Shanghai is a city that is on every China traveler's itinerary. It is of course China's financial capital, a position it had even back in the days of the British and Portuguese traders. It used to be called the "Paris of the orient". It is a jewel and truly a world class city.

Hua and I lived there for a few years when my company had its offices there. We lived in an older and very charming area called Xujiahui District, which before WWII was the home to many foreign nationals. Shanghai, while one city is really two and you hear people use two terms. Puxi refers to the side of Shanghai west of the Yangtze River and Pudong is the area to the east. Pudong is, for the most part, all new with big buildings and wide streets. When you stand by the river across the street from the Bund, the lovely view of the Pearl Tower, Jinmao Tower and Shangri-La Hotel is really on the Pudong side

First of all, be aware that Shanghai has two airports. Pudong is the newest and is the destination of most international flights, and is about 30 to 40 minutes from downtown Shanghai.  While is a new state of the art Maglev train to and from the airport, the bad news is that it only goes as far as Longyang Road Station in Pudong . At full speed, the journey takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds to complete the distance of 30 km. It is more practical to take a taxi. Like Beijing, there are not any hotels worth noting near the airport.

The other airport that is mainly for domestic flights is Hongqiao (red bridge) Airport and this is in Shanghai at the west end and a one hour drive from the other airport. This is the original Shanghai airport and has many hotels close by as it is only 15 minutes from downtown.  This is a great airport as it is compact and efficient for those short domestic flights.

Before you book a hotel, map out where your meetings will take place and book a place that makes logistical sense as traffic there can be brutal. Shanghai is a city where streets wind around the rivers that have numerous bridges cutting across.  The last thing you want is to spend a lot of time driving around or being stuck in traffic.

Shanghai has many great restaurants and seafood is the favorite since it is a coastal city. My favorite was the crawfish or "xiao long xia" that was boiled in chili oil and served by the kilo in outdoor cafes. Hairy crab is a big favorite in the month of May. Of course, when you had a craving for a cheeseburger, the only place to go is to Malone's which is near the Hilton in downtown.

Shanghai is similar to Hong Kong for its amazing skyline. The Shanghai Stock Exchange building by the way was designed by a Canadian firm.