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A world class venue designed to resemble a traditional pagoda, it's one of the few modern buildings in the brash city centre to have been built in anything like the vernacular. The theatre hosts international performers and performances from classical orchestras to Shakespeare companies to The Sound of Music. Shanghai's culture vultures are a keen lot: you'll even find touts trying to fob off ballet tickets.
People's Square - People's Square Station Metro Line 1 and 2 www.shgtheatre.com/images_e/mainindex_e.asp
A converted patch of the old French Concession area full of swanky restaurants and bars, Xintiandi could almost be a corner of a cosmopolitan city tucked into the centre of Asia's hottest boomtown. It's expensive. Very expensive. But there's no better place to experience the cafe culture that was swinging hardest during Shanghai's golden age back in the 30s.
Get off at Huang Pi Nan Lu (Metro Line 1) and follow the Gucci.
They want to build the tallest building in the world here; they already have one of the top five in the shape of the Jin Mao tower, standing 88 stories high. But most striking of all, Pudong harbours the symbol of modern Shanghai, the space-age spheres and spike of the simply bizarre Oriental Pearl Tower. Love it or hate it, it's hard to ignore it.
Jump off Metro Line 2 at Liu Jia Zui. You can visit the Jin Mao and the Oriental Pearl towers for a price - 50RMB at least.
Shanghai is a city where East meets West, and nowhere more so that on the waterfront. On the westside, Puxi, stands a row of grand colonial buildings that still have the power to dominate the view despite the skyscrapers surrounding them. Check out the ceiling inside the dome of the HSBC building - they clearly had the Sistine Chapel in mind.
Ask a taxi driver for 'Waitan' or else get off Metro Line 2 at Henan Zhong Lu and walk east down Nanjing Lu.
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