Pudong's wterfront is best seen from the Shanghai Bund. The futuristic looking building is the Oriental Pearl Tower, which at 468 metres, is the third tallest int eh the world. Pudong means "new area." -- Photos by Robin Robinson

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Hollywood has had an on-again off-again romance with Shanghai throughout much of the 20th century.

A recent search of AOL's Moviephone website -- movies.aol.com -- turns up a list of 20 major films with Shanghai in the title -- from 1915's Shanghaied starring Charlie Chaplin to 2003's Shanghai Knights with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. (A search of "Toronto" on the same website turns up four films with less than famous actors.)

Shanghai's reputation as a place where "anything goes" captured the imagination of filmmakers, who often cast the city as an Asian-style Wild West. Freewheeling policies had been in place since the 1840s when China and Britain fought the first Opium War. China lost. Britain gained control of Hong Kong and access to five Chinese ports, including Shanghai, which became an open city.

By the 1920s and '30s Shanghai had evolved into a decadent "Paris of the East," says Chris Dou, a freelance guide for Shanghai Airlines Overseas Travel Services.

And that image persisted in films long after China's Cultural Revolution had transformed Shanghai from a place where anything goes into China's most important port, commercial hub and industrial centre.

Today, ultra urban Shanghai is the epicentre of 21st century China -- a sophisticated place of soaring skyscrapers and cosmopolitan young people with big appetites for tiny cellphones, tony designer labels and Karaoke TV clubs.

On Nanjing Road -- which Dou refers to as "China's No. 1 street" -- colossal LED signs for Armani, Prada, Tommy, etc., lure shoppers into more than 600 boutiques and department stores. Labels -- and prices -- found in glitzy shops here and on nearby Huaihai Road are the real deal, not cheap knock-offs sold in street markets. These luxury goods are being snapped up by a new generation of Chinese with growing disposable incomes.

"Shanghai girls are the most fashionable girls in China," explains Dou, as we stroll through the pedestrian area of Nanjing Road.

Vogue magazine thinks so too. Last year the fashion publication did an eight-page spread on the city's cutting edge "East meets West style," Dou says.

But away from the Burberry, the Chanel and the Rolex ads, old Shanghai quietly coexists with the new.

Fifty-two elegant European style buildings along The Bund -- a 1.6 km tree-lined boulevard beside the Huangpu river -- tell the story of Shanghai's colonial days.

Across the river in suburban Pudong, skyscrapers such as the 88-storey Jin Mao building -- home to restaurants, bars and the Grand Hyatt hotel -- and the 468-metre high Oriental Pearl Radio and Television Tower form a furturistic cityscape.

In the city centre, dozens of traditional attractions including Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar, the Mid-Lake Pavilion and the Jade Buddha Temple tell even older tales of Shanghai.

The 400-year-old Yuyuan Garden forms a green oasis in the heart of a metropolis. Constructed during the Ming Dynasty, the delightful garden is divided into areas with themes such as Mountains and Forests, Magnificent and Woods and Beautiful Valleys, Water and Rockery.

A fierce dragon at the Yuyuan Gardens.

Adjacent to the garden, a traditional nine-cornered zigzag bridge leads over a manmade lake to the Mid-Lake Pavilion Tea House. The pavilion attracts a mixed crowd of locals, tourists and high profile tea sippers -- ranging from Queen Elizabeth to former U.S. president Bill Clinton to Celine Dion. Traditional tea tastings cost 40 yuan (about $6) for two types of tea.

A collection of rebuilt Ming and Qing dynasty-style buildings form a commercial area around the Yuyuan Garden and Mid-Lake Pavilion. The colourful bazaar has been called the "kingdom of small articles of daily use," says Dou. And although western style fast food outlets such as McDonald's and KFC are moving in, it is still a wonderful place to browse, buy souvenirs and sample Shanghainese nibbles.

A short distance away -- at Anyuan Road and Jiangning Road -- is the Jade Buddha Temple. Built in 1918, it is not the oldest temple in Shanghai but it scores high marks for its wow factor.

The working monastery's three main halls are dripping with ornate Chinese architecture and house several Buddha's including two jade Buddhas, which were carved from a single piece of rare white jade. The 2-metre tall seated jade Buddha is inlaid with diamonds and agates while the elegant recumbent jade Buddha is surrounded by religious relics.

Made in Myanmar, the jade Buddhas were brought to China by a monk in the late 1800s. They are considered cultural and artistic masterpieces and the temple is one of Shanghai's most popular tourist attractions, says Dou.

A server at Shanghai's Mid-Lake Pavilion pours tea for guests. The traditional teahouse attracts a mix of locals, tourists and luminaries including Queen Elizabeth and Celine Dion.

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BOTTOM LINE

- OLD SHANGHAI: A gallery of period photographs at the Bund Museum provides a fascinating glimpse into Shanghai history. Admission is free. The gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.

MORE INFORMATION: Visit the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administrative Commission at lyw.sh.gov.cn/en/ or contact the China National Tourist Office in Toronto at tourismchina-ca.com or 416-599-6636.

GETTING THERE: Air Canada has flights from Toronto to Shanghai via Vancouver. Economy class fares start at $1,348 plus fees and taxes. See aircanada.com for more.

Relaxing waterway surrounded by lush greenery at the Yuyuan Gardens.