Travel Highlights in Shanghai

Old Shanghai

Shanghai is a fascinating mix of East and West. It is one of the cosmopolises in the world and the biggest city in China. It is located in the estuary of Yangtze River, covering an area of 5,800sqkm.
    

Shanghai is a historical and cultural city with more than 2000 years. It has a plenty of tourism resources, there are more than 130 historical and cultural sites under the municipal or the centre government protection. It is known for its gardens, museums, temples, and the Universal architectural complex in the Bund, where have caught the tourists'eyes from throughout the world. The charm of the Shanghai City lies in the mix of modern and traditional, east and west. Its constructions, amusements, eating, nature and human landscapes are so distinctive compares with the other cities in the world. Inquire us, a satisfied respond will be sent you prompt. Whenever you pay a visit of Shanghai, our experienced and considerate guide will meet you in this city.

Shiku Door (Shiku Men)

The Shiku Door Style house is the unique construction appeared in Shanghai in 1860s. In order to up to the traditional dwelling standard of the family, apart from parts of its design are to imitate the "row house" of Europe, generally, the layout of the house imitate the layout of the Jiangnan(areas south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River)folk house. Suppose you enter into the Shiku Door Style house from the front door, firstly, a patio will come in sight, behind the patio is a fore room, and the fore room is followed by the back patio. After walking across the back patio you will reach a hearth and see a back door. Both sides of the patios and the fore room are the left wing-rooms and the right wing-rooms. Its layout of the second floor is almost the same as the first floor. Above the hearth of the first floor is a garret (a small, dark back room over a kitchen), and walking up the garret is a flat roof (for drying clothes, etc.). The representative constructions of Shiku Door Style can be found on the east side of the Middle Henan Road, Ningbo Road, Xingren Lane(situated between the Beijing Road and occupies an area of 1.33 hectares), Dun Ren Lan (located in the New Port Street of the Nanjing Road), Mian Yang Lane and the Jixiang(lucky) Lane.

Zhujia Jiao

The most well-conserved ancient water township around Shanghai, it enjoys a high reputation and get the names of "Shanghai Venice" and "Hollywood of Shanghai outskirts". This township with a long history, as early as 5000 years ago, many ancient people began to work and live here. In more than 1700 years ago (during the Three Kingdoms periods: A.D.220-280), the villages and fairs were established here. Wandering about Zhujia Jiao leisurely, everything will be full of interest to you!  

Yu Garden

Yu Garden is the unique ancient garden in Shanghai with which a history of more than 400 years. It was first built in 1559 and accomplished in 1577 during the Ming Dynasty (A.D.1368-1644), at the present day it has become an important historical and cultural relic under state protection, standing in about more than 20,000sqm. In this classical garden, pavilions, halls, rockeries and small ponds reveal the quintessence in landscaping of the Jiangnan (areas south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River) style as seen in the Ming (A.D.1368-1644) and Qing (A.D.1644-1911) Dynasties. More than 40 landscapes were ingeniously laid out by dragon walls, zigzag corridors, lattice windows, and the like. Please come and embark on an orgy of sightseeing here!

Jiangnan Sizhu

Jiangnan Sizhu is a folk music play with the stringed and bamboo-wind instruments (sometimes with some light percussion instruments). It is said that this music was popular among the people at least before 1860 in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Prevailingly, it is performed in Shanghai area, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. This music is very nice and songful in melody and the performance style is soft, fresh and lively. It is often coupled with weddings, funerals and kermises. Mainly, these instruments are used in the Jiangnan Sizhu performance: the stringed: such as erhu, yangqin, pipa, sanxian, qinqin etc; the bamboo-wind: such as bamboo flute, vertical bamboo flute and reed wind pipe etc; the small light percussion instruments: such as drum, ban (two small pieces board made of wood or bamboo for performance), woodblock and peng-ling（two bells） etc.

Shanghai Opera

Shanghai opera is a local opera sung in Shanghai dialect. This opera is younger than the many others in the country. It came into being in Shanghai about 1920s. There is many a popular opera in Shanghai, but only Shanghai opera was born and rose in Shanghai. With the vivid language and gentle music, it is very popular with women in Shanghai.

The three meals a day of Shanghai people

The three meals of Shanghai people differ from the other parts of China.
Usually, Shanghai people eat Paofan (soak cooked rice in soup or water) and the "Four Guardians"［refer to the Dabing (a kind of large, thick and flat bread); Youtiao (deep-fried dough or Fried bread stick); Zifangao (rice balls or lumps fried with oil, it is a kind of goluptious, saltish and economical food) and soybean milk.］for their breakfast. For lunch, they often eat in dining hall or order bento, simplicity and convenience are most of people's choices. As for supper, only this meal is formal in the three meals a day of Shanghai people. In the dinner time, various exquisite delicacies are on the tables, but most are light diets. Shanghai people like flour products very much, usually, the staple food and snacks for shanghai people are made from wheat.

Shanghai dialect (Shanghai hua)

As a cosmopolis, English is spoken by people from the other countries in Shanghai. For the local people, they speak Putong hua (Mandarin; the common language of Chinese) and Shanghai hua. Among the young people, most of can understand or speak English. Shanghai hua is a very euphonic dialect in China. Its intonation is gentle and tuneful but difficult to learn. If you are interested in this language or have opportunity to visit Shanghai, please remember these words: nong ho (hello); xia xia (thank you); de ve qi (I am so sorry); a-la (I, my, we), nong (you), Yi (he,she).

The Bund

The Bund is located along the Huangpu River, which likes a crescent. It starts from the Suzhou Road in the north and ends at the East Jinling Road in the south, about 1800 meters in length.It has become one of the symbols of Shanghai and got the name of "Universal Architectural Complex Fair". Only can you appreciate the feats of these buildings when rambling along the Bund. In the evening, the colorful lights illuminate the buildings and create a shimmering image deserving of the name Pear of the oriental. They make the night scene of the Bund become unusually beautiful. It is an indispensable must-see for you to Shanghai.