Shanghai Sheshan National Holiday Resort

Shanghai Sheshan National Holiday Resort is located at the northwest of Songjiang District. 30 kilometers away from downtown Shanghai. From northeast to southwest lie 12 mountains ranging 13 kilometers and covering an area of 401 hectares. They are the Beigan Mountain, Phoenix Mountain, Yuping Mountain, Kugong Mountain, East Sheshan Mountain, West Sheshan Mountain, Chenshan Mountain, Zhongjia Mountain, Tianma Mountain, Xiaoji Mountain, Hengyun Mountain, and Xiaokun Mountain. In China, “nine” is considered as the biggest digit and since Songjiang District is also known as Yunjian, the mountains are called in short “Nine Peaks of Yunjian”. Since in history, Sheshan Mountain has been the most famous, the mountains are called in general the Sheshan Mountain area, which has a long history in religion and with a splendid culture. This area is the place where Catholicism, Christianity, Islamism, Buddhism and Taoism can be found. For over a century, it has been the sacred place of the Catholicism in Southeast Asia. The West Sheshan Mountain is where Sheshan Catholic Church, the biggest church in the Far East, and Sheshan Astronomical Observatory, China’s first astronomical observatory, are situated. The East Sheshan Mountain National Forest Park, which boasts beautiful mountains, luxurious forests and ample plants and animals, is the most beautiful of all the peaks. The Foxiang Spring, Xixin Spring, Sanleng Spring, and Meigong Angling Projecting Rock add luster and beauty to each other; the Wooden Fish Stone, Qilongyan Stele, Qilong Ancient Path, Songyue Terrace, and Moon Shadow Tower set off each other; the Huanglong Cave, Immortal Cave, Three-Phrase Artificial Waterfall, Dragon Pond, Dishui Guanyin are new scenic spots that give tourists a pleasant impression; the unique Lansun Villa and Forest Bathing Pool provide tranquil and comfortable places for tourists to spend their holidays in leisure. Between the East and West Sheshan Mountains stands a Catholic tower constructed in the North Song Dynasty, which is made of brick and wood and has seven floors and eight angles, looking beautiful and elegant. A mid-air cable is constructed between the two mountains, which enable the tourists to have a hearty appreciation of the sceneries of the Sheshan Mountain.

The Grand View Garden Area of Shanghai

Located at 701, Qing-Shang Expressway on the east bank of the Dianshan Lake, The Grand View Garden Area of Shanghai is both a large classic architectural complex and a modern garden. It consists of the east and west scenic areas. The east scenic area has the Shanghai folk cultural village, the plum garden, and the osmanthus garden as its main scenic spots. The east scenic area is modeled on A Dream of Read Mansion, a Chinese classic novel by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty. It is a large classic architectural complex constructed using the traditional Chinese gardening art. It covers an area of 9 hectares, of which the classic buildings occupy 8,000 square meters, including 20 architectural complexes like Daguanlou (Grand View Tower), Yihongyuan (Cheerful Red Court), Xiaoxiangguan (Bamboo Lodge), Hengwuyuan (Lush Grass Court). The chambers in the garden are luxuriously and elegantly decorated; ancient and well-known trees are set off by red columns and colorful walls, giving tourists a sense of the grand royal garden and the graceful garden in southern China. Every plant in the garden fully embodies the fine mood depicted in A Dream of Red Mansions. In the east of the grand view garden is a piece of land of 100 hectares, on which are planted 340,000 trees. In addition, there are also some other scenic spots here like “Plums at the Hollow Bringing a Strong Sense of Spring”, “Willows on Riverbanks Signaling the Advent of Spring”, “Golden Snow and Lingering Fragrance”, “Flowers Competing for Beauty”, of which “Plums at the Hollow Bringing a Strong Sense of Spring” is the best place in Shanghai to appreciate plum flowers.

Shanghai Wild Animal Park

Located at Sanzao Town in Nanhui District, Shanghai Wild Animal Park covers an area of 153 hectares and is one of China’s biggest state-level wild animal parks. In the park are over 200 representative species of rare animals typical of the various regions in the world and the number of animals in the park exceeds ten thousand. Of all the animals some are from other countries like giraffes, zebras, antelopes and rhinoceroses, others are animals in China under first-class protection like giant pandas, golden monkeys, south-China tigers, and Asian elephants. The park is divided into two parts: bus area and walk area. In the park are the herbivore zone, the carnivore zone, the flamingo zone, the free zone, the aquatic bird lake, the rare animal park, the birds zone, the butterfly zone and the per animal park. In addition, the park also offers such unique programs as animal performance, showing the wit of animals and their gift in performing. Here tourists will be able to experience the pleasure brought about by animals.

Zhujiajiao Ancient Town

Zhujiajiao is an ancient town located at the bank of the Dianshan Lake in Qingpu District. The town, with a history of over 1,000 years, is the most well reserved ancient town in Shanghai and has been known as “Venice of Shanghai” for its simple but attractive appearance typical of towns in the south part of China. In 1991, it was designated by the State Council as the “Well-Known Chinese Cultural Town”. The ancient town is simple and tranquil, refined and elegant. Walking along the zigzag flagging or wondering among the narrow streets and lanes flanked with shops and stores, tourists feel as if they were in a simple but fresh wash painting: small bridges above giggling water, residence of the Ming and Qing styles, small dark-awning boats lying at anchor, sweeping willows swaying along riverbanks, and stone bridge spanning the Dianpu River like a beautiful rainbow. Inside the town are rivers and bridges, giving tourists a sense of the ancient time. The Fangsheng Bridge, constructed in the reign of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, is the biggest joint five-arch stone bridge in Shanghai. It is 70.8 meters in length and 5.8 meters in width. Exquisite in structure and beautiful in shape, it is the first of the ten scenic spots of Zhujiajiao.

The Oriental Green Boat

Located at 6,888, Hu-Qing-Ping Expressway, Shanghai, The Oriental Green Boat covers an area of 5,600 mu. It consists of 9 fields: knowledge road field, brave wisdom field, national defense education field, survival challenge field, science exploration field, water sports field, physical training field, life experience field, and sports and exercise field. The Oriental Green Boat takes “rustic charm”, “child’s interest”, and “refined taste” as its theme, which is suitable for teenagers’ after-school activities. It combines the natural geographical location with the human landscape and integrates learning, the toughening of one’s personality and will and sightseeing into one. It is an ideal place for teenagers and citizens to have a sightseeing or tour or spend their holidays.

Shanghai Sunqiao Modern Agricultural Development Zone

Shanghai Sunqiao Modern Agricultural Development Zone is located at 185, Mianbei Road, Sunqiao Town, Pudong New Area. Constructed in September 1994, it is China’s first modern agricultural development zone and also a state-level education base for the popularization of science. With its fine eco-environment, first-rate production facilities, advanced science and technology and pollution-free green vegetables, the zone is playing the roles of production demonstration, tourism and sightseeing, education of science popularization, and earning foreign cash by export. As an education base for teenagers, it serves to inspire students to use their brains, increase their ability to put things into practice and cultivate their love of the motherland, science, and labor.

Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd

Located at 1,500, Shenjiang Road, Jinqiao of Pudong, Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd is so far the biggest joint venture program of China’s auto industry, and it is also a concentration of the world’s most powerful auto product technologies. A visit at the high-tech modern auto production base will enable you to have a most direct and clearest view of the complete technological process of auto making. Walking along the mid-air observation corridor around the inside of the factory of the General Motors, you will see the whole manufacturing process below. The most sophisticated technologies and equipments are gathered here, a full embodiment of modern industrial civilization and technology concentration.

Yinqixing Indoor Skiing Site

Yinqixing Indoor Skiing Site is located at 1835, Qixin Road. It is China’s first super-big indoor skiing site with an investment of RMB 300 million yuan constructed by Shanghai Dashun Hokkaido Skating Co., Ltd, a Sino-Japanese joint venture. The skiing site covers an area of 100.8 thousand square meters and the ski track is 380 meters in length and 80 meters in width. The highest point of the ski track is 42 meters above ground, equivalent to a 14-story building. The skiing site, currently ranking first in scale in the world, has introduced in the latest Japanese snow machines and ski kits and has entrusted a first-rate Japanese administrative company for its management. Every day there will be several hours of artificial snowfall and the snow will be as deep as 50cm; the temperature of the skiing site is always maintained at 0-5 centigrade. The ski track consists of three sections and tourists will be carried to the top of the track by an automatic lift. At the end of the ski track is a platform for exercise, which is 7,200 square meters. The skiing site provides the tourists with complete sets of ski gears and ski kits and the tourists can choose different types of skis and skibobs according to their interests. The skiing site is equipped with dozens of coaches and lifeguards, who will provide guidance to tourists at the first time possible. In addition, it has a 30,000-square-meter supplementary entertaining area that offers indoor hot spring swimming pools, sauna, Chinese and Western restaurants, film and television halls, dancing balls, VIP lounges, and franchised stores selling Japanese goods. The observation hall at the second floor is an ideal place for tourists to watch indoor skiing performance. The fourth floor is a deluxe club.

The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel

Connecting the north side of Chen Yi Square at the Bund and the Oriental Pearl Radio and Television Tower at Pudong, the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel has a total length of 646.7 meter and is China’s first cross-river artificial sightseeing tunnel. Modern high technologies are applied in the decoration of the interior walls of the tunnel, providing the passengers with background music as well as pictures, patterns and views about people, history, culture, science and technology and natural scenery. The environment-friendly non-driver traction compartments, the whole transparent compartments, and the six-sound-track and high-fidelity stereo system match the changes of the views, making tourists feel as if they were right at the scene The completion of the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel not only makes the tunnel itself a new tourist spot of Shanghai, but turns it into a rainbow that bridges both sides of the Huangpu River in the urban tourism of Shanghai due to its advantageous geographical location.

Shanghai Maglev Demonstration Line

Shanghai Maglev Demonstration Line is the world’s first high-speed maglev train put into commercial use. It is also China’s first maglev line that integrates urban traffic, sightseeing and tourism. The line starts at the south of the Longyang Station of Shanghai Subway Line 2 and runs eastward to the Pudong International Airport, covering a length of 29.863 kilometers. Together with the walking line at the maintenance base and the maintenance line, the demonstration line covers a total length of 31.17 kilometers. The train, which consists of 9 compartments, is capable of carrying 959 passengers once. The designed speed and actual speed of the train are 505 and 430 kilometers per hour respectively and it takes the passengers only 7 minutes to reach downtown Shanghai from the Pudong International Airport.

Shanghai Circus World

Located at 2266, New Gonghe Road, Shanghai Circus World is acclaimed to be “China’s No 1 Circus World”. Unique in architectural shape and with a golden dome-like roof, it is another landmark building of Shanghai, an international cultural metropolis. It has the acrobatic field as the main building, rehearsal auxiliary building, animal room and commercial cultural city as necessary installations. The acrobatic field, which has a total of 1, 638 seats, is equipped with modern lighting installations and surrounding sound. The revolving stage, elevating stage, picture-frame stage and suspension bars are set up at the performance area. With the three-ring horse-path in the air, an acrobatic performance place of integrated facilities and complete functions is constructed. Stereoscopic large-scale performance can be given simultaneously in upper air, midair and on the ground. It can be used not only for acrobatic and circus performance but also for multiple music and dance performance. Domestic and international excellent circus and acrobatics performances will be presented in Shanghai Circus World in turn.

Shanghai Art Museum

Shanghai Art Museum is located at 325, Nanjing Road (West), where stood the well-known Shanghai Horse Racing Arena in the 1930s. The Art Museum after renovation has a floor space of 18,000 square meters, of which the exhibition hall occupies 5,000 square meters with over 4,000 objects of value. In addition, the Art Museum also has a conference room for academic exchanges and art appreciation and an academic activity room, turning the museum into a modern art center that integrates collection and research, exhibition, aesthetic education, and art appreciation. Shanghai Art Museum, a perfect combination of the functions of classic architectural art and modern art, has become one of the landmark public and cultural facilities of Shanghai.

The Exhibition Greenhouse of Shanghai Botanical Garden

The Exhibition Greenhouse of Shanghai Botanical Garden, located in Shanghai Botanical Garden at 1111, Longwu Road, is a newly developed modern botanical greenhouse. It consists of two smaller greenhouses, one for tropical plants and the other for sand plants, the former focusing on the themes of gardens in which flowers of all seasons are displayed and tropical rain forests, producing a vivid tropical view with flowers competing for beauty, the latter, on the other hand, being a collection of the world’s strangely-shaped cactuses and rare succulent plants, vividly displaying the views of tropical plains, which, set off by deserts, camels, and the setting sun, makes people feel as if they were walking in a desert. Tourists can fully feel the mystery and changes of the world of plants. The Exhibition Greenhouse not only provides tourists with guiding services, but also with rooms for science popularization, thus enabling the tourists to acquire knowledge about relevant plants while experiencing the beautiful views.

Shanghai Ocean Aquarium

Shanghai Ocean Aquarium
　　 Located at 158, Yincheng Road (North), Pudong, Shanghai Ocean Aquarium is a high-tech tourist project newly constructed in Shanghai. The Aquarium, which has a total floor space of 22.4 thousand square meters, boasts a 120-meter-long submarine sightseeing tunnel, the longest in Asia, making tourists feel as if they were in the depth of the ocean since they can see the mysterious world at the bottom of the sea and the rare and strange marine life from different angles and directions. The Aquarium is made up of 8 major areas with 28 large-scale theme marine life exhibition areas, displaying the 300 species and ten thousand more rare fishes from all over the world. Some of them are most unique freshwater and marine life; others are rare aquatic life unique of China. All these give tourists a pleasant impression of “experiencing the wonders of the five continents at the bottom of the sea”.

Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall

Located at 100, Renmin Avenue, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall has a total floor space of 19 thousand square meters. It fully displays the achievements of Shanghai in city planning and construction and embodies the theme of “city, man, environment, and development”. The Exhibition Hall adopts modern exhibition technology and uses high-tech to achieve an integration of professionalism, knowledge, interest, and art, giving stress to the exhibition of the future of the city. Citizens and tourists can see the changes of the leased territory, the vicissitudes of the Bund, the achievements of Shanghai in urban planning and construction ever since the reform and opening-up of the country, in particular, since the 1990s, and the rapid changes of the Pudong New Area. Above all, they can see the bright future of Shanghai there. The main model of urban planning, which is in the proportion of 1:2000, exhibits the urban geography and scenery in an extent of a hundred and more square meters within the inner elevated ring road. It is the world’s biggest model of urban planning.

Shanghai Grand Theater

Shanghai Grand Theater is located at 190, Huangpi Road (North) on the west of the People’s Square. Designed by well-known French architects, it is in concise and graceful geometrical shape as the crown-like white arc-shaped roof bending upwards towards the sky. On the top of the theater are outdoor theaters and a mid-air garden, which are in the shape of a treasure bowl, symbolizing the broad-mindedness of Shanghai in attracting the cultural art of the world. The Grand Theater has a total floor space of 70 thousand square meters, inside which are three theaters. The lyric theater, which has 1,800 seats, is for the performance of ballets, musicals and symphonies. It consists of a main state of 728 square meters, a rear stage of 360 square meters and a left and right wings of 257 square meters respectively, all of which can be moved, lifted, sloped and rotated. In addition, the Grand Theater is also equipped with orchestra pits that can be raised and electric setting booms. All these have made the lyric theater one of the biggest and most advanced stages in Asia and even the whole world. The drama theater, which has 600 seats, is for the performance of chamber music, and the studio theater, which has 200 seats, is for the performance of operas and song-and-dance dramas. Moreover, Shanghai Grand Theater also has 12 rehearsal halls of different sizes, gymnasiums, scene-setting rooms and make-up rooms of different kinds, banquet halls, cultural exhibition halls, and underground garages.

Shanghai Museum

Located at 201, Renmin Avenue, on the south of the People’s Square in the center of the city, Shanghai Museum matches in fame Beijing Museum, Nanjing Museum, and Xi’an Museum, generally known as the four major museums in China. It is a traditional style structure with vault ceiling and square base, with the implication of “round heaven and square earth”, a traditional concept of the ancient Chinese. The museum looks like a bronze ware from the distance. It has an exhibition area of 12,000 square meters in four floors, the first floor being the Ancient Chinese Bronze Gallery and the Ancient Chinese Sculpture Gallery, the second floor the Ancient Chinese Ceramics Gallery, the third floor the Chinese Calligraphy Gallery, Chinese Painting Gallery, and Chinese Seal Gallery, and the fourth floor the Ancient Chinese Jade Gallery, Chinese Coin Gallery, Chinese Ming and Qing Furniture Gallery, Chinese Minority Nationalities' Art Gallery. Currently, the museum has a collection of 120 thousand pieces of precious and rare works of art.

Shanghai Science & Technology Museum

Located at 2,000, Century Boulevard, Shanghai Science & Technology Museum served as the main venue for the APEC meeting in 2001. Covering a total construction area of 68,000 square meters and a total floor space of 98,000 square meters, the museum has "Nature, Man and Science and Technology" as its theme, integrating exhibition, education, scientific study and exchange, exhibits collection and production, and leisure and tourism. The museum has seven exhibition areas: the Earth's Crust, Life, Light of Wisdom, Audio-Video Paradise, Cradle of Designers, Children's Garden, and Natural Science. It also contains nearly ten thousand pieces of specimens including those of gigantic dinosaurs. Moreover, the museum also has a large 3-D screen cinema, a 360 degree circular screen cinema and a 4-D screen cinema. In addition, tourists can also pay a visit along the APEC special line to the central hall, the main conference hall, the declaration hall, the conversation room, the observation deck, etc.

The Century Park

Located at the east end of Century Boulevard, the Century Park is the largest ecological urban park currently in Shanghai. Designed by British LUC, it covers an area of 140.3 hectares and is a modern Chinese garden that embodies the integration of between Oriental and Occidental cultures and between man and nature. The park mainly consists of large lawns, forests, and lakes, with such scenic areas as the Central Lake Island, the Huiwu Square, the Rural Garden, the International Garden, and the Thin Forest Lawn. Inside the park are facilities for bird protection, experiencing scientific advances, scientific experiments, and children’s amusements. Tourists can fish, fly kites and have picnic here and get the maximum degree of enjoyment.

The Jingmao Building / Tower

Standing at 1, Century Boulevard, the Jingmao Building faces the Bund across the Huangpu river. With a total height of 420.5 meters, it ranks third in the world and first in China. The building has a total floor space of 290 thousand square meters, with 88 floors above ground, 3 floors underground and 6 floors of side buildings. The Jingmao Building, which combines traditional and modern styles, is generally regarded as a landmark building of Shanghai, a city striving for excellence in the 21st century. The observation deck on the 88th floor at the height of 340.1 meters covers an area of 1,520 square meters and is the largest observation deck currently in China. It is luxuriously decorated with imported marble and the thickness of the marble on the wall is only 3mm. The glass wall offers a panorama of views. Standing at the deck, tourists can have a bird’s-eye-view of the urban sceneries of Shanghai and the magnificent view at the estuary of the Yangtze River. The two express elevators that escalate at 9.1 meters per second send tourists to the top of the building in only 45 seconds.

Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall

Nanjing Road of Shanghai, known as “China's premier shopping street”, is flanked by hundreds of huge shopping centers, specialty stores and shops with unique Chinese characteristics and a long history. The pedestrian mall starts from Xizang Road (Middle) in the west and ends at He’nan Road (Middle) in the east. At the east and west ends of the pedestrian mall are two dark red marble screens, on which are former president Jiang Zeming’s autograph: Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall. Completed at the 50th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, The mall gives a total new look to the hundred year old Nanjing Road, making it another beautiful urban scenic spot of Shanghai. Shanghai No. 1 Department Store (the former Daxin Company), Hualian Department Store (the former Yong’an Company), Shanghai Fashion Co., LTD. (the former ), and Shanghai No. 1 Foodstuff Store (the former Xinxin Company) are four major companies that reflect the past and present of Nanjing Road, making the road a combination of traditional and modern styles and adding a unique charm to it. Walking along this road, one will have a great sense of pleasure. The colorfully glazed floor tiles, the uniform peddler’s stands in the middle of the road, the fashionable stores flanking the street, the hustling and bustling crowd, the small, lovely sightseeing trains, the uniquely-designed city sculptures…, all these constitute a modern urban view of Shanghai.

The People’s Square

Located at the center of Shanghai, the People’s Square is a garden-like square that integrates administration, culture, transportation, and commerce. To the north of the square is Shanghai People’s Government, to the northwest is Shanghai Grand Theatre, to the northeast is Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, and to the south is Shanghai Museum. Renmin Avenue, which runs in the middle of the square, has a 17-meter-wide green belt on both sides. The total area of greening of the People’s Square reaches 80 thousand square meters, turning the square into an oasis in the center of Shanghai.

The New Bund

Located at the banks of the Huangpu River between Waibaidu Bridge and Nanpu Bridge, the New Bund has a total length of 4 kilometers. It rests against the Huangpu River on the east and a row of 52 unique buildings integrating the Oriental and Occidental architectural styles on the west, generally known as “buildings in multinational styles of architecture”, which, for over a century, has remained a symbol of Shanghai. At night when the floodlights of the buildings are switched on at the same time, the buildings look exactly like crystal palaces, which, set off by the Oriental Pearl Radio and Television Tower on the east bank of the Huangpu River, are even more brilliant and dazzling. The New Bund is reputed to be one of the “Ten Best Scenic Spots of Shanghai”.

Shanghai Tour

Shanghai as one of the largest centers of economy in China has witnessed the development of the modern history of China. It is now on its way to become an international metropolis. Only having a good knowledge of these important features and backgrounds of the city, tourists can take a journey to Shanghai with an object in their mind.

Shanghai has made an effort to develop the city tourism mainly featuring "city scenery", "city culture", and "city commerce". The municipal government has gradually mapped out three tourism itineraries. The itinerary for city tours, business, and shopping is organized around the People's Square and both sides of the Huang Pu River. The itinerary for cultural tours around the city is organized in the public entertainment places and communities. The itinerary for recreation and holiday in the outer suburbs is organized around Mount She, Dian Shan Lake, the deepwater port and the Chong Ming Island.The architecture of Shanghai has its own characters. The Bund, the Stone-gate buildings, the different kinds of Shanghai style constructions, the modern installations which make an assemblage of different styles of architecture, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign are worth visiting.

Dongtan Reservation Area for Migrants

Chongming Island has got temperate and humid climate, and four distinct seasons. The reservation area on this island abounds in various wild birds. During the course of migrating, the migrants often stop to rest on Dongtan; sometimes even such rare birds as red-crowned cranes rest there. In 1983, an agreement “China and Japan Protect Migrants” was signed in Beijing. According to the agreement, among the 277 kinds of migrants, there are 132 kinds of birds, such as green egrets, white egrets and swans, whose home is Chongming Island.

ORIENTAL PEARL TV TOWER

Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower was completed on Oct. 1, 1994. It is 468 m high, being the highest in Asia and the third highest in the world, only next the TV towers in Toronto in Canada and Moscow in Russia. It stands opposite to the bund on the west bank.. The architectural modeling of the tower is unique, expressing the flavor of oriental culture. The structure of the tower consists of 11 spheres, different in sizes and arranged at different levels, hanging from the sky down to the green lawns. It expresses the artistic concept of “pearls, big and small, dropping on a jade plate”. The body of the tower is formed of two huge glittering spheres and one small delicate sphere; the sightseeing level in the upper sphere is 45 m in circumference, 263 m high, offering a bird’s-eye view of the city. In the upper sphere at the 267-m level, there is a revolving restaurant, with one revolution every hour, a disco ball, a piano accompanied bar and at the 271-m level there are 20 KTV private rooms. The space cabin is at a level of 350 m, containing a sightseeing terrace, a meeting hall and a coffee room. Hotel in the Air is in the five smaller sphere with 20 guest rooms. The lower sphere contains a space city. There is a science fiction city inside the tower pedestal. The Oriental Pearl TV Tower combines sightseeing, catering, shopping, recreation, accommodation, broadcasting and TV transmission into one body. It has become a symbolic architecture and a favorable spot for tourists in Shanghai.

Open Time: 8:00-21:00 Traffic: Public buses 81,82,870,871, 872, Tunnel lines 3, 4, 5 and 6

About Shanghai

Shanghai, also named "Hu" or "Shen" in short, is situated at 31"14' north latitude and 121"29' east longitude, and in the middle of China's east coastline. It occupies a total area of 6,341sq.km. (of which Pudong new Area occupies 523sq.km.), with a total resident population of 16,000,000. It has a pleasant climate, with four distinct seasons. The average temperature is around 18oC and the annual precipitation is 1,240mm.　　Shanghai, an open city on the coast and a famous historical and cultural city, is a gate to the Yangtze River delta. It is a municipality under the direct jurisdiction of the Central Government, the largest economic and trade center, a comprehensive industrial base and the leading port in China.　　Shanghai is well known in the world not only for its prosperous cosmopolitan feature but also for its rich humanistic resources. In recent years, a number of modem buildings have been added to the city, such as the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Library, Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Shanghai Circus City, Shanghai City-Planning Exhibition Hall and Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai Science & Technology Museum. They have become new scenic sights in Shanghai. Colorful festivities, like Shanghai Tourism Festival and Shanghai China International Art Festival, have attracted an increasing number of tourists from home and overseas.　　Shanghai's tourist infrastructure is getting more and more accomplished. By the end of 2002, there were 40 international travel services, 524 domestic travel services and 300 star-rated hotels with about 50,000 rooms. Shanghai is an ideal "paradise for shoppers". There are commercial streets and shopping areas like the famous Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall, Huaihai Road, Sichuan Bei Road, Yuyuan Commercial and Tourist Area, the Ever Bright Commercial City, Xujiahui Commercial City and Zhangyang Road Commercial City in Pudong. There, shops stand rows upon rows with large collections of beautiful commodities, meeting the needs of tourists of different levels. Shanghai is also the paradise for gourmets. There are over a thousand restaurants serving the 16 different styles of food in China, such as the Beijing, Sichuan, Guangdong, Yangzhou, Fujian, etc. There are Western restaurants serving French, Russian, Italian, English, German, Japanese and Indian food and also Muslim and vegetarian food. In Shanghai, one can have a taste of all the delicacies in the world. Shanghai is well developed in communications by land, water and air. There are over 40 Chinese and foreign air companies opening about 300 air routes dispatching from Shanghai. Shanghai Railway Station dispatches everyday 80 pairs of trains back and forth from Shanghai. There are the Shanghai-Nanjing, Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Freeways. The Pudong International Airport has opened for traffic. Its annual passenger transport volume will be 20,000,000 person/times. Plus that of the Hongqiao International Airport, it will be 30,000,000 person/times. Subways No.1 and 2 and the light-rail first phase project are in operation. Together with the 10 special tour bus lines connecting Shanghai with neighbouring tourist areas, they will render faster service and more convenience in urban communications to tourists. Recently, the magnetic buoyant train has been opened to the public. It offers travelers a zero height of flight at 430 km/hr.　　On Dec. 3, 2002, Shanghai succeeded in winning the bid for the sponsorship of World Expo 2010. The world has given China a share of luck and Shanghai will add more splendor to the world Shanghai is ushering in excellent opportunities for development. People of Shanghai warmly welcome visitors from home and overseas.