1-day Shanghai City Tour

The Bund got its name from a desolate beach outside the old Shanghai City. If you have never been to the Bund, then you have never been to Shanghai. The Bund symbolizes Shanghai and Bund is an epitome of Shanghai's history.

The east side of the Bund is right next to the Huangpu River. To the west of the Bund, there are group of 52 buildings standing in various styles, Gothic, Baroque, Rome, Renaissance, Classic and the combination of Eastern and Western style. Although these buildings were completed at different time and were in different styles, the main elements of these buildings were fairly unified and the overall outline is well coordinated.

Walking on the Zhongshan East Road, you will experience a kind of vigorous, forceful and solemn momentum. Some say actually that the Bund is like "an exhibition of buildings".

If the building zone on the Bund were a gallery, the rest of the Bund would be a showroom. When the sun rises in the east, the Bund is a place where people do exercises. In daytime, this building complex, blended with the beautiful scenery of the Huangpu River and the Pudong area, this scenic spot is tourists' favorate. When evening comes, city lights coats the Bund with brilliant colors, which makes the Bund particularly beautiful. Old buildings by the river echo with the new scenic spots the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the Jinmao mansion, that this spectacular scenery often amazes many tourists.

The No. 12 of the Bund is also No. 12 of the Zhongshan Road East. The former famous Huifeng Bank was located here. Constructed in 1923, this square-shaped five-storage building, come with a round roof, in the style of ancient Greek, and a hemisphere-shaped top. The steel-framed building were exquisitely decorated. The building were equipped with the specially decorated reception halls. The British builder took great pride in this marvelous building. They rated this structure as "from east of the Suez Canal to Baling Strait in the west, this is the most exquisite building".

As the most important shipping artery of Shanghai, Huangpu River winds it way like an undulating muddy dragon from the mouth of the Yangtze River in Wusong to the East China Sea. It is 114 kilometers (71 miles) in length, 400 meters in width and 9 meters (30 feet) in depth. The yellow Huangpu River is ice-free. The cruise boat sails eastward along the river to the attractive "three-layer waters" at the Wusong Mouth, confluence of the three and half hours over a distance of 60lilometers, with beautiful view emerging one after another.

Huangpu River connects 29 kilometers (18 miles) north of downtown Shanghai and divides Shanghai into two parts, east and west. Cruising on the Huangpu River, You can appreciate the magnificent skyscrapers, the Monument Tower to the People's Heroes, the well-known Waibaidu Bridge and Huangpu Park on one bank, and the Orient Pearl TV Tower, International Convertion Center, Jin Mao Building and the newly rising Pudong New Area on the other.
 

With a history of more than 400 years, situated in Anren Jie south of the Bund, Yu Yuan Garden is a famous classical garden, integrating interesting architecture, history, shopping center, and museum. It was built in the period of Emperor Jiajing's rein of Ming dynasty from 1559 and completed in 1577. Yu Yuan Garden had gone through many changes. The five-year restoration of the Yu Yuan Garden began in 1956. It is now the only completely restored classical Chinese garden in Shanghai. It was open to the public in September, 1961.

There are six major scenic spots in the Yu Yuan Garden: Urban Mountain Forest, Hualin Charming Valley, Spring Famous Historical Site, the Most Enjoyable Water-Stone Site, Treasure in the Universe and Garden within Gardens. 

In the Hualin Charming Valley, you can enjoy many beautiful types of scenery, such as waterside pavilion, winding corridors, Yihang, Floral Tower and other scenic sites. Located at the eastern part is the Most Enchanting Water stone site, which is famous for its ponds and artificial hills. The Treasure in the Universe comprises of ingenuous and exquisite Jade Stone, Accumulated Water Veranda, Jade Hall, Dragon Winding Bridge and other building. When you enter the garden, you will encounter the Great Rockery. 14 meters in height (about 50 feet), it is said to be the largest and the oldest rockery in the southern part of the Yangtze River. Climbing up onto the top of the rockery, you can get a bird's eye view of the whole garden.
 

Built between 1911 and 1918, situated in the city of Shanghai, Jade Buddha Temple is one of the famous Buddhist temples in the city. It belongs to the Chan sect, with a history of over one hundred years. There are also some impressive images of the Heavenly Kings in the temple. Everyday there are many people coming to worship and burn incense at this very holy and active shrine.

In 1882, Huigen, a monk, brought back two jade Buddha statues from Burma, and built an old temple to keep them. But the temple was destroyed during the revolutionary period of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. Fortunately, the jade Buddha statues survived from the destruction. And later in 1928, a new temple was constructed on the present site, named the Jade Buddha Temple. Though it is with a short history, the Jade Buddha Temple is unique and inimitable in this modern city because of its old-time and classical architectural style. In the different halls of the temple distribute many other ancient paintings and Buddhist scriptures. 1.9 meters in height and carved out of a single piece of jade stone, the seated jade statue is one of the most precious relics in the Temple. It has the image of a solemn Buddha and is renowned as a gem of Buddhist art works.

Built in 1952 at the West Nanjing Road museum, Shanghai Museum was moved to 16 Henan South Road in 1959. And in 1990, it was finally moved to the present site--the People's Square, where is considered to be the most appropriate location. Shanghai Museum is a large museum of ancient Chinese art. The museum is consists of eleven galleries and three exhibition halls. Among them, the eleven Galleries collect most of the major categories of Chinese art: Ancient Bronze, Ancient Ceramics, Paintings, Calligraphy, Ancient Sculpture, Ancient Jade, Coins, Ming and Qing Furniture, Seals, and Minority Nationalities. There are more than 400 pieces of exquisite bronze wares in the museum, which cover the history of ancient Chinese bronze art. You can understand the ancient civilization by appreciating the bronze ware of the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

Entering the museum, you can find the Hall of Ancient Bronze Ware, Hall of Chinese Ancient Sculpture and a large exhibition hall on the first floor; the Hall of Chinese Ancient Pottery and Porcelain and a large exhibition hall on the second floor; the Hall of Chinese Calligraphy of Different Dynasties, Hall of Chinese Painting of different dynasties and Hall of Chinese Seals of different dynasties on the third floor; the Hall of Chinese Ancient Jade Ware, Hall of Chinese Coins of different dynasties on the fourth floor. 

 

As the first tallest in the country and third tallest in the world, Jin Mao Building is one of the symbols of Shanghai in marching to the 21st century. Designed by US architectural firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill and built by the Shanghai Jian Gong Group, it hosts the tallest hotel ever built. Jin Mao Building is the first Chinese national construction group to conduct with such a large and significant project. The east-meets-west design of the building signifies the emergence of Shanghai as a modern global city. Following the multi-use paradigm, Jin Mao Building offers retail at its base, and offices above. The upper 38 floors of it is occupied by the Grand Hyatt's World's Highest Hotel.

The 420.5-metre-tall building is a great triumph in field of engineering. It requires many technological breakthroughs to erect. Surprisingly and impressively, the builders drove 1,062 steel pipes as far as 83.5 meters down -- the longest steel piles ever used in a land-based building -- and poured a four-meter-thick concrete base 19.6 meters under the ground to support the building.

 

468 meters (1536 feet) in height, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower is the tallest TV tower in Asia and the third highest in the world, next to the 553, 33-meter-high Toronto Tower Canada and the 533-meter-high TV Tower in Moscow, Russia. Towering in Pudong Park in Lujiazui, it has been the symbol of Shanghai, consisted by 15 spheres of different size at different levels. The tower might bring to your mind an old famous poetic line-- "large and small pearls dropping onto a jade plate". Climbing up on the tower, you can find a revolving teahouse and a sightseeing platform, which can accommodate 1600 people at a time.

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower was started to be built in 1992, and with 50 million Yuan in government funds and a combined 150 million Renminbi Yuan and 10 million US Dollars in bank loans from 44 banks. It finished construction and opened to the public in 1994. In Chinese, the tower refers to "two dragons playing with a pearl". It began to broadcast nine television channels and 10 FM radio channels in 1995. Equipped with tourist service facilities, including eateries, shops, recreational centers and a hotel, it can offer you convenience. Taking an to the tower's observational deck at a height of 263 meters, you can have a bird’s eye view of Shanghai.

Situated in the pedestal of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower is the Shanghai Municipal History Museum. In addition, you can find a futuristic space city and a fabulous sightseeing hall in the large lower sphere, while in the inner tower, there is a recreational palace. You can see all the way to the Yangtze River on a clear day from the sightseeing hall. There is a science fantasy city on base of the tower. If you feel tired after going around the tower, you can stop at the five smaller spheres hotel which contains twenty-five elegant rooms and lounges. At the very top of the tower is a pearl, containing shops, restaurants, (including a rotating restaurant) and a sightseeing floor.

There were 295 overseas presidents and leaders and 25 million tourists coming to this tower in the past ten years, making it the world's most profitable TV tower. The annual incomes of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower have exceeded those of The Eiffel Tower. According to the World Brand Lab, the tower was evaluated 96th on the list of the 500 most valuable Chinese brands with a brand value of 5.148 billion Yuan (US$6.2 billion). It was one of the top 20 influential Chinese brands in the world for the year 2003 and 2004.
 

The Children's Palace is an interesting place for you to visit, where you can enjoy many wonderful performances shown by Chinese children. Situated at No.64 of Yanan Road in Shanghai, it is one of the most famous places for children to study and practice the arts after school. And it is basically aimed at developing children’s interest. Here you can see talented children attend and learn to dance & sing the theater, play folk or Western musical instruments, Wushu, ballet, computer science as well as other art skill.

The building of the Children’s Palace, which is wholly built of marble, is also called the “Marble Hall”. Built in 1918 and completed in 1924, it was the former villa of an English businessman named Alley Kadoorie. In 1953, the China Welfare Society Children’s Palace was founded by Madame Song Ching Ling here. Entering the main building, you can find that it is of a palace style. There are many other halls, such as the Science Hall, the Art and Recreation Hall, a small stage, and an observatory. This Children’s Palace is very popular that over a million children come to take part in different kinds of activities here every year.