Travel Guides > China > Shanghai

Festooned with colourful nicknames like 'the Whore of the East', 'the Paris of China' and 'the Pearl of the Orient', Shanghai has long been symbolic of the West's rape of the East. In the years following 1949 its gaudy past and foreign appearance was a constant blot on the People's Republic of China's psyche. The city is divided in half by the Huangpu River, with most of the city's highlights located in Puxi. The city is said to have half the world's cranes in it (and judging by the skyline this can't be too far from the truth) but Shanghai's past still lingers. The best times to visit are spring and autumn - winter and summer here are merciless in their respective extremes. Shanghai is 15 hours from Beijing by train.