内容简介
Shanghai was once known as "Paris ofthe East". But today, there's no need to useanalogy to explain what Shanghai is like.Joining the ranks of international metropolises,Shanghai has developed enough charactersto make itself known at its own right. Witha storied history since the mid lgth centuryand phenomenal changes in the past threedecades, today's Shanghai is old and new,reserved and modern, ordered and chaotic.It exhilarates and intimidates, stimulates andirritates. It is a city trying very hard to makeitself a better place to live, work and enjoy.To understand Shanghai is to understand itshistory. Beginning asa small fishing villageabout 700 years ago, Shanghai becamethe national center of textile and handicraftindustry in the 15th century as people fromthe neighboring areas swarmed in. Withconstant inflow of people from other partsof the country and some earliest Westernmissionaries and traders, the city evolved intoa major trading port and gateway to inlandChina by the early 20th century.In the past 50 years of economic reform anddevelopment, the city opens its door wider foroutsiders.