The speed of change in Shanghai baffles not just visitors but residents, too. Its 19 districts are each as large as a medium- sized city, and the whole megalopolis seems to grow like mushrooms in a hothouse. Across the Huangpo River, the brand-new satellite city of Pudong already has the world’s second tallest building, along with plenty of room for parks, gardens and the giant new Science and Technology Museum.

“Every time you go away and then come back, there are always new buildings, and always something new happening,” said David Cullen, of the accounting firm Pricewaterhouse- Coopers.

Among new developments, it was announced in May that the number of daily passenger flights operated by American carriers to and from China will rise from ten to 23 by 2012. The World Expo to be held in Shanghai in 2010 is expected to absorb a large chunk of the increased passenger capacity.

Since China acceded to the World Trade Organization in 2001, Shanghai has become a top location for foreign companies locating in China. In 2005 the city attracted $7 billion of foreign investment. Shanghai is also one of the world’s three biggest seaports, and the number of containers handled more than doubled between 2001 and 2005. The opening in December of the first phase of the $16-billion Yangshan deepwater port is expected to significantly boost Shanghai’s competitive position.

British journalist-businessman Graham Earnshaw, who has lived in China (and Hong Kong) for nearly thirty years, remarked on the economic transformation of Shanghai in particular, and China in general. “China is now Communist in name only,” he said, adding that there seems to be a tacit contract between business and government in China, allowing business to operate unrestricted so long as it does not challenge the control of the Communist Party.

Helen Leng, who grew up in Shanghai, left the city in 1986 at the age of 19. Now back in Shanghai working for a U.S. software company, she said, “The infrastructure is so much better now. Most people have moved into bigger and better apartments, with vastly better communications. Fifteen years ago, in Shanghai there might be just one telephone for a neighborhood of ten thousand people. Now, if half of the people in China were all talking to the other half, there would still be 50 percent unused telephone capacity.”

However, all is not completely rosy. The name Shanghai means “above the sea,” yet some predict that the effects of global warming could eventually cause the city to be submerged. Oceanographer Chen Man Chun admitted that sea levels near Shanghai may rise by as much as two feet by 2050, but said that new seawalls and cautious development along the coast should serve to alleviate the threat.

LODGING

OKURA GARDEN HOTEL SHANGHAI

Built around the original French Club, or Cercle Sportif Français, of Shanghai’s notorious 1920s era, the Okura Garden Hotel Shanghai boasts its own private garden of more than seven acres — a rare find in space-challenged Shanghai. Its elegant grand ballroom features a stained glass backlit ceiling and a sunken dance floor. The hotel, with guestrooms on 33 levels, features traditional Cantonese cuisine in the Bai Yu Lan restaurant. Facilities include three bars plus an indoor pool, gym and outdoor tennis courts. 58 Mao Ming Rd S., tel 86 21 6415 1111, http://www.lhw.com/okurashang $$$$

PUJIANG HOTEL

The Pujiang, long known as the Astor House, was Shanghai’s first hotel open to foreign guests, among them President Ulysses S. Grant, Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin. Local history was made here as well. Chiang Kai-shek had his last meal here before fleeing to Taiwan, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the first stock market in China since 1949, was launched here in 1990. Today, the refurbished hotel has 116 guestrooms, a restaurant specializing in Sichuan-style cuisine, and facilities including a business center and a 24-hour chess room. 15 Huangpu Road, tel 86 21 6324 6388, http://www.pujianghotel.com $$-$$$

SHANGHAI PEACE HOTEL

The historic 12-story Peace Hotel boasts 373 guestrooms and seven lavish suites named for the various foreign concessions (America, Britain, Russia, Germany, France, Japan and India) that found a home in Shanghai around 1929, when the hotel was built. The Peace Hall is a striking space, with a vaulted ceiling and six huge crystal chandeliers. The hotel’s famous Old Jazz Bar was nominated as “the world’s best bar” by Newsweek magazine in 1996, and the octogenarian jazz musicians who take the bar stage every night continue to amaze and delight. 20 Nanjing Road E., tel 86 21 6321 6888, http://www.shanghaipeacehotel.com $$$-$$$$

DINING

YÈ SHANGHAI

Yè Shanghai is an upmarket restaurant serving some of the best Shanghainese food to be found anywhere. “We aim to set the standard for modern Shanghai cuisine,” said manager Danny Hui. Try these Yè Shanghai offerings: duck with red-wine sauce; baby lamb chops with lemongrass, Shanghainese-style; minced chicken with pine-nuts, served in pitastyle pockets; crispy eel with sesame; Shenyang-style spare-ribs with sweetand- sour sauce. The subtle flavor combinations are put together by a team of master chefs. 338 Huang Pi Nan Lu, Xintiandi, tel 86 21 6311 2323, http://www.eliteconcepts.com/yeshanghai.htm $$$$

MIMOSA

The flagship restaurant Mimosa, at Suzhou Creek’s new Pier One development, offers the best of Modern European cuisine, served with Asian flair. Pier One’s refurbished 1930s art deco building for many years served as the Shang- hai Brewery, and the combination of post-industrial design with modern lighting is arresting, to say the least. Mimosa’s chief clam to fame is its degustation menu of three, four or five courses. Top choices include sashimi stuffed with shiitake mushrooms and wasabi-mousse and chicken wings stuffed with spicy tiger prawns on braised leeks. 82 Yi Chang Road, Pier One, Suzhou Creek, tel 86 21 5155 8310, http://www.mimosasupperclub.com $$$

DIN TAI FUNG

You’ve never tasted dumplings like those served at Din Tai Fung. The original location in Taipei was once ranked among the world’s top ten restaurants by the New York Times, and its Shanghai clone is nearly as good. Super-thin dough skins envelop morsels of beef, chicken, pork, fish, prawns or vegetables, while a secret cooking process seals in all the juices. Each dumpling consists of one gram of dough and 16 grams of filling, closed with 18 folds and then cooked in broth. The result is a flavor sensation without peer. Unit 11A, House 6, 2F, Lane 123, Xin Ye Road, Xintiandi, tel 86 21 6385 8378 $$

INFO TO GO
Pudong International Airport (PDG) is some 25 miles from Shanghai’s city center, but the world’s first Maglev (magnetic levitation) train whisks passengers from the airport to Longyang Station, on the Pudong side of the Huangpo River, in just eight minutes. The Maglev train operates from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Airport Bus No. 1 connects Pudong International Airport with Hongqiao Airport (SHA). (Journey time: 30 to 40 minutes.) Airport Bus No. 2 runs to Shanghai Exhibition Centre. Hongqiao Airport (SHA), closer to the city center, is used mainly for domestic flights, however shuttle flights to Tokyo are expected to begin this year.

DIVERSIONS

To explore this huge city, it’s best to seek out the highlights of individual precincts. In Luwan (Central Shanghai), overlooking People’s Park is the new MoCA, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art (http://www.mocashanghai.org), the city’s first private and non-profit modern art museum.

For a completely different take, walk a few hundred meters west of the historic Bund area to the Old Quarter of town, where residents live in the longtangs (narrow lanes fronted by double-story houses) that are the hallmark of the city. The Bund itself could soon be totally transformed by a development project scheduled to open 45 acres of riverfront landscape between Suzhou Creek and Shiliupu Pier.

Across the Huangpo River in Pudong, the new 101 Bar (98 Xinle Lu, near Chang Shu Road subway station, tel 86 21 5404 7719) is an unpretentious watering hole. For a bit of cultural entertainment, Bandu Music Café (50 Moganshan Lu, in Moganshan Art Park, tel 86 21 6276 8267) features regular performances of traditional Chinese music.

In the northeast suburb of Yangpu, an old industrial area, two galleries in the same building at 713 Dong Da Ming Lu — Aura Gallery (5th Floor, tel 86 21 6595 0901) and DDM Warehouse (3rd Floor, tel 86 21 3501 3212) — showcase some of Shanghai’s most cutting-edge art.

The upmarket precinct of Xintiandi has been built around a series of refurbished shikumen houses, known for their ornamental gateways with elaborate carvings and decorative scrollwork that lead into enclosed courtyards. Xintiandi also offers fine drinking and dining in its many bars and restaurants.

Taikang Road, known as “Arts Street,” has a few dozen galleries (Beipai Gallery features excellent Chinese classical paintings) and craft shops, but better still is the street art done by professional graffiti artists.

In the finely landscaped Suzhou Creek precinct, Pier One, opened in 2006, is a complex of restaurants, bars, nightclubs and lounges.

The Ming Dynasty village of Zhujiajiao is about an hour outside the city, but light-years away in cultural terms. Dating back over 1,700 years, it features serene willow-shaded canals, arched stone bridges, ancient streets paved with stone, and more than 10,000 Ming and Qing Dynasty houses.