I agree definitely with Tim’s recommendation of the MagLev! It’s a real high if you’re at all jet-lagged.
The state art museum carries an extensive exhibit of early art and writings, if only to begin to understand the transition that styles of expression have gone through- and are continuing to evolve.
The Shanghai World Financial Center, as one of the tallest buildings, certainly one of the most elegant. Go ahead and take the elevator trip to the top bridge. At dusk, -or dawn-, the view will give you an idea of the scale of the city. Built by Japanese interests, the original plans for the building carried a circular opening at the top, . . . vetoed by the Chinese as being too symbolic of Japanese imperialism, was changed to a square opening after construction had begun.
The Yu Garden, the emperor’s summer palace. Unchanged for hundreds of years, an impressive example of a compact serpentine garden with a wide variety of symbolic stone-work detailing and extensive Koi-ponds. Temple at the gate is still active with an endless parade of people engaged with their worship. It was here that I began to understand the complexity of China’s culture.
The German sector along the west-side of the river carries western styled night-clubs, but I enjoyed the street vendors and the tasty sampling available in the blocks-long outdoor food markets. They probably run 24-hours a day, with everything imaginable, and quite a bit that was completely out of my exprience! Awesome!
The discovery of Xiantindi Plaza gave me a hint of the depth of western-leaning aspirations for style and design of China. The Chinese are creating their own expressions of style and taste. Shanghai Tang stands out as one of the most visible high-quality fashion houses. (think gifts for significant others) Though I wish I more time to do more exploring to find and meet the emerging talent and see their work.
-Dale