Discovering Shanghai, a booming megalopolis mixing the West and the East, the modern and the ancient. If you are planning a trip to Shanghai — one of the most modern, cosmopolitan cities in the world today — as a tourist, you may have certain reservations and questions about what’s OK and what’s not OK in terms of tourist behavior towards the local norms and culture.
1. Don’t spend all your time in the most popular tourist areas
Xintiandi, Nanjing Road or Huaihai Road, People’s Square, the Yuyuan gardens, Tianzifang, Jing’an Temple and The Bund are the top tourist spots in Shanghai. No doubt these places are beautiful, but all tourists flock here, adding to crowds, especially on weekends.
There are many other amazing spots in the city for you to explore such as Shanghai Old Town (Fangbang Lu and around)Duolun Road, walks around the French Concession (streets such as Anfu Lu, Wukang Lu, Wulumuqi Lu), checking out local wet markets (a large one is at the intersection of Zhenning Lu and Xinzha Lu, Jing’an area), farmers’ markets (Jiashan Market is a hot favorite for tourists, locals and expats) and the Caojiadu birds and flowers market.
2. Don’t miss out on visiting Shanghai’s museums and art galleries
Shanghai Museum is a large museum of ancient Chinese artifacts. It has more than 120,000 precious historical relics, including bronze ware, china ware, calligraphy works, paintings, jade articles, ancient coins, ancient furniture, and sculptures.
Shanghai Art Palace(also Shanghai Art Museum) has moved to Shanghai Expo China Pavilion from West Nanjing Road. This museum has more than 80,000 exhibits, mainly themed around Chinese modern art.
Shanghai Natural History Museum is one of China’s largest museums of natural sciences, showing the history of ancient animals, human history, and the evolution of animals and plants, with specimens of animals and plants, mummies, fossils, models, unearthed historical relics, and ancient literature.
Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is one of the best museums of the city and will provide ready entertainment to fill an afternoon.There are 12 exhibition areas, including the Rainforests of Yunnan, and the Earth’s Crust Exploration, which is easily missed the Earth, the World of Robots, and the World of Spiders, the Space Navigation Area and an Exploration Trip through the Digestive Tract.
3. Don’t just eat at famous restaurants
Shanghai has a thriving street food scene, most of which comes alive late at night, usually around 9 pm. Some street food in Shanghai are scattered across the city, near clubs mostly.
4. Don’t mix up your airports or train stations
Shanghai has two airports — Pudong and Hongqiao – and three main rail stations (Shanghai Railway Station, Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station and Shanghai South Railway Station). You should be very clear and specific when it comes to knowing which airport you are catching your flight from and which train station you need to be at to get on a high speed or normal train for your trip. It’s not uncommon for tourists to miss their flights and trains because of this confusion.
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Email: info@miraclemandarin.com
Address: 21F, 319 Changde Road (corner of West Beijing Road)
Closest metro: Line 2/7 Jing’an Temple, Exit 3/4/10,
A 5 min walk away
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