Introducing Shanghai
Whore of the Orient and Paris of the East; city of quick riches, ill-gotten gains and fortunes lost; the domain of socialites and swindlers, adventurers and drug runners, missionaries, gangsters and pimps, all owing more to Marlene Dietrich than Mao Zedong - Shanghai has a history so impregnated with myth that it's hard to decide whether it was once a paradise or an all-encompassing evil.
The foreign powers crashed the party in 1842 and in less than 100 years, Shanghai had swelled beyond its sensibilities and was cut short just as quickly by the communist revolution. It is this short century of Shanghai's history that makes the city so appealing and appalling, and that has left monuments like bones to ponder over.
For Shanghai put away its dancing shoes in 1949 and the masses began shuffling to a different tune - the dour strains of Marxist-Leninism and the wail of the factory siren. All through these years of oblivion, the architects of this social experiment firmly wedged one foot against the door on Shanghai's past, until the effort started to tell. Regarded with suspicion by the communists as a hotbed of Western imperialist influence, the city has for decaded played second fiddle to Beijing.
Today the giant city of Shanghai has reawakened and the government is catching up at a breathtaking pace, pouring millions into the Pudong economic zone and creating a glass-and-steel skyline that rivals the Bund in a face-off between past and future. Shanghai is the world's largest construction site, evolving at a pace so unmatched by any other Chinese city that even the morning ritual of flinging open one's hotel curtains reveals new facets to the skyline. Catch the city's historical charms while you still can - slabs of old Shanghai are vanishing almost overnight.
As the past is levelled, the future, it seems, is already here. The world's tallest building is on the cards, Shanghai's stylish hotels offer aromatherapy and fusion cuisine, the latest fashion trends hang in minimalist malls way beyond the reach of most mortals, and entrepreneurs check share prices on the Internet through their mobile phones. This is China for the 21st century, a century that will be dominated by China, with Shanghai at its driving edge. There's no better place to get a taste of what the world, and indeed the rest of China, can expect from the resurgent People's Republic.
For the visitor, Shanghai is China at its most recognizable and convenient. All the luxuries of China and all the comforts of home can be bought with a credit card. Hotel rooms, guides and train tickets can be booked in advance, and restaurants serve up everything from Indian curry to Tex-Mex.
Shanghai is foremost a business city but there is still much of interest to capture the traveller's imagination: the old-world architecture; the excellent shopping; and the excitement and energy of China's most economically, ideologically and socially open city. Moreover, Shanghai is beginning to rival Beijing and China's cultural capital. The Shanghai Museum, Art Museum and Grand Theatre rank among the best in Asia. If the synthetic delights of Shanghai start to pale, the classical Chinese cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou are just two of the many accessible places within an hour or two of the city.
As the pulse of this metropolis quickens, its steps are firmer, and at this point we make an apology. A lot of what you read here will have changed by the time you have this book in your hands. But that's the fascination with Shanghai - it is constantly evolving and continually surprising. Each visit yields a unique snapshot of the city; every time you go back the landscape will have changed.
Whatever your politics, it's hard not to be impressed by Shanghai. The city has been given a unique opportunity, and the savvy with which locals have grabbed it has many nodding their heads knowingly. Shanghai is back - with a vengeance.
