With sunny skies and hot weather, my first stop was to Shanghai Tower, the country's tallest building which was still under construction when I last visited. J Hotel sits at the top part of it. It opened in June 2021 with 165 rooms, including 34 suites.

I set my eyes on the hotel's Lobby Lounge at the 101st floor (470m) for a drink to calm my nerves after a heavy day flying in. At first, reception on the ground floor informed me due to the pandemic, the restaurants are only open to residents, but upon my insistence, they checked upstairs for a seat and got me a table.

















Satisfied with my expensive drink, I was keen to see how the old shikumen neighbourhoods have shaped up after a lot of controversy years ago when the demolition crews came calling.

Zhangyuan was named after Zhang Shuhe, a wealthy grains shipper from Wuxi who bought a piece of farmland here in 1882 from a British merchant, Francis Groom. He built a Western-style garden for his mother. After she passed away in 1885, the garden was opened to the public, and saw a number of firsts, including the first lit electric lamp in the country, the first bicycle race, and first outdoor photo booth. It turned into an arts and culture hub for the city.











Simingcun is located south of Jing'an Temple and was built in the 1930s as a staff dormitory for the Ningpo Commercial and Savings Bank. Unlike other shikumen of the time, it had wider alleys of 5-6m for vehicles to pass.













European powers forced a number of China's ports to open for foreign trade in the 19th century. Shanghai was one of them, and various concessions were built where foreign residents followed their homeland's laws and lived within their bubbles. The major players of commerce and finance of the time built their grand buildings along the Bund.

For a memorable dinner with the grand view, head up the Three on the Bund, which has a terrace restaurant serving Western dishes.



Despite the rain, I enjoyed walking along the riverfront promenade to admire the Bund's buildings lit up with smaller crowds.









More photos on my website : https://www.globalphotos.org/shanghai.htm