Shanghai Architecture

Shanghai has been a major city in China for centuries. However it's first big growth came in the early 1900s when the port was opened to foreign banks and trading companies. The Bund was built then in European style. For some reason I don't have any good photos of The Bund in daylight. So here are a couple of shots to give you an idea of what it looks like.

All the buildings have interesting tops. This one looks like a crown and is painted gold so it glows in the daytime as well. The buildings are all lit from about 7PM to 11PM everynight. They really like their neon over there!



























About 25 years ago Shanghai made a comittment to modernize. They put together a plan that eventually will touch every part of the huge city. The Bund is on the west side of the river. The new area is called Pudong which literally means west of the river.These photos show the mock-up of what currently exist and what they plan to build. There is an entire museum dedicated to explaining what is planned. Of course, they have a real advantage in their development plans. . .no one owns the land or buildings so if the government wants to tear it down and build an area like Pudong, they just take it.

In the photo on the right you can see Pudong. Most of the buildings shown here are already standing. However there are still several to be built. Pudong in the photo on the left is just across from where Mary and Jack are standing. The rest is a model of what will be built in the future.










This building is called the Pearl of the Orient. It has no real purpose except as a tower for tourists to visit. We passed on taking the ride because our hotel room on the 72nd floor gave us a much better view that we could have gotten from the Pearl.

This is our hotel, again at night. The bottom floors are offices and have completely different entrances than the hotel which is on the 54th through 88th floors. The Shanghai Grand Hyatt is one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in. Being new helped but it wasn't just the room. It was the way the employees treated everyone as if they were special. Guess that's what you expect from a 5 star hotel.



In spite of the modern buildings being built using modern techniques we saw many buildings with the traditional bamboo scaffold. Doesn't look all that sturdy to me be they have been using it for centuries.

















This was in the Urban Planning Musseum. You can see the bulb of the Pearl of the Orient in the middle. Our hotel building, the JinMao Tower, is on the right.

So, I'll be back with more cool stuff from Shanghai tomorrow. . .if the toilet doesn't overflow again. But that's another story.