Shanghai Travel Guide

Shanghai (上海; Zånhae in Shanghainese, Shànghǎi in Mandarin) is the most developed city in China, the country's main center for finance and fashion, and one of the world's most populous and important cities. There are several ways to rate the size of cities; by the one Wikipedia uses, based on UN numbers, Shanghai is the third largest city in the world after Tokyo and Delhi. By any measure, it is in the top ten for the world and either the largest in China or second to Chongqing. Shanghai is split in two by the Huangpu River (黄浦江 Huángpǔ Jiāng), which divides the city into Puxi (浦西 Pǔxī), west of the river, and Pudong (浦东 Pǔdōng), east of the river. Both terms can be used in a general sense for everything on their side of the river, including various suburbs. However, they are more often used in a much narrower sense where Puxi is the older (since the 19th century) city center (#Downtown below) and Pudong the mass of new (since 1990) high-rise development right across the river from th

Shanghai is one of China's main travel hubs and arriving from pretty much anywhere is easy.

Shanghai has an excellent public transport network with the one of the world's most extensive metro (subway and elevated train) systems as its backbone and buses that go more-or-less everywhere else. Taxis are plentiful, and cheap by international standards, and getting around on foot is often practical. Metro, taxi and walking will be the main means of transport for most travellers. The city is huge (24 million), though, and all transport methods sometimes have problems with congestion.

Shanghai, despite its size, is a very safe city, and violent crime is incredibly rare; it is generally not a problem for women to roam the streets alone at night. Petty crimes like pickpocketing and bike theft can sometimes occur, though they are not as common as they used to be with the ubiquity of CCTVs these days. Sexual harassment occasionally occurs on crowded public transport. Pay extra caution before the Chinese New Year (in Jan or Feb depending on lunar calendar), as thieves may be more

Accommodation in Shanghai can be rivaled by few cities in China, in terms of both variety and services. There are establishments for all types of travelers, from backpacker options for the weary to top-of-the-line hotels and serviced apartments for those wishing to be spoiled. Puxi has both new and old hotels with classy architectural styles and charm, some of them described in stories when Shanghai may have been the only place in China known to much of the rest of the world, while modern amenit