| Book a cheap airline ticket to Shanghai on CheapOair.com and visit what is probably the most evocative cities in all of China. Shanghai is the second city of the world's oldest surviving ancient civilization, Shanghai is surprisingly new. Literally 'Above the Sea', Shanghai is a port city on the Huangpu River, where the Yangzi River empties into the East China Sea.
In 2004, Shanghai hosted the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix and will also benefit from the knock-on effects of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Centre-stage status will follow, in 2010, when Shanghai hosts the World Expo. Easily China's richest city, Shanghai is now a showcase for modern China - replete with hundreds of futuristic skyscrapers, increasing urban affluence and restaurants, bars, hotels and levels of brand awareness that compete with New York, Paris and London.
Shanghai boasts a rich and, often troubled, history and has kept many relics of it intact, with municipal conservation policies preserving large swathes of the colonial architectural inheritance. Add to this a city government that has implemented grandiose urban planning on an unprecedented scale and the result is one of China's most elegant and futuristic cities, and certainly its most sophisticated and cosmopolitan.
The Huangpu River separates the west (Puxi) and east (Pudong) Shanghai, with the historic Bund promenade on one side and the futuristic Pudong New Area on the other. The Old Town contains some cultural delights, such as the Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar, while People's Square formerly a racecourse, and in the 1980s a location for protest is once again the focus of the city's cultural and entertainment scene.
Shanghai has a frenetic nightlife scene with a proliferation of venues. There is also a strong ex-pat strain in the nightlife scene, which makes it very welcoming to outsiders. Bars and clubs seem to be everywhere, although they are concentrated particularly along Hengshan Lu, Dongping Lu, Xintiandi and Maoming Nan Lu (with offshoots in Fuxing Park and the grounds of the Ruijin Guest House, Nanjing Xi Lu for a quieter, more mature ambience and Julu Lu. A new 'bar street' is due to open at Tongren Lu/Nanjing Lu by the end of November 2004. As ever, the major hotels Grand Hyatt, Hilton, JW Marriott, Four Seasons and Westin, in particular have fine high-class bars. Bar prices can be surprisingly hefty, though many bars offer happy hours and one-price-all-you-can-drink deals in response to increased competition.
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