Shanghai and it's Metropoletan Area

Shanghai is an independently administered municipal district of 6,341 sq km (2,448 sq mi).

It includes 3 counties and 17 urban districts of the city proper.

The urban districts cover 2,057 sq km (794 sq mi), of which about 300 sq km (about 116 sq mi) is built-up and densely populated.

This area is expanding as a result of many construction projects in Shanghai.

The municipality includes about 30 islands in the Yangtze River and along the coast of the East China Sea.

The largest, Chongming Dao, constitutes one of Shanghai’s 3 counties.

The oldest section of Shanghai, near the confluence of the Huangpu River and the Wusong River (Suzhou Creek), reflects the city’s preindustrial growth as a walled center of trade and county seat.

Shanghai grew west, south and north from this area, and the newer sections, typically with gridlike streets, are a result of the city’s growth as a center of commerce, shipping, and industry.

After the Communist takeover of China in 1949, the development of Shanghai’s infrastructure languished, as revenue generated in the city was used to support other areas of China.

As a result of economic reforms in the late 1970s, however, Shanghai’s suburbs began to grow.

Just south of the point where the Wusong joins the Huangpu was an approximately 1.6-km (approximately 1-mi) long wall encircling the original city, an area known as Nanshi (Nantao).

The wall was demolished in the early 20th century and replaced with a road. Nanshi is now a densely compact jumble of crowded alleys and lanes.

Along the Huangpu waterfront is a small park, walkway, and boulevard, known before 1949 as the Bund.

Now called Zhong Shan Road, this famous boulevard was the first place where ocean travelers traditionally came ashore in Shanghai.

European-style buildings were constructed along this boulevard in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

These once served as the Customhouse, the British Consulate, foreign and Chinese banks and trading houses, and a number of major hotels and commercial establishments.

Most foreigners left Shanghai in the 1940s and 1950s and many of these buildings were converted to Chinese government offices.

Nanjing Road, running west from the Huangpu and perpendicular to Zhong Shan Road, is Shanghai’s principal shopping district; it is lined with retail and entertainment establishments for many blocks.

West and south of Nanshi is the zone of the former French Concession, an area administered by France from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries.

The French architecture consists of three- and four-story buildings, which are being rapidly replaced by high-rise structures.

North and west of the French zone, extending beyond the Wusong, was the International Settlement, a zone formed when the British Concession merged with an area under United States influence.

More than 1,000 high-rises have been built in these areas since 1990, dramatically changing the appearance and character of the city.

Outside the built-up core are suburban areas and farmland, which are being rapidly altered to urban uses as Shanghai grows.

Former farmland is being converted to industrial, transportation, and residential purposes, and construction projects are evident throughout the municipality.

Pudong, a large district on the east bank of the Huangpu, became the site of a massive development project in 1990 aimed at relieving some of the congestion and crowding in Shanghai proper.

Since then, it has been transformed from an old, industrial area into a modern residential and commercial district.

Pudong today boasts a large high-technology industrial park with many multinational firms as well as the Jin Mao Building, one of the world’s tallest buildings at a height of 421 m (1,380 ft).

In addition, the Pudong International Airport opened here in 1999.