Top 10 Attractions in Shanghai

Top 10 Attractions in Shanghai

Shanghai, China's largest city, offers many exciting sightseeing opportunities for travelers. Despite having a population of more than 24 million, this always busy city offers quieter historic districts and attractions alongside its many newer tourist sites. One of the world's busiest container ports thanks to its position at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city also provides opportunities for exploration by water along the Chinese coast and its inland waterways.

Here you find the top 10 attractions you may visit while being Shanghai.

 

1. Shanghai's Promenade: The Bund

Shanghai's Promenade: The Bund

Shanghai is one of the most famous locales that China has to offer, and The Bund, also known as Waitan, is renowned by not only the inhabitants of this great city, but people throughout the world. The Bund has been a thriving and extremely significant place ever since the 1940s. Many of the major financial institutions of not only Shanghai but China at large, used to be headquartered here. These also included the four biggest banks of the time.

 

2. Yu Garden

Yu Garden

Yu Garden or Yuyuan Garden is, without any doubt, one of the most beautiful and the most important of all sites that you can see in Shanghai. It is located in the central Huangpu district. The whole area that surrounds the garden is very popular and it is also very busy. There are many markets, shops and restaurants. The focal point is this magical garden.

 

3. The Jade Buddha Temple

The Jade Buddha Temple

The Jade Buddha Temple is a Buddhist temple in Shanghai, China. As with many modern Chinese Buddhist temples, the current temple draws from both the Pure Land and Chan traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. The temple was first built during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty, when a monk named Hui Gen went on a pilgrimage to Burma and brought back five jade statues of Sakyamuni. On his way back to Mount Putuo via Shanghai, he left two jade statues here, one in sitting posture (1.95 metres tall, 3 tonnes) and the other, reclining. He had a temple specially built as a shrine for these two statues in 1882. later the temple was partly destroyed by fire and in 1928 a new temple was completed on the present site. The temple now also contains a much larger reclining Buddha made of marble, donated from Singapore, and visitors may mistake this larger sculpture for the original, smaller piece.

 

4. The Shanghai Museum of Glass

The Shanghai Museum of Glass

The Shanghai Museum of Glass is the first glass museum in China, located on a former glass manufacturing site in Baoshan District, Shanghai. The site area is 6000 m2. It’s adapted from two existing buildings, a former glass bottle factory and a warehouse. As an urban regeneration project, one of the museum’s main concepts was to preserve existing structures while rediscover the original character of each building. Classified as a “type two” museum, its multi-functional design for glass art, research and technology distinguishes it from traditional museums. In addition to its glass-themed exhibition, the museum provides hot glass shows, DIY workshops, lectures, libraries and other interactive activities. All designed to attract and educate diverse targeted groups whilst creating value and incentive to visit. Uniquely treated U shaped glass panels form the museum’s facade where multi-language glass-related words glow via its LED back-light resulting in a truly one-of-a-kind visual effect. Around the Glass Museum building, a new glass-themed creative Park will be developed: a sculpture square with artists and creators, science and research facilities, and a business park with commercial facilities. This creative park will be a new landmark in the culture, art and commercial landscape in the future regeneration of Baoshan District.

 

5. Longhua Temple and Pagoda

Longhua Temple and Pagoda

The most striking of all its buildings is Longhua Pagoda, which dates to the 10th century Song Dynasty. The brick and wood pagoda, found just outside the temple grounds, leans precariously in the direction of some power lines, which looks to be a recipe for disaster. Amazingly, the seven story structure was once the highest point in Shanghai!

 

6. The Oriental Pearl Tower

The Oriental Pearl Tower

This tower held the position of the tallest structure in China till 2007 before it was overtaken by the Jin Mao Tower and the SFWC tower. The function of the tower serves as a Radio and Television broadcast tower but has become a landmark location in the city.

 

7. People’s Square

People’s Square

People’s Square brings with it all the excitement you would expect from the town square of one of the biggest cities in the world. The area around People’s Square and People’s Park is always a abuzz with activity. Oceans of local and foreign tourists flow in and out of the area every day to see grand museums, go shopping and eat at some of Shanghai’s most storied food centers. Shanghai residents, meanwhile, live and work in the many residential and office high-rises. While much of Shanghai stays busy late into the night, this really is an area that never sleeps with glitzy nightclubs keeping people up until the wee hours of the morning.

 

8. Sheshan Catholic Church

Sheshan Catholic Church

Perched on top of a hill (mountain), this historical church is visible for miles around in the Songjiang district of Shanghai. Of course, it is now a national monument. Apart from the architecture of the Basilica, the views from the hilltop is impressive. This is the national pilgrimage site for Catholics in China. Halfway up the hill is a smaller Church in which Mass is said daily. There are various Catholic religious figures, statues scattered on the hillside. Also, the same hill houses an observatory.

 

9. Shanghai Science and Technology Museum

Shanghai Science and Technology Museum

Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is a large museum in Pudong, Shanghai, close to Century Park, the largest park within the inner districts of the city.[3] It is one of China's most-visited museums.

 

10. China Art Museum

China Art Museum

When Shanghai Art Museum relocated from Nanjing Road to the former China Pavilion at the World Expo 2010 site in Pudong, many feared it would lose its regular visitors due to the location. But the rechristened China Art Museum has since then become a key art venue in the country, serving as a platform for public exhibitions, academic research, public education and international art exchange. It will celebrate its 5th anniversary on National Day on Sunday. To mark the occasion, a series of exhibitions and activities have been planned. Among them is an ongoing large-scale exhibition of landscape ink-wash paintings by Shanghai artists.