City Hotel Shanghai

Shanghai (上海; Zånhae in Shanghainese, Shànghǎi in Mandarin) is the most developed city in China, the country's main center for finance and fashion, and one of the world's most populous and important cities. Shanghai is a fascinating mix of East and West. It has historic shikumen (石库门) houses that blend the styles of Chinese houses with European design flair, and it has one of the richest collections of Art Deco buildings in the world. There were concessions (designated districts) controlled by Western powers in the late 19th and early 20th century, so many neighbourhoods have buildings in various Western styles. Shanghai is split in two by the Huangpu River (黄浦江 Huángpǔ Jiāng), which divides the city into Puxi (浦西 Pǔxī), west of the river, and Pudong (浦东 Pǔdōng), east of the river. Both terms can be used in a general sense for everything on their side of the river, including various suburbs. However, they are more often used in a much narrower sense where Puxi is the older (since the 19th century) city center (#Downtown below) and Pudong the mass of new (since 1990) high-rise development right across the river from there (#Pudong below). This is an overview article for the entire municipality. For the central districts which have most of the tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants and nightspots, see #Downtown and #Pudong below.