Shanghai and Hangzhou

Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth

Heaven on Earth...During his well documented travels through China, Marco Polo gave Hangzhou this famous title. Now, Hangzhou is the most popular tourist destination in China for Chinese citizens, both because of it’s beauty and it’s cultural significance. Now wide open to western visitors as well, the city’s attractions are becoming known the world over. A city of just over five million residents in China's Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou is just two hours by train or car from the exiting Asian metropolis, Shanghai. Hangzhou has a subtropical climate, with four distinct seasons and an overall mild atmosphere.

Hangzhou became China's imperial capital from 1138 until 1279, and subsequent emperors favored the city, building resort villas along the waterways. The "Ten Sights of West Lake" offer inspiring scenery and poetic names like "Orioles Singing in the Willows." One popular destination for the botany-minded is “Breeze-Ruffled Lotus at Quyuan Garden,” which offers 200 species of lotus. History aficionados will find Yuefei Mu, the tomb and temple of 12th century patriot Yuefei, and the The Pagoda of Six Harmonies, a national relic built in 970, on their list of favorite places.

Visitors and local alike can spend their leisure time enjoying beautiful West Lake either from the shoreline or on a boat cruise. One can also sample the famous local Hangzhou cuisine or choose from a growing number of western and international delicacies. Several museums in the city combine to represent the historical significance of Hangzhou’s and China’s culture, including the Silk Museum and the Tea Museum. Recreation opportunities abound in Hangzhou. Hundreds of acres of beautiful, safe, green parks, dot the landscape, many within walking distance of the city's center.

Shanghai

"Whore of the East, Paris of China and Queen of the Orient;" city of quick riches, ill-gotten gains and fortunes lost on the tumble of dice; the domain of adventurers, swindlers, gamblers, drug runners, idle rich, dandies, tycoons, missionaries, gangsters and backstreet pimps; the city that plots revolution and dances as the revolution shoots its way into town – Shanghai was a dark memory during the long years of forgetting that the Communists visited upon their new China. Shanghai put away its dancing shoes in 1949. The masses began shuffling to a different tune – the dour strains of Marxist-Leninism and the wail of the factory siren and all through these years of oblivion the architects of this social experiment firmly wedged one foot against the door of Shanghai’s past until the effort started to tell. Today, Shanghai has reawakened and is busy snapping the dust off its cummerbund. The sun rises every day to a city typifying the huge disparities of modern China - monumental building projects push skywards, glinting department stores swing open doors to the stylish elite, while child beggars, prostitutes and impoverished souls congregate among the champagne corks and burst balloons of the night before. History is returning to haunt Shanghai and at the same time, to put it squarely back on the map. Shanghai is evolving at a pace so unmatched by any other Chinese city that even the morning ritual of flinging open one’s hotel curtains reveals new facets to the skyline and new sounds on the streets. Shanghai is racing towards the future and has little time for yesterday.

Shanghai has a population of around 15 million people, but that figure is deceptive since it takes into account the whole municipal area of 6100 sq. km. Nevertheless, the central core of some 220 sq. km. has more than 7.5 million people, which must rate as one of the highest population densities in China, if not the world.

Broadly, central Shanghai is divided into two areas: Pudong (east of the Huangpu River) and Puxi (west of the Huangpu River). There are four main areas of interest in the city: the Bund from Suzhou Creek to the Shanghai Harbor Passenger Terminal (Shiliupu Wharf); Nanjing Donglu (a very colorful neighborhood); Frenchtown, which includes Huaihai Zhong Lu and Ruijin Lu (an even more colorful neighborhood) and the Jade Buddha Temple and the side trip along Suzhou Creek. Near the Bund, is the famous Yu Gardens, with its beautifully crafted gardens and bazaar shopping surrounding the area.

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