Shanghai Rises

When it seemed like the world was edging closer to a conflict in Iraq, while the stock markets and world economies were headed for the hard times, Shanghai had cause to celebrate. A little over three months ago, on December 3, 2002, it won the bid to host the World Exposition in 2010. When the much-awaited news from Monte Carlo finally came in, the city went out in full force to celebrate the victory. From Nanjing Road to the Xintiandi complex and across the river to Pudong, crowds were agog in song, dance and good cheer. West of the Huangpu River, along the Bund, fireworks lit the sky from aboard a cruise liner. In Pudong, the residents of the Zhoujiadi community took to the streets in jubilation. Never mind that by 2010, most of their land would have been turned over to exposition venues. This moment held another opportunity – another chance to shine on the international stage. With the Expo feather in their cap, Shanghai has clearly emerged as one of the world’s premier cities and is raring to show the world just how far it has come.

For all that is said about Shanghai, for all the superlatives and the accolades, it is a relatively new city – born and built out of the spoils of the Opium War in the middle of the 19th century. Shanghai thrived through trade and commerce, serving as a major port throughout its history. The Treaty of Nanjing, which ended the Opium War of 1842, opened Shanghai to foreign trade and by the 1930s, it became China’s most westernized city. In the last two decades, Shanghai has moved at breakneck speed to reclaim its former glory. To see the Special Economic Zone of Pudong with its skyscrapers and futuristic architecture, and to know that it rose in just a decade are a testament to everything we hear and read about China – the solid work ethic of its people, the political will and vision of its leaders. The "Crane City," as Pudong was known during the construction boom, is today a symbol of China’s emergence as an economic power, where structures so bold in their presence and design, compete for attention. Walking along the Huangpu River on the side of the Bund, one sees the vestiges of Shanghai’s past and a view to its future. It is like standing between two worlds, each conceived and propelled by commerce. In many ways, that mile-long stretch, where both worlds seem to converge, tells the story of Shanghai. In his Architecture Guide: Shanghai 100 Years/100 Buildings, Italian architect Luigi Novelli put it best when he observed that Shanghai is a "hybrid city – neither Chinese nor western."

Novelli likens Shanghai to "a museum of architectural styles." The presence of foreigners and foreign concessions has allowed various trends and styles to thrive, from the Western neoclassical to the European colonial, Mediterranean Spanish, American Chicago school, English Gothic, Japanese and Hindu along with the traditional Chinese. At the Bund, also known as the symbol of old Shanghai, the turn-of-the-century European architecture, seen in the buildings laid out along the waterfront, rose during the foreign concession period, some dating back to the 1920s and the 1930s. The existing structures that line the waterfront follow the natural loop of the Huangpu River, and resemble urban spaces and architectural backdrops found in Western cities. Although it has been said that the Bund is an entirely foreign invention, it is still a window to Shanghai’s glamour and glitter unrivaled, it seems, during its heyday. "In Shanghai’s prime, no city in the Orient, or the world for that matter, could compare with it. At the peak of its spectacular career, the swamp-ridden metropolis surely ranked as the most pleasure-mad, rapacious, corrupt, strife-ridden, licentious, squalid and decadent city in the world," writes Stella Dong who authored the compelling profile, Shanghai: 1842-1949 – The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City. The fall came when Mao Tse Tung’s army marched into the city and demolished the old order. The Bund and its architectural landmarks are reminiscent of the time when Shanghai became a point of contact between China and the West.

If the Bund belongs to Shanghai’s past, then nothing defines its future more than the Special Economic Zone of Pudong. The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was envisioned by Deng Xiao Ping so as to integrate the Chinese market with the international market and pave the way for Shanghai’s entrance into the world economic community. In 1990, the Chinese government identified Pudong as the site of a new SEZ. By 1992, it was referred to as the business and financial center of China and East Asia. Deng so wanted to pull China out of economic stagnation that he once remarked, "To be rich is glorious." Indeed, one gets a sense of the massive foreign investment that flowed into Shanghai in Pudong’s eight-lane Century Boulevard and the stunning skyscrapers that have become the hallmarks of the new Shanghai. Of these soaring and imposing structures, the Jin Mao Tower is among the most distinctive. Rising to 1,380 feet in height, it is the fourth tallest building in the world and the tallest in China. Designed by the American firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, it melds western and Chinese architectural elements. The façade of the building was inspired by the style of a Chinese pagoda achieved through the use of overlapping roofs. You can reach the top of the building at the 88th floor in a mere eight minutes. From there, you can look down through the core of the structure shaped like a giant cylinder. Along the banks of the Huangpu River, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, now regarded as an icon of Pudong’s metamorphosis, is one of the tallest and certainly one of the most talked about structures in Asia. It is a focal point of sightseeing and recreation in the area. The building rises to 1,535 feet in height. Halfway up the broadcast tower, one is afforded panoramic views of the Bund and the surrounding Pudong area. The two large "balls," viewed from the side of the Bund, appear to be suspended on two narrow poles. Seen from the ground, the structure has a whimsical and surreal quality that has drawn criticism from some quarters. Another eye-catching landmark is the Shanghai International Convention Center. This low-rise structure is flanked on both ends by two large globes encased in colored glass featuring world maps. The convention center, like much else in new Shanghai, is impressive and boasts a total area of 1,184,000 square feet. Apart from these landmarks, the presence of two luxury hotels, a 140-hectare ecological preserve or the Century Park, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, burgeoning residential areas and a super mall gives the Pudong district an air of great promise and potential. Yet for all of that, one doesn’t get the hustle and bustle that one finds across the Huangpu River, at the Puxi District.

At Puxi, cultural landmarks of Shanghai abound, such as the People’s Square, Nanjing Road, the Yu Yuan Gardens, the former French concession area and the Xintiandi entertainment complex. The People’s Square was once the site of Shanghai’s racecourse. The races were known to be big events in old Shanghai that businesses came to a virtual standstill when the races were held. After the revolution in 1949, the area was converted to a public square. Today, it houses some of the most important public buildings in the city, such as The Shanghai Museum, The Shanghai Grand Theatre, the City Hall and the Urban Planning Exhibition Center. The Shanghai Grand Theatre represents the third generation of theater-structures found in China. The first generation is seen in the traditional Chinese theatres that date back to the Ming dynasty in the 15th century up to the Qing dynasty in the last century. The Yu Yuan Garden Theatre is one example of this type of architecture. The second generation of theatres and cinemas, built during the French concession period, followed the western tradition and were inspired by Greco-Roman architecture styles. The third generation blends Chinese and western traditions. The Shanghai Grand Theatre, designed by French architect Jean-Marie Charpentier, exemplifies this mixed architectural style. The key feature is the large roof curved skywards, suspended and almost detached from the main body of the building below. The volume of the theatre mirrors the roof – styles that are typical of classic Chinese buildings, but the execution and the style are thoroughly western. The Shanghai Museum, designed by the Shanghai Architectural Institute and King Tonghe, makes clear references to China’s artistic heritage. The exterior of the building is shaped like an ancient bronze tripod, while the circular top with a sky roof in the center takes the form of a bronze mirror from the Han dynasty. But what really points to Shanghai’s transformation is the more than 3,000 skyscrapers built within a span of eight years, all of which are over 100 meters high.

Jean-Marie Charpentier, whose architectural firm Arte Jean-Marie Charpentier and Associates is credited with some of the major design projects in Shanghai such as the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Walkway and the Century Boulevard, told the Shanghai Talk Magazine in a recent interview that working in China is much like being in "a permanent university." The challenge of conceptualizing high-rise structures and convention centers – projects that cannot be found in Europe today – provides an invaluable reference for architectural firms today. More important perhaps is the notion that "every power, every great civilization, is shown through its architecture," he points out. And as China grows in dominance and stature, its architecture will reflect its dynamism and prosperity.

At Nanjing Road, a prime shopping and business center of the Puxi district, a pedestrian walkway adds a new dimension to the shopping experience. "For the first time, a public space was designed for the public," says Charpentier. The Century Boulevard at Pudong also attracts the locals and their families on Sundays. The concept of a public square in the European sense did not exist in the city, according to Charpentier, until now. It clearly resonates in the new Shanghai. Already, the idea has been replicated and is the main feature of the Xintiandi Entertainment Complex. A long pedestrian walkway cuts through the center of this mixed-use development featuring Shanghai Shikhumen-style houses with the trendiest east-meets-west boutiques, cafes, and bars. Adjacent to this complex is a park surrounded by high-rise apartments catering to the expatriate community.

If you walk around the main artery of Xintiandi, you’re bound to run into the site of the Chinese Communist Party headquarters at 100 Xinghe Road. The old party headquarters has been transformed into a museum that traces its history and evolution. It is also a reminder that Shanghai did have other incarnations – not just a hub for commerce, but also a center of revolutionary thought. Some of the luminaries of the Chinese nationalist and communist revolution made Shanghai their home base. Dr. Sun Yat Sen, Chou En Lai and Madame Soong Ching Ling were among those who lived in Shanghai. Today, their homes are the living links to a time of momentous change.

Along the tree-lined avenues of the old French concession area, are the former homes of Dr. Sun Yat Sen and his wife, Madame Soong Ching Ling, known respectively as the Father and the Mother of Modern China. Their French colonial-style homes, set amidst lush and intimate gardens, became the venues of intellectual exchanges, and political gatherings that would shape China’s destiny and its relations with the world. Both Dr. Sun and his wife sprung from Shanghai’s educated elite who were schooled or lived in the west and hoped to extricate China from the decadence and lethargy of its leaders and the chaos that ensued after the fall of China’s imperial dynasty. Both dedicated their lives to this cause, with great vigor and dedication. Their homes, while strikingly simple, are rich in historical and personal memorabilia that takes you back to the Shanghai of the 1920s and ’30s.

If you really want to get a sense of what Shanghai was like well before it came into contact with the west, then visit the Yu Yuan Gardens. Built in 1535 by a government official, it is typical of Chinese gardens with miniature lakes, bridges, alleys, and rock sculptures. It is filled with all sorts of Chinese crafts that can be had for a song. And it is possibly one of the few places in Shanghai where you will find Chinese traditional architecture.

Even with 11 historic areas designated as national landmarks, Shanghai is a city of today taking a giant leap to tomorrow. It rose in the past as the point contact where China met the west. Today, it is a city poised to take on the world and meet the challenges of being "the head of the dragon" for the Chinese economy. Although the imprints of the west are glaringly evident in Shanghai’s new prominence, the spirit and the will that gave way to its ascent is undeniably Chinese.