the soaring Jinmao Building, located in Shanghai's futuristic Pudong district, the budding financial and business center of modern China... This particular building is occupied by the Grand Hyatt Hotel, beginning at the 54th floor and continuing up to the 87th floor... Both the 54th and the 87th floors have observation decks though there is a minimum fee of around USD $15 to visit the 87th floor...

Directions: Lujiazui Station (Metro Line 2)

Oriental Pearl Tower. Oriental Pearl Tower Review

Pictured here, the most easily recognizable architectural feature of Shanghai's futuristic Pudong district, called the Oriental Pearl Tower, located just across the Huangpu Jiang from the Bund, where this photo was snapped... The tower's obvious abstraction of a colossal pink phallus is readily evident...

Directions: Pudong.

Lion statue.

Here is a statue of a lion that sits in front of one of the big banks on Zhongshan Dong Yilu, in the heart of the Bund... A lingering reminder of the imperialist era of the opium wars, this lion represents to me the legacy of ancient Rome, as embodied in the various western descendents of Rome: France, Spain, England, America... The lion that symbolized most obviously the Roman conquest of Carthage by Scipio Africanus... It was that north African lion, later memorialized by Delacroix... That was the lion I saw there in Shanghai...

Address: 2 Lujiazui Lu, Pudong New Area

Directions: 1 block west of Lujiazui Station (Metro Line 2)

American Consulate.

Protected behind these tall lengthy walls is the American Consulate General of Shanghai... The location of the consulate on Huaihai Road is certainly prestigious enough, and the building itself seems to possess that feeling of old Shanghai establishment and high society... This consulate processes only nonimmigrant visas for travel in the United States. Those needing immigration or fiancee/fiance visas must apply to the Consulate General in Guangzhou...

Address: 1469 Huai Hai Zhong Lu

Phone: (86-21) 6433 - 6880

Xintiandi.

Xintiandi is a very trendy and upscale district in the center of Shanghai, just south of Huaihai Road and east of Chongqing Nanlu... It has numerous expensive shops, restaurants and bars, for the elite set... Pictured here, one of the finest examples of the Xintiandi architectural style, a small privately owned mansion...

Huangpu Jiang Pollution.

This photo here shows a good example of the heavy pollution levels that exist in the Huangpu Jiang... This photo was taken directly from the Bund Promenade itself, and I could have taken photos exactly like this all day long, every minute, and they'd all have completely new and different garbage in them, as new trash streams alongside the Bund, replacing the junk that came immediately before it...