By James Shillinglaw
Shanghai – the very name evokes images of immense modernity, buildings touching the sky, and a center of commerce that is now one of the world’s great cities. Yet, Shanghai also has an ancient and colonial past; it was a city dominated by Western traders for a good part of the 20th century, at least until the Communist revolution swept capitalism aside — until today at least!
I finally got a chance to visit this amazing metropolis last month on a 10-day travel agent fam trip organized by Imperial Tours. We visited Beijing, Xian and Guilin, before ending our journey with three days in Shanghai. We flew from a modern airport near Guilin to the even more modern Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. Indeed, the terminal we arrived at had just been completed, in time for the upcoming Shanghai World Expo, set for May 31-Oct. 31, which expects to attract 70 million visitors.
We arrived in the afternoon after a two-hour flight from Guilin, during which Imperial Tours had thoughtfully included a box lunch for our China Southern Airlines flight. We drove for 45 minutes on a traffic-filled superhighway into the city. Imperial Tours had arranged for us to take a brief tour of the Four Seasons Beijing (www.fourseasons.com), an elegant property that it uses for clients. So we took a look at the rooms and suites and had a drink in the lobby. One thing about Shanghai: There is absolutely no shortage of superb five-star hotels.
But then it was time to cross the Huangpu River to where we were actually staying – the Park Hyatt Beijing, located in the Shanghai World Financial Center. The Pudong district of Shanghai, the most modern of the city’s regions, is where many if not most of the massive new skyscrapers are located. And the 467-room Park Hyatt (http://beijing.park.hyatt.com) just happens to be in one of them, making it one of the tallest hotels in the world (with the property occupying floors 79 to 88). My room was located on the 82nd floor, several levels below the pool and spa (on 95), the lobby (on 87), the restaurant (on the 91st floor) and bar/nightclub (92nd floor). You can take an express elevator to the lobby in under a minute from the ground floor.
The Park Hyatt is extremely modern but provides great conveniences, especially if you are there to work, as I was. Indeed, I think I could get used to working at desk that sits at the “top of the world” overlooking a massive city like Shanghai from the 82nd floor.
My room also had automatic bedside controls for lighting, shades and entertainment systems; a very modern bathroom, complete with stone tiled rain shower, oversize fast-fill tub; and a separate Japanese toilet (if you don’t know what that does, I won’t describe it here). That evening we had a nice dinner in 100 Century Avenue, the eclectic restaurant upstairs, which not surprisingly has incredible views of Shanghai. The fare included Chinese, Japanese and Western food – all of which we sampled.
The next day our group – which included three agents, two of their companions, two Imperial Tours China hosts and me – got back on our tour bus to meet our local guide Patrick, an American expatriate who has lived in Beijing for a number of years. Our goal, with Patrick’s help, was to visit what used to be the most modern city in the world on the other side of the river. I’m referring of course to Shanghai’s famous Bund, the strip of ornate bank, insurance and corporate buildings constructed early in the 20th century as the headquarters of Shanghai’s Western elite – the British, French and Americans who truly ruled this city between the two world wars. Nowadays this district is being refurbished and given a new sheen as a tourism zone in time for the Shanghai World Expo.
Patrick proved to be an expert in Chinese politics, the history of Shanghai and the architecture of the city. He gave us a quick summary of the city’s history on the bus ride to the Bund. Each of the colonial powers had their own districts, so the city was divided into the different “concessions” (the French Concession, the British Concession, the American Concession, etc.). In fact, the city is still somewhat divided by those old colonial boundaries. We drove by what had the Shanghai Race Course in the 1930s, but is now People’s Park; the Shanghai Museum; the Museum of Urban Planning; City Hall; the modern Grand Theater; and the Shanghai Art Museum.
We finally arrived at the Bund, where we took a walking tour with Patrick as he described each historic building in turn, including what they formerly housed. We saw the British Consul General’s residence, the newly opened Peninsula Beijing (more on that hotel in a future column) and the former headquarters of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), with two impressive stone lion sculptures guarding the entrance.
For me, however, the most moving sight was a building on the corner of the Bund and Nanjing Road. The art deco style edifice was formerly called the Palace Hotel (and also the Peace Hotel at certain times). And it just happened to be where my father stayed as a young U.S. Navy lieutenant back in 1945 just after the war ended. He was there to help train the Chinese Nationalist Navy. Naturally I took about a zillion photographs to give to my dad. But I’ll also have to tell him that it will soon house a giant Swatch store.
As Patrick told us, Shanghai has always been about being modern, whether it’s the skyscrapers of Pudong or the colonial edifices of the Bund. On the other hand, Shanghai also can be very old as well. Next week I’ll detail our explorations of that “older” Shanghai, as well as the remainder of our visit to China with Imperial Tours.
James Shillinglaw is editor in chief and editorial director of Performance Media Group, LLC, parent of TravelPulse.com, Agent @ Home magazine, Vacation Agent magazine and Virtual Travel Events.
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