Originally Posted by
moondog
You want to be on the west (xi) side of the Huangpu river... Puxi. Pretty much everything worth seeing/doing in SH is there, though I will concede that Lujiazui (the financial district in Pudong) has come a long way over the past 5 years. Even still, there is more of everything --including "business stuff"-- on the west side.
And to give it historical context, the west side is where everything developed over the last 100+ years and where the historical "concessions" are/were. Pudong is the new part of the city.
I can't think of a good analog in the US or Europe offhand--perhaps Manhattan versus Jersey City? Or Istanbul-Europe side/Asia side? Neither is a great analog other than as a tourist where you would want to spend your time (and I don't mean to sell short Jersey City or the Asian part of Istanbul).