Shanghai
China
Shanghai is a provincial-level municipality in China, located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River and divided by the Huangpu River. With about 30 million people in its urban area in 2026, it is China's most populous city. It is a global centre for finance, trade, research and transport, and its port is the busiest container port in the world.
Time Out ranked Shanghai No. 2 in its Best Cities in the World 2026 and No. 9 in its 50 Best Cities in the World to Visit in 2025. Its writers describe a city "rooted in history but always sprinting" ahead, note its claim to have the most cafés in the world, and praise its cleanliness and low air and noise pollution thanks to electric vehicles. Condé Nast Traveller (UK) readers placed it No. 6 in the Readers' Choice Awards in both 2025 and 2026, highlighting the French Concession, the Oriental Pearl Tower and the food.
Shanghai grew from a fishing village and market town into a major port in the 19th century. After the First Opium War it became one of five treaty ports opened to European trade, with the International Settlement and the French Concession, and by the 1930s it was Asia's main commercial and financial hub. Its global role declined during the Cold War, and the reforms under Deng Xiaoping led to large-scale redevelopment in the 1990s, especially in the Pudong New Area.
Sources of this text: Wikipedia · Time Out · Condé Nast Traveller (UK)
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