Pudong

Understand

The term "Pudong" is somewhat ambiguous: This article covers the highly developed central area. Officials and media often use it for the much larger administrative district Pudong New Area. This includes the large suburban area Nanhui to the south, which has a separate article. Taken literally, it just means "east of the Huang Pu". West of the river is Puxi.

As part of Deng Xiao Ping's "Reform and Opening Up" program starting in the late 1970s, China introduced a program of Special Economic Zones to encourage development and foreign investment. The program has been quite successful and all those zones have seen rapid development. Pudong New Area may be the most successful of the lot; in particular, the pace of development in the downtown Pudong area which this article covers has been absolutely phenomenal. thumb|Lujiazui, seen from the Bund Until about 1990 Pudong was mostly farmland and low-rise residential or factory areas. An urban planning site has "Pudong Miracle" photos showing the same view in 1990 and 2010; the contrast is incredible. They also have an interesting critique of the urban design.

The most highly developed area of Pudong is Lujiazui, a peninsula sticking out into the Huang Pu directly across from Downtown Shanghai, the older center of town on the Puxi (west) side. The banner photo at the top of the page is within Lujiazui; the photo on the right is a view of Lujiazui from the Bund, a riverside boulevard in Puxi. This is a view that is photographed a gre…

Get in

There is no bridge for pedestrians to cross, so if coming from the west side of the Huangpu River, your options are metro, taxi, ferry, sightseeing tunnel or bus. The cheapest way is to take the ferry from the Bund, near Yan'an Donglu, at the price of ¥2. Using the metro costs only a bit more.

Get around

400px|thumb|Elevated walkway near Lujiazui Station

See

Many of the sights of Pudong are the large buildings of Lujiazui, all built since 1990. As of mid-2017 the area has three buildings on Wikipedia's list of the world's 50 tallest, including two in the top ten. Counting the Pearl Tower — which does not make that list because it does not have floors all the way up — there are four buildings over 400 m, a quarter mile high. thumb|Oriental Pearl Tower thumb| Left-to-right: Shanghai World Financial Center, Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai Tower The area also has other attractions.

Sleep

Hotels in Pudong cater mostly to the business traveller. For a wider range of choices or to be closer to the main tourist sights, look in Puxi instead.

Go next

The obvious place to go is the rest of Shanghai, especially downtown Puxi which is right across the river and has most of the city's tourist sites and facilities. Shanghai also includes several quite scenic water towns.

Nanhui is just south of central Pudong, and has some beaches popular as a weekend getaway for Shanghai residents. It also has the Shanghai Disney Resort.

For possibilities outside Shanghai Municipality, see the Shanghai article,.