Shanghai

Why this city? We were discussing over population and crowding of Indian cities. And someone mentioned Shanghai as the city that is gradually sinking by over a centimeter per year. Hence I started google'ing the city.

History of the city:

- Became a walled city in the 16th century
- Opened to foreign trade by the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842
- Until World War II, Shanghai was a divided city
* Most part was a British concession, since 1843
* North Shanghai became a US concession in 1863
* A French consession was formed in 1849
The zones were under extraterrestrial administration, maintained their own courts,
police system and armed forces.
- The zones were occupied by the Japanese after December 7, 1941; recaptured by
Britain and US is 1943 and France in 1946
- After World War II, the Central Chinese government for the first time gained
control of the entire city
- Attacked by Communist forces in May 1949
- Pudong was declared a special development zone, for international trade and a
financial center in 1990

Location:

Shanghai means "on sea".



Sinking

Found an article dated September 13, 2003, on BBC news online related to this topic. It said that parts of Shanghai are sinking at the rate of one and a half centimeters a year, due to the weight of its skyscrapers. Shanghai is the home to China's tallest building and a new building under construction will be the world's tallest. Concern for the sinking city will result in slashing new high-rise buildings. (The rate of acceptable sinking is 1 centimeter/year.)

It was reported in 2004, that 3 railway tracks had to be closed, due to sinking earth. Read this article for further details.

Visting Shanghai

Getting to Shanghai by Air:

Shanghai has two international airports
- Pudong International airport (PVG) - handles 60% traffic
- Hongqiao International airport (SHA) - handles 40% traffic

Best time to visit Shanghai:

The best time to visit is in spring and early autumn. The temperatures range from 50 F to 72 F. The summers and winters are severe.

Shanghai Attractions



Huang Pu River and The Bund - The Huang Pu River divides Shanghai into two parts, east and west. The Bund (meaning "muddy waterfront") is a famous waterfront. The Jin Mao building, 1380 feet tall (tallest building in China) can be seen while walking across the Bund.

Yu Yuan Garden (Garden of Contentment) - It is located in the center of Shanghai's old city and is more than 400 years old. It is spread across five acres and is divided into six parts by five boundary walls.

Shanghai Museum - The exterior design of the museum symbolizes a round heaven (dome) and a square land (base). The galleries of the museum cover the following categories of Chinese art - ancient bronze, ceramics, sculpture, ancient jade, paintings, calligraphy, coins, Ming and Qing furniture, seals and minor nationalities. It is well known for its ancient bronze collection. The museum has a huge collection of books, around 200,000, on Chinese art and history.

Nanjing Road - As a part of the British concession, the Nanjing Road became the earliest shopping street in Shanghai for foreign goods. Now the 3.4 mile long road is dominated by modern shopping malls, upscale stores like Tiffany, theaters and international hotels. It also has about a hundred traditional stores selling silks, jade, embroidery, wools. A trackless sightseeing train provides a tour of the street.

Jade Buddha Temple - Built in 1928, the temple houses a 1.9 meter high, 1000 kg, white jade Buddha. Around 7000 Buddhist sutras line the walls. About 70 monks live in this temple and work there. The temple has a vegetarian restaurant.

Oriental Pearl Tower - Standing high at 1536 feet, the tower is the world's third tallest TV and radio tower, after Toronto and Moscow. Visitors can travel up and down the tower in double-decker elevators that can hold 50 people. The tower has a revolving teahouse and a sightseeing platform which can accommodate 1600 people.

Shanghai Stock exchange:

The Shanghai stock exchange was founded on November 26, 1990 and was operational from December 19, 1990. As of February 2006, the number of listings is 1075.

Shanghai Stock Exchange - Home Page

References

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0861054.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3105948.stm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-06/11/content_338498.htm
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/shanghai/getting-there.htm
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/index.htm
http://www.chinahighlights.com/shanghai/attractions.htm
http://www.sse.com.cn/sseportal/en_us/ps/home.shtml
http://www.sse.com.cn/sseportal/webapp/datapresent/
TradingSummariesMonthlyAct?reportName=BizCompTradingSummariesMonthlyRpt

Wikipedia