Shanghai bristles with China tours buildings, but the city doesn't boast must-see sights like New York or Rome. The joys of Shanghai, instead, are on the street level, where everyday life unfolds with bewildering variety. An elderly woman in pajamas will be chopping vegetables on the stoop of her lane house, while a Prada-clad beauty will sashay past on her way to a nearby art gallery. So sharpen your elbows, pick up a pair of chopsticks and dig in.
People-Watch: One of our favorite activities. It's free, it's fascinating, and you may learn more about today's China in an hour of people-watching than you would in a day spent on a tour bus. You can do this practically anywhere, at a park or a major Yangtze River cruises intersection, but the best spots may be in People's Square, along Nanjing Lu Pedestrian Mall, on Huaihai Lu, on the Bund Promenade, or at Xintiandi, where you are almost certain to see some wild and woolly mix of beleaguered tourists, both Chinese and foreign, along with newly minted business folk, trendy young fashionistas, uniformed school children, strolling seniors, and, of course, whistle-blowing traffic cops. One of the more interesting sights in recent years has been the "matchmaking market" that has sprouted in People's Park (Renmin Gongyuan) on weekends as parents show up in droves hoping to find matches for their still-single adult children.
Morning Exercises in the Parks and on the Bund: There's no better way to greet the day than to join the thousands of Shanghai residents in their morning tai chi exercises (and occasionally Western ballroom dancing) in Shanghai's parks and on the Bund. While the Bund is preferable (the first golden rays hitting the colonial facades are truly something to behold), the newly refurbished travel to Shangri-la Bund promenade seems to have deterred residents from coming out as before.
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