Tourism Attraction
1. Shanghai Museum
Are you interested in Chinese history?
Shanghai Museum has been famous for its large collection of rare cultural piece. The museum now houses over 120,000 pieces of cultural relics in twelve categories, including Chinese bronze, ceramics, paintings and calligraphy, and artifacts.
Shanghai Museum is especially well-known for its collection of brozen pieces. The 1,200 square meter exhibition room has displayed more than 400 beautifully decorated brazen, which deliver a panoramic picture of China from 18th century BC to the 3rd century BC. The items exhibited include the bronze wine vessel, food vessel, musical instrument, water vessel, weapon and some other vessels from the Xia Dynasty (ca, 21st century B.C.) to the Warring States Period (221 B.C.) Visitors can also get a clear picture of what ancient silk looks like in the Seal Showroom. The room consists of 4 parts, and displays more than 500 pieces of seals that are works from the Zhou Dynasty(1024-256 BC to Qin Dynasty(1644-1911).
If you are interested in Chinese architecture, you should not miss the room showing Chinese furniture of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Over 100 pieces of various styles of furniture made in the Ming and Qing Dynasty were displayed. There are also some models of valuable furniture and wooden buried warrior figure of Ming Dynasty unearthed in the area around Shanghai. Stepped into the room, visitors almost feel like he is in a Chinese-style garden and mansion.
On the Arts and Crafts by Chinese Minority room, visitor can enjoy about 600 pieces of work of art, such as dress and personal adornment, dyed and woven embroidery, metal art ware, sculpture, ceramics, bamboo wares used by the minority. Different styles, remarkable color and creative conception embody the pursuit of happier life.
Other rooms here are Ancient Chinese Calligraphy Room, Ancient Chinese Ceramics Room, Ancient Chinese Jades Room, Ancient Chinese Numismatics Room, Ancient Chinese Paintings Room and Ancient Chinese Sculpture Room.
The Shanghai museum also has a library collection of more than 200,000 books on Chinese art and history.
2.Jade Buddha Temple
The temple is an active one, with 70 resident monks at last court. The temple is built between 1911 and 1918 in the style of the Song Dynasty, with symmetrical halls and courtyards, upturned eaves, and bright yellow walls. The exterior is readily identifiable by the bright saffron walls. Inside, the centerpiece is a 1.9-metre-high white jade Buddha, which was installed here after a monk has brought it from Burma to Zhejiang Province in 1882. The seated Buddha, encrusted with jewels, is said to weigh 1,000 kg. A smaller, reclining Buddha from the same shipment lies on a redwood bed. In the large hall are three gold-plated Buddha's, and other halls house ferocious-looking deities. Artifacts abound, not all on display, and some 7,000 Buddhist sutras line the walls. Also in the precincts is a branch of the Antiques & Curio Store that sells miniature sandalwood drums and gongs, replicas of the large ones used in ceremonies. The 70 monks who live and work here can sometimes be seen worshiping. A vegetarian restaurant can be found on the temple grounds.
Tips
No photography of the Jade Buddha is permitted, but postcards are available and photography was allowed in other rooms.
3. Nanjing Road
Nanjing Road is one of the most important commercial and tourist streets in Shanghai, which stretches from the bund to Yanan Xilu. It is a good place to learn the history and culture of Shanghai. About 18 billion yuna or 2.17 US dollar of Shanghai investment will be fed into the ambitious project to build the century old Nanjing Road into a first-class commercial destination in the next ten years. The Nanjing Road will be built into a leading world-famous commercial destination, like the Champs Elyees in Paris and Fifth Avenue in New York.
4. The Oriental Pearl TV Tower
Towering high up in the Pudong New Area, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower has been the landmark of Shanghai. The tower is 468 m high, the highest in Asia and the third highest in the world, next to the 553,33 –meter-high Toronto Tower Canada and the 533 meters high TV Tower in Moscow, Russia. The tower consists of 15 spheres of different sizes at different levels creating an artistic conception of "large and small pearls dropping onto a jade plate". It has become a symbolic architecture and a favorable spot for tourists in Shanghai.
There is a revolving teahouse and a sightseeing platform, which can accommodate 1600 people in the largest ball. Here visitor can get a panoramic view of the Bund and Pudong New area.
There are 6 elevators within the tower-five installed in the three columns, one between the height of 250 meters and 341 meters. One of the five elevators is double-decked. Two medium-sized elevators, accommodating 30 persons each and running at a speed of 7 meters per second, cover the distance from the bottom of the tower to the highest sphere within 40 seconds.
5. Shanghai Old Street
Known as Fangband Road, "Shanghai Old Street" with a total of 825 metres, is adjacent to the Yuyuan Garden Bazaar Area and runs in an east-west direction from Zhonghua Road to Henan Road South, with both ends marked by decorated archways.
China's diverse history, culture and ethnic mix provides a great store of traditional arts, crafts and literature.
The street can be divided into the eastern and western section. The eastern section keeps the characteristics of residences in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican day. The houses on both sides of the street are fitted with checkered windows, shop-fronts of wooden boards, balustrades and swing doors, roofs with upturned eaves and protruding corners, laced drain-pipes and horse-shape wall tops. The western section is filled with Ming and Qing style architectures, with black tiles and white-washed walls, red columns and upturned eaves, showcasing styles of old Shanghai. The western section has a number of antique & curio shops as well as restaurants and teahouses, and the eastern sections has a variety of shops including florists, shoe and clothing retailers, noodle restaurants and specialty dealers selling Chinese tea and snacks such as "Five Fragrant Beans". There in the street you will find hundred-year old stores, Tonghanchun, Laotongsheng, Wuliangcai, Wanyouquan, Qiu Tianbao, Old Shanghai Tea House, Deshun Western Food Restaurant, Chunfeng Deyi Restaurant, Chunfeng Deyi Restaurant, Xishi Soya Beancurd Store, Dingniangzi Cloth Store, Rongshun Restaurant and Baoyintang. There are also newly opened Danfeng Tea House, Clinic of renowned traditional Chinese medical doctors and others of traditional characteristics.
Shanghai Old Street is an ideal place to explore the Old Shanghai, looking back to the old days.
6. World Financial Center
Address: Financial Trading District, Z4-1, Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai
Duration of Construction: the beginning of 1997 - August 29, 2008
Construction Area: 381600 square meters
Floors: 101 floors overground, 3 floor underground,
Height: 492 meters
Architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox & East China Architecture and Design Institute
Developer: Mori Building Corporation
Contractors: China State Construction Engineering Corporation & Shanghai Construction General Company
Construction Summary
Shanghai World Financial Center was invested more than USD 1 billion mainly by Mori Building Corporation, Japan and other over 40 corporations. It is close to Jinmao Tower, the second high building in Shanghai. The center is 492 meters high and 104 floors, including 3 floors underground.
The Plan of Building
The structure features 3 floors of underground parking, shops and a conference center on floors 1 through 5, offices on floors 7 through 77, a hotel which managed by Hyatt Group located on floors 79 through 93, and finally observation and exhibition areas on floors 94 through 100. To protect the building from the fierce winds, the Shanghai World Financial Center settles two tuned mass dampers on 90th floors to reduce the building’s sway during windstorms and earthquakes. There are three viewing platforms in 94th to 100th, the 94th is an exhibition ground and viewing platform with an area of 700 sq. meters, 97th is a overpass, and a highest viewing pavilion with 55 meters long in 100th. It is higher than viewing platform of Canadian TV Tower (447 meters overground) and Dubai Tower (440 meters overground), and it will be the highest viewing platform in the world.
Sightseeing on Shanghai World Financial Center
Shanghai World Financial Center is the highest building in Shanghai, it creates Shanghai new landmark with Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Jinmao Tower. It takes about 1 minute from first floor to 95th by the elevator with a speed of 10 meters per second.
In the 100th viewing pavilion, visitors can see the peak of Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Jinmao Tower. In the 55 meters long viewing gallery, visitors can see the moving cars and passerby clearly through 3 transparent glass floors. The observation bridge atop the building will be the highest outdoor observation deck in the world.
The admission ticket price
Shanghai World Financial Center was opened to the public on August 30, the present price is CNY 100 for 94th, CNY 110 for 94th and 97th and CNY 150 for 94th, 97th and 100th, and it is expected to receive 300 million person times.
7. The Bund
China may not be a traditional honeymoon but it's waiting to surprise.
The Bund, which extends from Jinling Road in the south to the Waibaidu Bridge over the Suzhou Creek( the whole project of the cleanup of the Suzhou Creek is estimated to cost 20 billion yuan or 2.42 billion US dollar and by 2010 hopefully the river will once again be clean enough to encourage marine life back to the area) in the north, is on the western bank of the 114 kilometer long Hangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze River.
The Bund is one of the most recognizable architectural symbols of Shanghai. "Bund" derives from an Anglo-Indian word for an embankment along a muddy waterfront and that is what it was in the beginning when the first British company opened an office there in 1846. It has been the epitome of elegance throughout its 100-year history.Now many attractions new constructions have been erected in addition. A 771-metre long retaining wall for flood control was built in a century. Atop the wall is a spacious walkway for sightseeing. Paved with colorful tiles and dotted with flower-beds and European-style garden lights. It is a good place for a leisurely stroll and a view of the Huangpu River.
The commemorative square at the crossroad on Nanjing Road (E) features a clear fountain and the statue of Chen Yi, the first mayor of Shanghai in new China. Opposite the Custom Building is an electronic clock that shows standard times in various world localities on a water-like curtain. All around are Chinese wisterias, gingko trees and azaleas. Buildings in Greek, Renaissance and Baroque styles can be viewed in the western part of the Bund.
The boatride on the River will take the visitors down to the estuary of the Yangtze River in 3.15 hours.
8. Yuyuan Garden
Classical Chinese gardens are living works of art. Yuyuan Garden is located in the center of Shanghai's Old City, not far from the Bund. With a total area of less than 5 acres, it has more than 40 attractions in the inner and outer gardens, both built in the Ming Dynasty classical style.
The garden is believed to be built in the Ming Dynasty more than 400 years ago. Built in traditional Chinese style with numerous rock and tree garden areas, ponds, dragon-lined walls and numerous doorways and zigzagging bridges separating the various garden areas and pavilions.
The garden covers a significant space and include a few halls, springs and other buildings of interest and cultural relics including century-old furniture, calligraphy and paintings of famous artists,clay sculptures and brick carvings, some inscriptions and couplets. One of the highlights in the garden is the Exquisite Jade Rock. It is a 5-ton porous, beautifully shaped grotesque rock which is said to be carried from Tia lake in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. The rock is characterized by its wrinkled appearance, slender shape, translucent nature and numerous holes eroded by water. An interesting legend goes that the rock was found some 1000 years ago and it was originally one of the Emperor Huizong's private collections before it found its way in the Yuyuan Garden.
The exquisite layout, beautiful scenery, and the artistic style of the garden architecture have made the garden one of the highlights in Shanghai. The surrounding bazaar area provides good shopping opportunity, where traditional Chinese products and gold and jewels are available on sale.
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