Travel Features

A city of superlatives, Shanghai has ambitious aims

By Andreas Landwehr Apr 6, 2010, 13:03 GMT

Visitors stroll through the historical Bund area in Shanghai, China on 29 March 2010. EPA/Qilai Shen

Shanghai - It is unquestionably China's most impressive city: self-confident Shanghai is laying claim to a new greatness. Above all, the port city aims to replace Hong Kong as Asia's financial hub.

Two of the world's tallest skyscrapers in the financial district of Pudong underscore Shanghai's ambitions. And despite the global financial crisis, a new mega-tower, the Shanghai Centre, is rising up and when completed in 2014 it will be 632 metres tall, surpassed only by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

What the 2008 Olympics were for Beijing, the Expo 2010 starting on May 1 will be to Shanghai. With an expected 70 million visitors and 250 participating countries and organizations, it will be the largest world exhibition of all time.

The sea of houses in the mega-city of 18 million people is a mixture of modernity, consumption and everyday Chinese life - paired together with the remnants of exotic Asian features which are increasingly threatened. In the Chinese quarter around the Yuyang gardens with the ancient tea house, tradition is still tangible: curved roofs rise towards the sky, red lanterns decorate the lanes. Streetside kitchens offer fried crabs and squid on skewers.

Masses of people make their way through the alleys. Shops offer a wide variety of pearls, plastic toys and kitsch articles. The penetrating scent of 'chou doufu,' a deep-fried version of the tofu soya bean cheese, hangs in the air.

'Rolex watch? iPhone?' a black market dealer asks foreigners, holding to their faces a brochure showing imitation handbags and luxury watches. Some of the buyers will end up being duped and then face problems with the customs authorities when they return home.

Things are more relaxed on Old China Street (Fangban Lu), where elderly women are selling sweet baked goods. In the floor above the local shops, noodle soup and Shanghai's famous stuffed pastry specialities, baozi and xiaolongbao, are served. One can even order these steamed dishes without any qualms from the streetside vendors.

A foreigner need only know one thing: where many Chinese locals are eating, the food must be good. And if there is no menu with pictures of the dishes, you may simply point to what's on the table of the people sitting next to you.

The riverside promenade along the Huangpu River is called Bund. The customs house of 1927 is found here, as are the 1936-built Bank of China building and the Chicago-style 'Peace Hotel' with its Art- Deco foyer. However, it is currently closed due to renovation work.

Many other old buildings stand empty or they are in dire need of some refurbishing. There is little flair along this promenade, even though such global brands as Prada or Zegna believe that they must be represented on the Bund with their stores.

By contrast, nicely restored and exuding the charm of bygone years is the 1930s-era 'Garden Hotel' in the old French quarter. The building was once upon a time the exclusive French club. After the communist victory of 1949 Mao Tse Tung made it his residence.

Not far away, the core of the French concession is to be found - the 'King Albert Apartments' of 1930. Here, the street noise vanishes among the four-storey buildings and is replaced by the sound of birds chirping. Clothes are hung out to dry on poles extending from the windows.

For the city authorities, such an image of free-hanging laundry no longer fits the image of a modern metropolis. Likewise, they would like to find a way to persuade the Chinese not to go shopping in their pyjamas - a charming quirk which can be attributed to the hot summer temperatures and the crowded living conditions.

In times past, several families often shared a single bath. Everybody saw everyone else in their pyjamas - so why not simply go around the entire day in one's comfortable sleeping outfit?

Typical of the crowded housing is the 'Cite Bourgogne' from 1930. Some of the alley houses, called lilongs, were put under monumental protection in the 1990s, but many others were torn down.

And the Expo 2010 is also sometimes merely an excuse for tearing down old quarters. 'The people who lived there can no longer afford new apartments and must move away entirely,' says 44-year-old taxi driver Wang Jinjun.

In the People's Park there is a marriage market on Saturdays and Sundays.

'Our children don't have any time and must work. So we are helping them to find a spouse,' says one father, Yang Jieyun. On leaflets, the candidates promote themselves: 'Female, 27 years old, attractive, pale skin, from an intellectual family, high standards, annual income 70,000 yuan, works for a top-500 company.'

Another says: 'Searching for a balanced man of quality who is registered to live in Shanghai and has a bachelor's degree.'

The parents take an active role in the transactions. 'How tall is your daughter?' one asks another parent. Watching the action, one foreign female tourist comments that 'it's like at an animal auction.'

But arranged marriages have a long tradition in China. Yang Jieyun explains what the priorities are: 'The person is the decisive factor. Then comes the education, the occupation and then, if he has his own apartment.' Love? This does not occur to him as a requirement for a marriage.