Shanghai is China’s largest city and one of the world’s largest urban centres, with around 24.9 million people in the municipality. Located where the Yangtze River Delta meets the East China Sea, it developed from an older port settlement but expanded dramatically after being opened to foreign trade in 1843. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Shanghai became one of Asia’s major commercial centres, with British, American and French concessions leaving a distinctive architectural and cultural legacy. The Bund remains the best-known reminder of this period, lined with historic banks and trading houses facing the modern skyscrapers of Pudong across the Huangpu River. Other major sights include Yu Garden, Nanjing Road, the former French Concession and the skyline around Lujiazui, including the Shanghai Tower and Oriental Pearl Tower. Pudong itself was largely docks and farmland until large-scale development began in 1990, making the contrast between the two sides of the river one of the most striking features of modern Shanghai.

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