Shanghai (1 of 4)
The most dynamic city in the world's fastest-changing nation, Shanghai is an exhilarating, evermorphing metropolis that isn't just living China's dream, but is setting the pace for the rest of the world. Shanghai is much more Hong Kong than Beijing; there are no dusty imperial palaces here. Instead, European-style cityscapes and tempting, tree-lined neighbourhoods rub shoulders with the sci-fi skyline of Pudong. Shanghai was where China first met the West and it's still a frontier town, obsessed with the latest fashions and technology.
But tucked between the shopping malls and the eye-popping modern architecture is the old Shanghai, where temples nestle down alleys, along with street markets and classical Chinese gardens. Shanghai is a city of stunning contrasts, where visitors can go from sipping a cocktail in a designer bar overlooking the Bund, to eating dumplings at a street stall, or gazing at a 10th-century Buddhist monastery, in the space of a few hours. Summer is hot and humid, winter can get cold, but Shanghai never stops.
It's easy to imagine there's something deliciously alchemical about Shanghai's rise. The highest salaries in China, the top-of-the-range cars that clog the roads, the way people have so effortlessly made the transition from living under dour Maoist ideology to embracing Western-style consumerism, it all seems too easy. But the real roots of Shanghai's success tap into something altogether more mundane: economic liberalisation, hard work, an inbred competitiveness and an ideal geographical location.
