Located in People’s Square, the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre offers you a peek into the Shanghai of yesterday, today and tomorrow, spread over several floors. On the lobby level there is usually a themed display to draw you in.  The main exhibit located on level 3 is a mammoth scale model of the city giving you a bird’s eye view of the existing structures and those planned or under development. Other attractions showcase the city’s history with photos, drawings and multimedia shows. To top it all there is a presentation of the future Shanghai using 3D simulation for an exhilarating flythrough of the city projected on a 360 degree cyclorama screen around the viewing platform. It is so heady you might want to grab the railings provided.  The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre with its distinctive roof structure.   A feature display in the lobby atrium. The scale model of the city. Closeup view of the Pudong area with its skyscrape

After achieving healthy bottom-lines, corporations, institutions and individuals have turned their attention to burnishing their image by sponsoring projects of artistic merit in the public space, augmenting those undertaken by the state. Modest or mega in scale, for self-glorification or out of social consciousness, public art is good for business because it gives back to the community that sustains it in a virtuous circle. Sundial on Century Avenue en route to the Science & Technology Museum The writing’s on the wall Henry Moore inspired chrome-finished statue at Thumb Plaza Elephant statue on a coiled trunk Stone slugs and snails at the entrance to Xintiandi Style Abstract expressionist sculpture near a highway flyover Female form balancing on a sphere Fluid metal sculpture outside the Shanghai Library, suggesting  perhaps , freeing your mind with books This statue  in a city park  pays  homage to playwright-poet   Tian Han,  

The Shanghai Maglev Train runs between the Pudong International Airport and the Longyang Road Station on the outskirts of Shanghai city where you can connect to the metro subway and the bus networks. This is an exhilarating ride on magnetic levitation at speeds between 300 to 430 kmph depending on time of day. Gliding on air, you might be tempted to close your eyes in repose, but you’ll be wasting a chance to catch some high-speed sightseeing out of town. The spacious station Striking architecture bathed in natural light The train on the platform Ready for boarding Airline style interior Leaving the the Longyang Station... past factories and homes... under power lines… across rivers... over highways… under and over highways... past farms and quaint villages… till you arrive at the Airport, all in six minutes.

The Longhua Temple with its landmark Pagoda is Shanghai’s oldest temple, first erected in 242 AD, back in the Three Kingdoms era well over 1700 years ago. Due to its long history and the ravages of war and decay, the temple was rebuilt several times, and much of the surviving buildings were reworked during the Qing dynasty, and again restored in recent decades. The Pagoda is one of seven originally built to house sacred Buddhist relics acquired by Sun Quan, King of Wu, one of the Three Kingdoms, so the legend goes. It stands in front of the original temple entrance gateway and comprises seven octagonal storeys tapering to a height of over 40m. The seven tiers of wooden floors and balconies, each with tiled curved eaves, are built around a central brick core which is about the oldest part of the whole temple.  The Longhua temple complex is located on Longhua Road and its grounds sprawl over 20,000 sq. m. It is dedicated to the Meitreya Buddha and constructed in the Song Dyn

Circle wagons! It’s time to defend the internet from the those who would control it for their own ends. Be at the “Free My Internet” Rally. Be seen, be heard, be there! Sat 8 June 2013 4.00 pm – 7.00 pm Hong Lim Park

Prelude: To the south of China lies this vast and timeless land that the Chinese call Nanyang, or the Southern Ocean. The region encompasses all the waters and lands of southeast Asia, the Malay archipelago and beyond. Since ancient times the Chinese have sailed the seas of Nanyang in search of the vast riches that is the stuff of dreams. Many have become fabulously rich, others paid with their very lives. Through their enterprise great cities have sprung up linking peoples of many skins and tongues through their common desire to trade. It is in this romantic setting that my story unfolds. “Nanyang” tells of two brothers Seng and Hock who, separated during a shipwreck and after many twists and turns in their lives, eventually come face to face on opposites of the law. The outcome marks the turning point in their journey from boys to men. In telling this tale, I myself have embarked on a journey of a thousand miles. This little video says I have taken the first step.

  The Bund offers a spectacular view of the Pudong business district on the opposite side of the Huangpu River with its gleaming skyscrapers. The promenade is the place where selfies are a must. The Bund is the pride of Shanghai, if not of all China. It is the strip on the west bank of the Huangpu River where the foreign powers first settled, just north of the old city. It is home to many historic buildings of different architectural styles influenced by the multicultural heritage of the foreigners who carved out their own quarters collectively called the international settlement. It is a great place for the visitor to bum around as there are many sights, sounds and tastes from its cosmopolitan past to be savoured at a leisurely pace. At nightfall join the throngs of locals and tourist on a stroll along the bund for a spectacular view of the skyline. The old Meteorological Signal Tower is a historic landmark built in 1907 at the southern end of the Bund. A cafe and bar with roof