Suburbs of Shanghai

(Fengxian beach)



As an industry city, Shanghai doesn’t have a lot of places to go for vocations. However, to meet the requirements of Shanghai people, government developed several Shanghai suburbs to vocation spots.


One of Shanghai’s suburbs is called Fengxian. It used to be farmlands but now it is developed as a “University city” and vocation spots. Fengxian is a area next the sea, so government made an artificial beach in Fengxian and purred the sea water in that area to make the costal of Fengxian a tourists’ beach. Besides, government also made same beaches in Jinshan and Nanhui which are both suburbs of Shanghai. See the picture of the beach in Fengxian. You can see, if you go there on weekends or public breaks, it will be crowded because people all like the “next-to-door” beaches.



(Chongming Forest Park)

Another Shanghai’s suburb is called Chongming which is an island. There is a big forest park there. If you are bored with urban life, you can go there for a “natural-break”. You can rent a house in the park or even bring your tent there. You can go fishing, ride a horse, barbecue and do whatever you want to do in a forest. Also you will see a lot of mild wildlife there such as rabbits, squirrels and deer.

(Zhouzhuang)

Shanghai also has a lot of tourists’ attractions in the suburbs such as “Zhujiajiao” and “Zhouzhuang”. Zhujiajiao and Zhouzhuang are both little towns built on water. They are much like a kind of Chinese-Venice. You can take a boat to travel around the whole town and have the special fish that can be only seen in that area.

Rail way transpotaions in Shanghai

In my mind, Shanghai can be called a developed city according to its transportation level.

What I’m proud of is the rail way transportations in Shanghai which includes subways, light rails, trains and maglev. Currently, there are 9 lines of subways and light rails in the city. You can take a rail way to almost anywhere you want to go in downtown. When we Shanghai people want to go out, the first choice is the rail way. It is fast, comfortable and convenient. Railways always come in time and unless you take a subway in rush hours, it won’t be too crowded inside the sub sections. Besides, most Shanghai people use transportations card. This card is designed to make transportation easier: you can use it in a rail way, a cab, a city bus, a coach and a ferry. You can deposit money in the card in advance and when you take a bus or whatever, you just need scan it when you get in the bus. It is really convenient and makes the people current during rush hours goes faster. The subways, light rails and train rails are connected to each other. There are a lot of “transfer-stations” in the “rail way net” and once you get in a train, no matter what line is it, you can go everywhere. Even if you are a tourist to Shanghai, once you go out your train, there are three subways and light rails connected to the train station; if you take a plane, there is a maglev line connects the airport to the city. Besides, the maps of the railways are always clear and understandable. You will never get lost.

See the curent Shanghai " rail way net"http://www.exploreshanghai.com/ditie/

There will be more than 12 lines of subways and light rails in Shanghai in before 2020. Those rail ways will lead to suburbs around Shanghai. Also, the subway between downtown and airport will be finished in the near future. Till then, you don’t need to pay a lot for travelling to the airport because the subway fee in Shanghai is pretty low. However, if you are rush, you can still take the maglev as it is so fast. (Maglev travels about 350km/hour) Besides, there will be a maglev between Shanghai hand the nearest city-Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a fantastic place for sightseeing so the maglev will provide great convenience to the tourists (It will take about 2 hours drive from Shanghai to Hangzhou but if you take a maglev, it will take around 30 minutes).

See the future Shanghai "rail way net"(it is too big to show up):http://hiphotos.baidu.com/fd08新闻/pic/item/0b3a916f672a8ac080cb4a9d.jpg

New Paradise

Xintiandi is a new land mark on Shanghai. It is said the greatest (also the most expensive I think) place for entertainment.

Xintiandi is different from other entertainment places because it is set in an old “Linong”. The old houses in Shanghai were called Shikumen and Xintiandi is exactly in such a Shikumen community. As I mentioned before, those old buildings are all beautiful and have an aroma of old Europe and Japan. Though those buildings are old, people fixed and redecorated it to make it new and more beautiful. They named this area “Xintiandi”. The Chinese word “Xintiandi” means “New Paradise” in English, which shows the deep meaning of this new area: a new place for modern life based on an old styled life environment. A lot of elegant restaurants, designers’ studios, designers’ shops and pubs opened in Xintiandi and then made it an upper-class place.

As a land mark of Shanghai, Xintiandi attracts a lot of foreigners. When you go to Xintiandi during the daytime, you will see tourists from different countries; you will also hear a lot of different languages here. If you go to Xintiandi during the night, you will find most of the people clubbing here have blond hair and white skin. I mean, it’s in Shanghai, you won’t have many chances to see so many Europeans and Americans in a same place.

Xintiandi is also a popular place among young people. You will see most fashionable youngsters and even local stars here. They eat at the upper-class restaurants and then go to the pubs; they speak English here in Shanghai. The cost in Xintiandi is not so affordable but they like it. This is Shanghai, you know, people spend more and more money on fashion, luxury and entertainment; more and more places appear as a “place for English”-there are much more foreigners than locals there.

The famous bars in Shanghai-Lan Shanghai

Lan Shanghai is located in a European style building behind the Bund. The club is extremely large and takes up all four floors of the building. Every floor of the building has is decorated differently, each with its own style and theme. Customers will never find it dull or boring no matter how many times they go. The interior decorations are designed by famous international designers. The designs are both luxurious and elegant. On the third floor of the building there is a 10 meter long oil painting. It is the work of is one of China’s most famous painters, Liu Hsiao Dong.

Lan Shanghai is not only a club, inside there is also a restaurant, bar, and lounge. Inside the restaurant there are also a variety of different rooms including traditional Chinese style rooms and European style rooms. Customers can pick which room they want to eat in according to their preferences. After the meal, customers can go to the bar to listen to music, dance, and have a drink or go to the lounge to smoke cigarettes and sip some wine. Of course, if you just want to go there to party and have some fun, after 10 would be the best time. The club DJ’s are always prepared with the best house music for those who love to dance.

Lan Shanghai is also the restaurant/club where you would probably see the most celebrities in the city. If you are a fan of chasing celebrities or want to make some money off of selling photos, Lan Shanghai would be the place to go.

Famous bars in Shanghai-Shelter

Shelter is the most creative pub in Shanghai.

To talk about Shelter, we can’t forget this person: DJ V-nutz, the owner of the pub. First of all, he was the first place of the World DMC (Disco Mix Club) Contest-China Region. DMC contest is the most famous and important event among the DJ community and every year numerous DJs from different countries of the world will attend this contest to show themselves. Besides, DJ V-nutz is not only the winner of this event, but also one of the organizers and administrators of this contest in China region now.

However, when he opened this pub, it was a big surprise to the public because it was so weird. Most people cannot understand what is going on here on earth. What kind of music is he playing on earth? What are these stuffs on earth? What do they mean on earth? What must be mentioned here is that this bar is totally different from all other bars in Shanghai. Shelter is just so thoughtful, experimental and creative and not suits all people. It is just like its owner, DJ V-nutz. No one knows how he thinks. Like when others began to listen to hip-hop, he started to play old school…… Shelter is only open to who can really understand music. Every time, each piece of music DJ V-nutz played is specially designed and only who really love music can tell how good it is and can really appreciate. For example, in Shelter’s series of theme parties “Back To The Roots”, there were not only excellent DJs, but also the best dancers, MCs (Microphone Controller) and artists of graffiti in Shanghai.

Famous Bars in Shanghai-Volar & Attica

Volar has the best liquor.

This bar is famous of its “member system” and its design-it is designed by famous French designer Philippe Starck. Besides, people find that the cocktail there is amazing, too. The liquor menu of Volar contains Martini, Long Cocktail, Short Cocktail, Champagne Cocktail, Shooter and Classic Cocktail. There are a lot of choices you can have and all the materials used to make liquor are extremely fresh. What must be mentioned here is that Volar has a lot of "Volar liquor" which means the compounding of the drink is specially designed by Volar. For example, it has a "Volar Martini" that is made of Martini and watermelon juice. Having a fantastic look and a fantastic taste, the Volar Martini is so popular among the customers that it became the most famous drink in Volar. Besides, Volar also has a kind of liquor called “Bonbon” which means candy in French containing the “vanilla sugar”. This kind of vanilla sugar is specially made by Volar itself and just serves in this bar. You will not have this liquor unless you are in Volar.

Here is another bar called Attica which has the best gazebo.

Attica is located in the Bund which is a place for business, sightseeing and government. Therefore the location is not so good for this bar in some extent but it also provides Attica an advantage: the view.

According to the size of the gazebo, the facilities on the gazebo and the view from the gazebo, Attica is no doubt the best one. It is the only place that has two gazebos in the Bund. Both of these two gazebos are very big. One is for the dance floor and the other is for the restaurant but when a party is being held, both gazebos are open for dance floor. Attica has excellent facilities on the gazebo: wood floor, comfortable sofas, beautiful benches and sands on the edges, which apply a feeling of beach to the gazebo. Also, located on the 11th floor, a fantastic view of the Bund can be seen thoroughly from Attica. See the picture you will understand why it is the best gazebo among so many pubs in Shanghai.

The road Hengshan Road

Shanghai is the city of night life. If you like to go clubbing, there is a place in Shanghai you can never miss: The Hengshan Road.

This is a road full of bars; this is a road full of the feeling of elegancy. The Hengshan Road used to be a part of the districts that belong to France, so there are a lot of French style buildings along Hengshan Road, which makes this road surrounded by an aroma of European.

On such an elegant road, there locate a lot of high-class restaurants of both Chinese and foreign cuisines. For example, along this road you can find Australia barbeque, Vietnamese cuisine, Music Thesis restaurant, Japanese Sushi, German restaurant, Thai cuisine, Italian restaurant, Shanghai cuisine, Cantonese restaurant, Sichuan food…… Here you can have the fantastic food in Shanghai in the best environment because in order to be matched the feeling of the road well, all the restaurants are well designed and decorated. See some pictures of Hengshan road so that you will understand how those restaurants look like.

There are also more than thirty bars around this road. Though I have never been to bars in Shanghai, I have heard of them a lot of times. They are so familiar in Shanghai and all of them are well designed and decorated as well. Each bar has its own characteristic. For instance, Bonbon is the most popular bar among youngsters. Even you go there during week days, it is full. The most attractive aspect of Bonbon is hat it has excellent DJs and it is the only club in Asia which affiliated to Godskitchen. Each weekend Bonbon will invite one of the top DJs in the world.

（Bonbon)