Shanghai Journal – Part 3
Whilst glimpses of 1930s Shanghai may poke through the cityscape, the skyline itself is dominated by objects more modern. Hundreds of high rise buildings now pierce high into the sky, but they don’t tend concentrate in location clusters. They’re actually scattered everywhere.
The place I stayed in Shanghai was a corporate apartment, booked for us by a friend who works for the company that owns the building. Located in central Shanghai in the fashionable Xintiandi, it towers over the neighbouring area with over 30 storeys of luxury furnished apartments, all with amazing views. My friend, who works for a major financial institution that is building these types of developments, tells me that demand is high. At over US$200 per night for an apartment, some exclusive guests are staying in the building, including businessmen / CEOs of companies who need a second apartment to reduce the commute time to work. And with the view we had from the 26th floor, who could blame them. But this is only one story behind the high rises.
Shanghai is buzzing everywhere with redevelopments. An ex-girlfriend once asked me to invest in a new flat in Shanghai some 5 years ago. Sadly, I was just out of university and didn’t have any money to contibute. It would have made a great investment. Then to today, cranes tower over the city, new buildings are popping up everywhere at a rate that’s continued and will continue for years.
Spectacular cityscape
A recent example of this spectacular development has been in Pudong, which lies just on the other side of the Huangpu River from the Bund. 15 years ago, when I first visited Shanghai as a young boy, the place was barren, except for a few construction projects that had just begun. I will never forget what my tour guide said to us on that visit: “In a few years time, if you return, it will be unrecogniseable.” Some 15 years later, I don’t recognise it (my lack of a vivid memory prohibited that anyway!), but today it is an overwhelmingly spectacular sight. There isn’t a square inch of land in the area that hasn’t been developed now.
International financial instutions have led the charge, choosing to locate their China headquarters in the area. Hotels and luxury apartments have also popped up in the region to supplement the desires of men in suits. International investment and the financial boom in the region has led to some plentiful supplies of cash. So why not show off with a tall building? And Shanghai has many, including the fourth tallest building in the world, the Jin Mao Building. The architecture of the area itself isn’t really that spectacular or novel. Some look exactly the same as other places (the Citigroup building is almost identical to that in London’s Canary Wharf). But it is still a beautiful cityscape.
There are a number of iconic buildings such as the aforementioned Jin Mao Building and the Oriental Pearl Tower in Pudong. Some might say the Oriental Pearl Tower ugly, I think it is a loud statement that symbolises Shanghai. Futuristic, exciting, bold and in your face. You could have said that of Shanghai in the 1930s, you can still say of it now.
The Oriental Pearl Tower in Pudong
(Courtesy Wikipedia)
The changing cityscape of Shanghai will continue to change over time. However, it will never become a place like Manhattan, New York, where the towers dominate. There is already awareness that there are too many tower blocks in some areas and the local government is managing the allocation of new developments. Rightly so, as it’s all too easy to overwhelm the city if the trend continues. But Shanghai will continue to grow more beautiful.
There couldn’t be a bigger contrast between two of different sides of Shanghai, demonstrated on the banks of the Huangpu. On one side is the Bund, the symbolism of Shanghai in the early 20th century, a decadent era with beauty, glamour and ambition that Shanghai was all about. On the other is Pudong, the symbolism of modernity, boldness and aspirations. Both banks of the river are the example of the character of the Shanghainese that has been carried over a century of history. They may have been constructed different people from different backgrounds of a different age, but they share a similar root, that the city’s core character is ambitious, aventurous, entertaining and hungry.
Reflections
I came to Shanghai having heard a lot of things. Friends gave me an image of the city with their anecdotes, whilst historical books and novels painted another picture. But coming to Shanghai, it’s really sunk in as a beautiful and vibrant place. I know not everyone will like it, but that’s true of any place. But for a cultural statement, Shanghai has always tried to make a big one, which it has succeeded in doing.
My original objective for going to Shanghai was to get a sense of what the city was like in the 1930s for a play I’ve promised a friend to write. I left Shanghai with a lot more than that. I’ve found a place that is exciting and exuberant, a place I’d like to go back to in the future, and a place I’m going to have a lot of delight writing about. When I’ll get the chance to write the play, I’m not sure, but the city has certainly provided a lot of inspiration.
More:
Shanghai Journal: Part 1 | 2 | 3
Tagged: Places