Shanghai was already known as a trading centre in the AD 960 and flourished in the following centuries where it become an important port with wine houses, temples, shops, schools and storehouses. Political radicalism has a tradition here where the Communist Party was founded in Shanghai in 1921 and the Cultural Revolution began here and has its headquarters here. Nevertheless, many buildings from colonial times have survived the revolution and the wars. Tourist can get the first impression of this at the famous Bund, the Waitan, which is officially called Zhongshan Donglu. Here too, directly opposite the Peace Hotel, the day starts between 5 and 6 am, as in all Chinese parks with shadow boxing.

Today, Shanghai harbour is the third biggest in the world and an important factor in the city’s industrial progress. The best impression of the harbour is from the Huangpu park and carrying on to the confluence with the Yangzi. One of the loveliest green areas in Shanghai is Hongkou Park. The park is famous because of the grave of Lu Xun, which was moved here and the Lu Xun Museum. He is the most famous Chinese writer of this century and lived in Shanghai from 1933 to his death in 1936. Shanghai Museum has one of the best and most comprehensive collections in China. The presence of the museum contradicts the cliché of Shanghai being a consumer paradise bereft of culture.

The Jade Buddha Temple is the most important temple in Shanghai. The temple is famous for its two Buddha statues made by white jade, brought back as a gift by the monk Huigen from Burma to China in 1882. It was brought from Jiangwan to Shanghai in 1918, when the temple was completed. The figures of the Sleeping Buddha, which shows his entry into Nirvana, is a special rarity. However, the statue of the Seated Buddha, which is 1.9 metres tall and also made of white jade, decorated with jewels and weighing 1,000 kilos, is the most famous. In addition to these treasures, the temple has other valuable items such as icons, scrolls from the Tang period and a complete edition of the Buddhist canon Tripitaka, from the year 1890. The temple was renovated in 1979 and is now again inhabited by about 70 monks , who oversee the religious and tourist activities and have even opened a restaurant.