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Shanghai
Brief View Shanghai is China's most comprehensive industrial and commercial city, ranking the first in population and population density. As a tourist city, it attracts travelers from both home and abroad by its commercial activity rather than scenic beauty.
It is located on the East China coast. Total land area is 6,340.5 square kilometers. The city's Chongming Island is the third largest island in China, covering an area of 1,041 square kilometers.
The total population is around 16 million, of which around eight million living in the downtown area. The population of foreign guest roughly reach to 70,000.
| Language
Official language is Chinese. Most of the taxi drivers and other service practitioner cannot understand English, and only body language makes sense. Or you may ask young people around 20 to 35 years old for help. | | | Olympic and the World EXPO in Shanghai: Shanghai is one of the co-host cities of 2008 Beijing Olympic games, holding the football matches at the Shanghai Stadium. Furthermore, Shanghai will be the host city of 2010 world EXPO, which will be the first registered World Exposition in a developing country.
More detailed information on
http://www.expo2010china.com/expo/expoenglish/
| | | Climate September is the time when typhoon comes frequently with extremely heavy rain. Temperature here ranges between 21oC to 29oC(70oF to 84oF ). Lightweight clothing and umbrella are recommended to bring. | | | Currency Chinese currency is known as renminbi (RMB, literally "the people's money") or the yuan (¥). However, you'll mostly hear money referred to as kuai qian, literally "pieces of money," or kuai for short. Bills come in denominations of ¥100, ¥50, ¥20, ¥10, ¥5, ¥2, and ¥1, which also appears as a coin. The next unit down is the jiao (¥0.10), commonly referred to as mao. There are notes and coins for ¥0.50, ¥0.20, and ¥0.10. Beyond that is the fen (¥0.01), but you'll hardly ever see or have use for it.
It's usually a good idea to change some money before leaving home. You’d better exchange your currency to USD, which is easier to be changed to RMB in banks in Shanghai. Exchange centers can be found at the airport. Please kindly note that you'll have to provide your passport for any kind of currency exchange. | | | Useful Numbers Police: 110
Fire Department: 119
First aid:120 | | | Electricity The voltage in China is 220V and you'll find a mixture of American-style two-pronged sockets and Chinese-style three-pronged ones. |  | | | Time Zone GMT + 8 hours, same as Singapore. The whole of China, including Hong Kong, is set to Beijing time. | | | Banking Hours Banks: Mondays to Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., although all foreign banks have slightly different hours (Japanese banks tend to close at 4:30 p.m. and American ones at 6 p.m.). Half days are the rule on Saturdays. | | | Shopping in Shanghai .jpg)
Since the first half of the 20th century, Shanghai has developed into China's largest commercial city. Shops are in every corner of the city, especially those on Nanjing, Huaihai, Sichuan, Jinling roads. Yuyuan and Xujiahui commercial districts are also very famous. Shops are usually open from 10.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. everyday. Credit cards are widely accepted in major shops. Tipping is not expected in Shanghai. Most shops and stores will expect bargaining over the price of goods, but your Chinese will need to be pretty good to get much of a discount. | .jpg)
Please note that supermarkets in Shanghai does not provide plastic bags for free. You can either use your own canvas bag or pay ¥0.2 to ¥0.5 for a bag. | | | | For more information, please visit the website: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/shanghai/ | |
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