Shanghai , the largest city in China in terms of population with over 20 million people, is also the world’s fastest changing city.

Shanghai is split in two by the Huangpu River, with the older town on the west bank known as Puxi and the brand new development on the east side being Pudong.

Originally a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew to importance in the 19th century due to its favorable port location and as one of the cities opened to foreign trade by the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. The city flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became a multinational hub of finance and business by the 1930s. However, Shanghai's prosperity was interrupted after the 1949 Communist takeover and the subsequent cessation of foreign investment.

In the beginning of the 1990s, the Shanghai government launched a series of new strategies to attract foreign investments. The biggest move was to open up Pudong, once a rural area of Shanghai. The strategies succeeded, and now Pudong has become the financial district of Shanghai, with numerous skyscrapers. Moreover, in 2005 Shanghai became the world's busiest cargo port.