Shanghai, also called in short in Chinese "Hu" or "Shen", situated in the middle of China's east coastline, is a gate to the Changjiang River valley. Shanghai has a delightful climate with four distinct seasons. The average temperature of the year is 15.7 °C and the yearly precipitation is 1,200 mm. It is the largest economic and trade centre in the country and a comprehensive industrial base. Shanghai Port is the leading port in China. It is an open city along the coast, as well as a famous historical and cultural city. Its total area is 6,341 sq.km., of which the Pudong New Area occupies 523 sq.km. Its total population is over 13 million.

Shanghai is well-known both at home and abroad not only for its prosperous metropolitan feature and rich humanistic resources but also for a number of tourist attractions with modern flavour that have been developed in recent years. Varied and colourful tourist festivities, like the Shanghai Torism Festival, the New Year Eve Longhua Temple Bell Striking, the Longhua Temple Fair, the Nanhui County Peach Blossom Festival, the International Tea Culture Festival, the Sweet Osmanthus Festival and the Orange Festival are attracting an ever increasing number of domestic and foreign tourists.

Shanghai is an ideal "shopping paradise"; Nanjing Road, known as "China's No.1 Street", the reconstructed Huaihai Road, Jinling Road, East, North Sichuan Road, the Yuyuan Garden shopping and tourist area, the Ever Bright City Commercial Centre, Xujiahui Commercial Centre, and Zhangyang Road Commercial Centre in Pudong are packed with rows of shops arrayed with large
collections of merchandise that are a feast to the eyes and meet the demands of different classes of domestic and foreign customers.

Shanghai is also a paradise for gourmets. There are over a thousand restaurants serving the famous 16 styles of Chinese food, such as Beijing, Sichuan, Guangdong, Yangzhou, Fujian, etc. There are also French, Russian, Italian, English, German, Japanese, Indian and other kinds of foreign flavoured cuisines, genuine Muslim food and vegetarian food. In Shanghai you can have a taste of all the different kinds of food in the world. Shanghai is well developed in
communications in air, land and sea, which render tourists with fast, efficient and quality service.

The Bund The Bund, which extends from Jinling Road in the south to the Waibaidu Bridge over the Suzhou Creek in the north, is on the western bank of the Huangpu River. It is a 1.5-kilometer boulevard and used to be called the Huangpu Shoal. It used to be a 10-meter-wide boulevard lined with canopy-like sycamores. Cedars, cassias, and camphor trees made the street green all the year round. Flower beds were always in blossoms. Now it becomes the favored place for the tourists to tarry and enjoy the river scene and cultural activities going on along the Bund. Walking up to the dam, you will be fascinated by the sight of forest of masts, the glittering waves, the impressive skyline, and shadowy trees interlacing with beautiful flowers. It is just like a magnificent scroll. The Bund---known as a miniature museum of international architecture with dozens of high buildings standing along the shore and overlooking the shuttling sailing vessels on the Huangpu River amid the whistle blasts here and there.

Shanghai Museum With a collection of over 120,000 pieces of cultural relics in twelve categories, Shanghai Museum is especially famous for its treasures of bronzes, ceramics and paintings and calligraphy. The new Shanghai Museum has set up ten special galleries of bronze, calligraphy, ceramics, furniture, jades, minority art, numismatics, paintings, sculptures, and seals, together with a special gallery of donated relics and three temporary exhibition halls.

	Grand Theatre Since its opening on August 27, 1998 the Shanghai Grand Theatre has successfully staged such shows and evenings as operas, musicals, ballets, symphonies, chamber music concerts, spoken drama and the Chinese operas.
It also has a high reputation both at home and abroad as many high officials and VIPs, both domestic and international, gave the highest praises of the theatre for its perfect combination of art and architecture after they visited the theatre. Now it has become an important window of cultural exchange between China and the world and a bridge of artistic communication.

Yu Yuan Garden Yu Yuan Garden---the most famous ancient structure in Shanghai, attracts millions of tourists both at home and abroad every year. Its exquisite layout, beautiful scenery, and the artistic style of the garden architecture are where the charm of Yu Yuan lies. At the same time, Yu Yuan Garden is often frequented by shoppers who want to purchase traditional Chinese products as well as gold and jewels.

Longhua Temple Longhua Temple---the biggest and oldest temple in Shanghai. Its main hall and all other halls are stately and splendidly structured. The chiming of "Longhua Bell" in the monastery is one of Shanghai's eight tourist attractions. The Longhua Pagoda is equally an imposing and splendid structure---with seven storeys, in octagonal shape, with upturned eaves, and the hanging bells on the eaves' corners.