Shanghai is the shiniest gem in modern China's jewel box. Shanghai is China’s biggest and richest city with a population of more than 25 million people. It is often called the New York or the Paris of the east, and is the only place in China where east meets west in a comfortable way. It even has its own Disneyland World.

It's a hip, contemporary city that's charging into the future with all the energy of its famous Maglev train. Yet if you veer away from the sleek highways and glitzy shopping streets you can still stumble upon a more traditional Shanghai, with all its character and flavour. In the tiny back streets, wet-market vendors peddle their wares - buckets of bright green vegetables, fish flapping in shallow plastic bowls and heaps of crayfish crawling over each other.

Shanghai is a thoroughly modern city of shining skyscrapers and modern shopping malls, but also feels a little like stepping back in time to the 1920s and 1930s when it was an eastern haven for expats, popular with the likes of Bernard Shaw and Albert Einstein. There are still art deco buildings that hark back to this era of glamour and mystique spotted around the city. To go further back in time head to some of the water towns in the outskirts of the city that are built over canals and maintain a level of tranquillity in the chaos.

Today one of the favourite Shanghai pastimes is shopping in all its many forms. It is a haven for designer brands such as Prada, Gucci, and Burberry, mega malls, pop-up boutiques, and bustling markets. It is also known for its food. Shanghai has enough top-quality restaurants that it has its very own Michelin guide. There is also a lot to do, with fascinating entertainment from Chinese opera and acrobatic shows, to the latest international acts. Enter discreet doors and you can find jazz, indie music, all-night hip-hop, electro dance, and much more.

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