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Shanghai is China’s most comprehensive industrial and commercial city, ranking the first in population and population density. As a tourist city, it attracts travelers from both home and abroad by its commercial activity rather than scenic beauty.
Shanghai is a surprisingly compact place, considering its enormous population, and although its layout is less obviously geometrical than that of Beijing, it's not hard to find your way around the various quarters on foot - though you'll certainly need buses or taxis for crossing from one quarter to the next. The area of most interest to visitors is bordered to the east by the Huangpu River (which flows from south to north), and to the north by the Suzhou Creek (which flows from west to east).
A good place to get your bearings is at the southwestern corner of the junction of these two rivers, at the entrance of the small Huangpu Park. To the north, across the iron Waibaidu Bridge over Suzhou Creek is the area of the old Japanese Concession. South from Huangpu Park, along the western bank of the Huangpu River, runs the Bund - in Chinese, officially Zhongshan Lu, unofficially Wai Tan. The Bund is in turn overlooked from the east bank by the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the city's most conspicuous landmark. A lot of hotels, including some of the only dormitory accommodation, are in the Bund area. A hundred meters south from Huangpu Park , the Bund is met by Nanjing Lu , one of the city's premier shopping streets, which runs west, past the northern edge of Renmin Park in the centre of the city. Like all east-west routes, Nanjing Lu takes its name from that of a city; north-south roads are named after provinces. A few blocks to the south of Nanjing Lu are another major east-west thoroughfare, Yan'an Lu, which, to the east, leads into a tunnel under the Huangpu River. South of here, just west of the Bund, is the oval-shaped area corresponding to the Old City? The most important of the north-south axes is Xizang Lu, cutting through the downtown area just west of Renmin Park. Heading south, Xizang Lu runs down to an intersection with Huainan Lu , Shanghai's other main shopping boulevard, which heads west into the heart of the old French Concession.
In Shanghai, as in many other Chinese cities, long streets are divided into sections for the purpose of naming. The most useful words to know are:
"Bei"(北) - North
"Nan"(南) - South
"Dong"(东) - East
"Xi"(西) - West
"Zhong"(中) - Middle
For example Yan'an " East" Street (Yan'an Dong Lu), Yan'an "Middle" Street (Yan'an Zhong Lu) and Yan'an " West" Street (Yan'an Xi Lu). This convention is very useful when looking for an address.
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