Shanghai

Shanghai (上海) is one of the four municipalities of the People's Republic of China. It is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze, with the Huangpu River flowing through it. With a population of 24.28 million as of 2019, it is the most populous urban area in China and the second most populous city proper in the world. Greater Shanghai is a global center for finance, technology, innovation and transportation and the Port of Shanghai is the world's busiest container port.

Shanghai has been described as the "showpiece" of the booming economy of China. Featuring several architecture styles such as Art Deco and shikumen, the city is renowned for its Lujiazui skyline, museums and historic buildings—including the City God Temple, Yu Garden, the China Pavilion and buildings along the Bund.

Shanghai is also known for its sugary cuisine, distinctive dialect and vibrant international flair. Every year, the city hosts numerous national and international events, including Shanghai Fashion Week, the Chinese Grand Prix and ChinaJoy.

Shanghai has a rich collection of buildings and structures of various architectural styles. The Bund, located by the bank of the Huangpu River, is home to a row of early 20th-century architecture, ranging in style from the neoclassical HSBC Building to the Art Deco Sassoon House (now part of the Peace Hotel). Many areas in the former foreign concessions are also well-preserved, the most notable being the French Concession.

Shanghai is also home to many architecturally distinctive and even eccentric buildings, including the Shanghai Museum, the Shanghai Grand Theatre, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, and the Oriental Pearl Tower. Despite rampant redevelopment, the Old City still retains some traditional architecture and designs, such as the Yu Garden, an elaborate Jiangnan style garden.

The Bund has been revitalized several times. The first was in 1986, with a new promenade by the Dutch architect Paulus Snoeren. The second was before the 2010 Expo, which includes restoration of the century-old Waibaidu Bridge and reconfiguration of traffic flow.

Some of Shanghai's buildings feature Soviet neoclassical architecture or Stalinist architecture, though the city has fewer such structures than Beijing. These buildings were mostly erected between the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and the Sino-Soviet Split in the late 1960s.

Shanghai—Lujiazui in particular—has numerous skyscrapers, making it the fifth city in the world with the most skyscrapers. Among the most prominent examples are the 421 m (1,381 ft) high Jin Mao Tower, the 492 m (1,614 ft) high Shanghai World Financial Center, and the 632 m (2,073 ft) high Shanghai Tower, which is the tallest building in China and the second tallest in the world.

Completed in 2015, the tower takes the form of nine twisted sections stacked atop each other, totaling 128 floors. It is featured in its double-skin facade design, which eliminates the need for either layer to be opaqued for reflectivity as the double-layer structure has already reduced the heat absorption.

The futuristic-looking Oriental Pearl Tower, at 468 m (1,535 ft), is located nearby at the northern tip of Lujiazui. Skyscrapers outside of Lujiazui include the White Magnolia Plaza in Hongkou, the Shimao International Plaza in Huangpu, and the Shanghai Wheelock Square in Jing'an.

Shanghai has an extensive public transportation system comprising metros, buses, ferries, and taxis, all of which can be accessed using a Shanghai Public Transport Card.

Shanghai's rapid transit system, the Shanghai Metro, incorporates both subway and light metro lines and extends to every core urban district as well as neighboring suburban districts. As of 2019, there are 17 metro lines (excluding the Shanghai maglev train and Jinshan Railway), 415 stations, and 704.91 km (438 mi) of lines in operation, making it the longest network in the world. On 8 March 2019, it set the city's daily metro ridership record with 13.3 million.

Opened in 2004, the Shanghai maglev train is the first and the fastest commercial high-speed maglev in the world, with a maximum operation speed of 430 km/h (267 mph). The train can complete the 30-kilometer (19 mi) journey between Longyang Road Station and Pudong International Airport in 7 minutes 20 seconds, comparing to 32 minutes by Metro Line 2 and 30 minutes by car.

Shanghai has an extensive public park system; by 2018, the city had 300 parks, of which 281 had free admission, and the per capita park area was 8.2 m2 (88 sq ft). Some of the parks also have become popular tourist attractions due to their unique location, history, or architecture.

The People's Square park, located in the heart of downtown Shanghai, is especially well known for its proximity to other major landmarks in the city. Fuxing Park, located in the former French Concession, features formal French-style gardens and is surrounded by high-end bars and cafes.

Zhongshan Park in western central Shanghai is famous for its monument of Chopin, the tallest statue dedicated to the composer in the world. Built in 1914 as Jessfield Park, it once contained the campus of St. John's University, Shanghai's first international college; today, the park features sakura and peony gardens and a 150-year-old platanus, and it also serves as an interchange hub in the metro system.

One of Shanghai's newer parks is the Xujiahui Park, which was built in 1999, on the former grounds of the Great Chinese Rubber Works Factory and the EMI Recording Studio (now La Villa Rouge restaurant). The park has an artificial lake with a sky bridge running across the park.

Shanghai Botanical Garden is located 12 km (7 mi) southwest of the city center and was established in 1978. In 2011, the largest botanical garden in Shanghai—Shanghai Chen Shan Botanical Garden—opened in Songjiang District.

Other notable parks in Shanghai include Lu Xun Park, Century Park, Gucun Park, Gongqing Forest Park, and Jing'an Park.

The Shanghai Disney Resort Project was approved by the government on 4 November 2009 and opened in 2016. The $4.4 billion theme park and resort in Pudong features a castle that is the biggest among Disney's resorts. More than 11 million people visited the resort in its first year of operation.