Welcome to Shanghai
Shanghai is the shiniest gem in modern China’s jewel box. It’s a hip, contemporary city that’s charging into the future with all the slick energy of its famous Maglev train. Yet if you veer away from the sleek highways and glitzy shopping streets you can still stumble upon a more traditional Shanghai, with all its character and aromas. In the tiny back streets, wet-market vendors peddle their wares - buckets of bright green vegetables, fish flapping in shallow plastic bowls and heaps of crayfish crawling over each other. In the parks at dawn, hordes of locals practice t’ai chi, sword movements and ballroom dancing.
Facts
| Population | 18.8 million |
| Currency | Renminbi (RMB, also known as yuan), RMB 1 = 10 jiao |
| Opening hours | Most offices are open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm or 6 pm. Some bank branches open on Saturday mornings. Shopping centres and department stores are usually open seven days a week until 8 pm or 10 pm. |
| Newspapers | Shanghai Daily: Local English-language daily China Daily National English-language newspaper |
| Emergency numbers | Police: 110 Ambulance: 120 Fire: 119 |
| Tourist information | The Shanghai Tourist Information and Service Centre has branches throughout the city. Main branches can be found at 561 Nanjing East Road, tel. +86 21 5353 1117, and at the railway station’s south-west exit (303 Moling Road, +86 21 5123 4490). |
English











