Modern Architecture In Shanghai: Shanghai Skyline Changes With Modern Architecture.

Shanghai has experienced many changes in recent years with modern architecture of tower blocks having an effect on the skyline. When does 'modern archtecture' cease to be 'modern architecture'? When the Peace Hotel and the other buildings were erected years ago, they would have been considered 'modern', in the same way that the new buildings in the PuDong area of Shanghai, are said to be examples of modern architecture. How long will it be before these 'modern' buildings are as well known as the Peace Hotel or the Jade Buddha Temple? Certainly Shanghai is regaining its reputation of being a prosperous and boisterous city, taking the years of foreign concessions, and the years of Cultural Revolution, in its stride. Many of the buildings in the Bund area of Shanghai are evidence of the historical years of foreign concessions, as they were built in western style 'modern architecture'. The question is repeated, 'When does modern cease to be modern'?

From the upper windows of the Peace Hotel in Shanghai there are excellent views of The Bund and of the Huangpo River, on the opposite side of the road. Walking out of the Peace Hotel, it is only a short distance to the underpass, and then there are two options available. Option one are flights of steps, and option two is a sloping pavement, very convenient for children's pushchairs, or anyone having to use a wheelchair to get around, although during our '92 visit to Shanghai, we saw neither of these being used. Walking safely under the road, then up the exit steps, brings you onto the Bund alongside the Huangpo River. Going on an evening cruise down the Huangpo River, you have wonderful views ofthe Bund and also of the westerner style buildings such as the Peace Hotel, that were once considered to be fine examples of modern architecture!

Although the Pudong development has many attractions for the visitors to Shanghai, There is something fascinating about the pockets of old world Shanghai that will always remain. On our first visit in 1987 we had the opportunity of seeing for ourselves the areas of the Bund that seemed to attract students eager to practise their foreign language skills with any visitors who would listen to them. We spoke to a group of four students; one from Dalian, two from Guangzhou, and one who was actually born in Shanghai, where his parents and grandparents still lived. During that time Shanghai was also much quieter, with fewer buses, lorries and cars on the roads; many people walking or using bicycles to get about. The loudest noise was probably from the boats on the Huangpo River, when the Captains used the boat's klaxon, to warn others of their presence.

Shanghai Tower Blocks In Modern Architecture Dominate Area Near River.

Photo of Shanghai tower blocks as examples of the modern architecture of developments in Shanghai, such as found in the Pudong area.

Click the large Shanghai photo above to get to the Shanghai web pages

Photo of section of Chinese Tea House in Shanghai, from the balcony of which, customers watch goldfish swimming in the lake.

Shanghai photo shows section of boat on the Huangpo River, along the tree lined Bund.

Picture of people on the Shanghai Bund, western tourists walking, Shanghai people sit and watch.

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Picture of Chinese man and woman with baby in arms standing outside their yellow earth cave home in the Loess Plateau

Beifan Website

Picture shows pupils in a school classroom in Huai Hua with raised up hands, greeting a western visitor

Metcn8 Website

Picture of very large water lily leaves floating on surface of pool in Botanical Gardens, Xishuangbana.

Chinadan Website.

Picture shows two young Vietnamese schoolboys walking on road in front of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Beifanchina Website.

Picture of young boys of a Chinese Minority Group, showing signs of malnutrition, gathered on a road layby, near their home.

Chinavisit Website..

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For our thirty day China Tour in 1987, Shanghai being the fourth destination, part of our luggage included many items that were said to be unlikely available in Shanghai or other places visited in China. Besides the language problem for most visitors [ My travelling companion was Chinese] there was also a currency problem. Foreign visitors were expected to change their own currency into 'Foreign Exchange Certificates', then the tour groups were taken to 'Friendship Stores' in the places they visited, where they could use the FEC,s to buy the products available to them, but many of the products were not available to the Chinese people themselves. Inevitably, on the streets of towns and cities in China, local people asked foreign tourists whether they wanted to sell their FEC's at a much higher value than in force at the Friendship Stores. One such Friendship store we visited in Shanghai was in Nanjing Road and it was said to be the Number One Friendship Store in China. Most, if not all the products, were of Chinese origin, many beautiful hand-crafted items, fit to grace the living quarters of Emperors. Other items included embroidered silks, cloissone vases, scrolls of Chinese caligraphy, to buy and take with you, or pay for and have them shipped to your home address. The main purpose of the Friendship Stores, one of the tour group said it looked like an exhibition hall, was to relieve the tourists of their FEC,s.

We did visit a proper Exhibition Hall full of glass cases presenting carvings in ivory and in jade which must have been priceless. Figures of maidens, wisemen, crane birds with white feathers, dragon boats, zigzag bridges, displayed as composite pieces, or as images on lacquered panels and screens. All the skills and patience of the Chinese craftsmen displayed for the enjoyment of visitors to the Exhibition Hall. Subjects of Chinese Classics or Legends, masterpieces created by artists, perhaps some of whom were from Shanghai City itself.

For more information about Shanghai, and Pudong in particular, you may wish to use the Wikipedia link at the bottom of this page.

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Pudong, officially known as Pudong New Area, is a district of Shanghai, China. Since the beginning of its development in 1990 when plans were first announced, Pudong has emerged as China's financial and commercial hub. Pudong is home to the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone and a skyline that includes the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Jin Mao Tower, symbolic of Shanghai and China's economic development. Src: Wikipedia.com. '''''

Shanghai China Undergoes Many Developments And Modern Architecture Changes Skyline .

Shanghai Tower Blocks In Modern Architecture Dominate Area Near River.