Being one of the top ten Shanghai attractions, Shanghai Bund is a must-visit place starting from the Garden Bridge, which is at the connecting point of the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Creek, to the Jinling Road East and winding a length of 1500 meters. The most visible reminder of Shanghai's colonial heritage, the Bund attracts millions of visitors from home and abroad each year.

The word "Bund" derives from an Anglo-Indian word for an embankment along a muddy waterfront and that is what it was at the beginning when the first British company opened an office there in 1846. The Bund became the site of some of the earliest foreign settlements after Shanghai was opened as one of five "Treaty Ports" specified in the Nanjing Treaty that ended the Opium War in 1842. Because of its proximity to the Yangtze River - the path into central China, Shanghai grew rapidly as the economic center of foreign interests. The most famous and attractive sight which is at the west side of the Bund is a "museum of international architecture" with the various buildings of different architectural styles including Gothic, Baroque, Romanesque, Classicism and the Renaissance, making the picturesque Bund more European than Chinese in character. Although they were not designed by the same person or built in the same period, they achieved a harmonic outline when viewed as a whole.

The flower-stands together with street lamps have become the resort place as well as sightseeing for the ordinary people. The Bund is one of the favorite morning exercise spots for Shanghai's early risers. It also offers a captivating view of the modern Pudong with its Oriental Pearl TV Tower and numerous majestic skyscrapers. After sunset the view becomes even better. When lights are turned on between 7PM and 9PM, the Bund has the best nocturnal scene to offer.

Many years ago, a "Lover's Wall" made the Bund more romantic. The 500-metre section between Beijing Road East and Yan'an Road East was packed with lovers kissing and hugging, regardless of the reproachful glances cast by passer-bys!

   

The area that has changed most dramatically in the city in recent years is the eastern bank of the Huangpu River, and the district known as Pudong. Only ten years old this year, Pudong symbolizes everything that is new and exciting about Shanghai. The Oriental Pearl TV Tower, is a recent construction, which heralded the beginning of the Special Economic Region over the river. Development here is occurring at an incredible rate. The International Conference Center was recently completed, in time for the Fortune 500 conference which attracted literally thousands of investors to the city. Shanghai's Wall Street is also over here and hundreds of commuters make the trip under the river every day to work. The Jinmao Tower, the tallest building in China and the third tallest in the world, now soars above even the TV Tower, skyscrapers are shooting up all over the place, and what were empty fields only one year ago, are now homes to offices and luxury hotels.

The Shanghai Museum is situated on the People’s Square, the political and cultural centre of Shanghai. The square itself boasts a giant musical fountain and some attractive green recreational areas where locals dance and fly kites. It is surrounded by the City Hall, an underground shopping centre and the Grand Shanghai Theatre. It is the Shanghai Museum, opened in 1996, however, that draws the most interest. The building is shaped like a giant bronze urn, and the museum contains a collection of 123,000 cultural artifacts in 21 categories. Chief among the museum’s collections are bronzeware, ceramics, calligraphy  art works. Address: 2 Ren Min Da Dao; Open Daily 9AM to 5PM, 7PM Saturdays.