>> History of Shanghai
Origin of "Hu" and "Shen"
Shanghai is called in Chinese "Hu" for short and "Shen" as a nickname. About 6,000 years ago, the western part of today's Shanghai dried up into land and its eastern part became a piece of land about 2,000 years ago. During the Spring-Autumn and Warring States Periods (770-221 BC), this area was once the feoff of Huang Xie, the Chun Shen Governor of the State of Chu.
So, "Shen" comes from the title of the governor. During the Jin Dynasty (4th-5th centuries), fishermen living along the Songjiang River (today's Suzhou Creek) and the coast of the East China Sea created a fishing tool called "Hu." By combining the name of the fishing tool and the then term for estuary of big rivers, they coined a Chinese character "Hu" to name the place as it sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the longest river in China.
Founding of the City
Shanghai began as Huating County, an administrative district established in 751 AD. The county, located in an area known today as Songjiang District, had its boundary reaching today's Hongkou District in the north, Xiasha in the east and the coast in the south. In 991 AD, Shanghai Town was set up in the county.
During the 1260-1274 period, the town evolved into an important trading port and in 1292, the then central government approved the establishment of Shanghai County in this area, which has been widely deemed as the official beginning of the city of Shanghai.
Modern Age
In the 16th century (or the middle period of the Ming Dynasty), Shanghai became the national center of textile & handicraft industry. In 1685, Shanghai set up its first customs office. After the Opium War in the mid-19th century, Shanghai served as a major trading port and gateway to inland China. With invasion of the big powers from across the world, Shanghai was then turned into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial city for about 100 year. On May 27, 1949, Shanghai was liberated by the People's Liberation Army of the Communist Party of China from the Kuomingtang rule and began to write its chapter in the history of the development of New China.
Historic Transformation
Shanghai has undergone a historic transformation since its liberation on May 27, 1949. In the past more than 50 years, fundamental changes have taken place in this once semi-feudal and semi-colonial city.
Particularly, since the Chinese government adopted the reform and opening policy in 1978, Shanghai has witnessed marked progresses in its social and economic development, thanks to the distinctive strategies adopted by the city government applicable to the advancement of a megalopolis like Shanghai.
Today, Shanghai is the largest economic and transportation center in China. It also enjoys a reputation as a famed historical city in the country. Now, the city is striving to turn itself into one of the economic, financial, trade and transportation centers in the world. It also aims to lead the country in building a well-off society and in achieving the initial modernization.
>> Urban Construction
Investment in Urban Construction
The city has made breakthroughs in the construction of hub-oriented, functional and networked infrastructures. For the 2001-2006 period, Shanghai invested 438.275 billion yuan in its urban construction projects, accounting for 25.5% of the total fixed assets investment in the period. The progress in the city's infrastructure network has contributed greatly to further improving its investment environment, opening further to the outside world and enhance its comprehensive function.
Investment in Urban Construction
The city has made breakthroughs in the construction of hub-oriented, functional and networked infrastructures. For the 2001-2006 period, Shanghai invested 438.275 billion yuan in its urban construction projects, accounting for 25.5% of the total fixed assets investment in the period. The progress in the city's infrastructure network has contributed greatly to further improving its investment environment, opening further to the outside world and enhance its comprehensive function.
Key Urban Construction Projects
According to its overall urban development plans and goals, the city has sped up the key urban construction projects through scientific coordination. It has already completed landmark projects, including the bridges over the Huangpu River, tunnels, elevated roads, expressways, subways, international airports, and Yangshan Deep-water Port. In 2006, Shanghai invested 64.195 billion yuan into key urban construction projects. In the year, the city
Donghai Bridge
The first long cross-sea bridge in China links up the Yangshan Deep-water Port with Luchao Port in Nanhui District. The bridge spans 32.5 kilometers, with six vehicle lanes in two ways and emergency parking areas. It is 31.5 meters wide, and the designed vehicle speed is 80 kilometers per hour. The bridge started operation in late 2005.
Pudong International Airport
The Pudong International Airport, at about the mid-point of the Europe- America aviation route, has been one of the world's major aviation hubs. It is about 30 kilometers away from the city's downtown. The airport terminal building looks like a super seagull spreading its wings. The first phase of the airport has a 4E runway 4,000 meters long and 60 meters wide, a parking space of 800,000 square meters that can hold 76 planes at a time. The second phase includes a runway 4,000 meters long and 60 meters wide, a terminal building with a floor area of 800,000 square meters and four runways. When all the projects are completed, the airport can handle 80 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo a year.
Shanghai Southern Railway Station
Located in Caohejing of Xuhui District, the station is the southern gate of Shanghai in the city's railway hub plan and links Shanghai to other parts of the country and functions as a transit hub for local commuters. The roof of the main building at the station takes the shape of a flying disk, and the planned floor area of the facility is about 600,000 square meters. The project includes the station proper and support facilities, station kiosks and relevant development projects, a square and support urban infrastructure projects, and a project for handling transit mail. The station started operation in 2006.
Cross-river Projects
Before the 1990s, residents hand to take ferry to travel across the Huangpu River as there was neither bridge nor tunnel linking the two parts of Shanghai separated by the river. Since the government adopted the opening and reform policy for Pudong, six bridges, namely Nanpu, Yangpu, Xupu, Lupu, Fengpu and Songpu, and six crossriver tunnels, namely, Out Ring Rd, Xiangyin Rd, Dalian Rd, Yan'an Rd E., Fuxing Rd E. and Dapu Rd, have been completed.
Nanpu Bridge It is the first bridge Shanghai built across the Huangpu River. The 8,346-meter-long bridge has an under-clearance of 46 meters, thus allowing ships with a tonnage of 55,000 to pass under it. As a cablestayed bridge, its main bridge is 846 meters long and 30.35 meters wide, divided into six lanes. The approaches have a combined length of 7,500 meters and the West Shanghai spiral approach is 3,754 meters long. The bridge opened to traffic on December 1, 1991.
Yangpu Bridge
Located 11 kilometers downstream, this is a sister bridge of the Nanpu Bridge. The two bridges act as two wings to help the Inner-Ring Road to fly across the Huangpu River. Also a cable-stayed bridge, the Yangpu Bridge is 7,658 meters long with a 602-meterwide main arch. The bridge opened to traffic in October 1993.
Lupu Bridge
It was named"world's No. 1 arch bridge"for the 10 records the projects set. The whole- steel structure is recognized as"world No. 1 steel bridge". With a total length of 8.7 kilometers, the bridge starts
from Luban Road in Puxi, spans the Huangpu River and reaches Jiyang Road in Pudong. Its main arch, spanning 750 meters, flies across the river. The main bridge has six traffic lanes. The bridge's under-clearance reaches 46 meters and it provides a water navigation lane of 340 meters wide. The bridge opened to traffic in 2003.
Dalian Road Tunnel
It parallels with the second phase of the Pearl Line Light Rail. The tunnel has four traffic lanes going two ways and each lane is 3.75 meters wide. The lane above-clearance is 4.5 meters. It is designed for a speed of 40 kilometers per hour. The tunnel, with a total length of 2.5 kilometers, opened to traffic in 2003.
Fuxing Road E. Tunnel
It is the world's first double-deck tunnel in operation. The tunnel has six lanes. The 3-meter-wide, two-lane upper deck is designed for cars and has height limit of 2.4 meters. The lower deck has a 3.5-meter-wide drive lane and a 2.5-meter-wide emergency lane, with a height limit of 3.8 meters. The speedlimit is 40 kilometers per hour. With a total length of 2,785 meters, the tunnel opened to traffic in 2004.
Xiangyin Road Tunnel
With the biggest diameter among China's cross-river highway tunnel, it will link with the planned Shanghai-Chongming-Jiangsu crossriver tunnel. The northern part of the project totals 2,597 meters, and the south section 2,606 meters. The tunnel has four two-way lanes in two pipes with a designed speed limit at 80 kilometers per hour. It opened to traffic in 2005.
Rail Network
An urban rail network has taken its initial shape since the 1990s when Shanghai began to build a modern metropolitan road system. By the end of 2006, the city had built five subway lines and a maglev line, covering a total of 169.36 kilometers and transporting 1.8 million passengers a day. By 2010 when Shanghai hosts the World Expo, the city will have 11 subway lines, with a total length of 400 kilometers, transporting more than 5 million passengers a day.
Subways
With a total length of 33.89 kilometers, the Metro Line 1 goes from Xinzhuang to the crossing of Taihe Rd and Out Ring Road, with 26 stops and a speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour. The Metro Line 2 is the east-west artery of the rail network. With a total length of 27.03 kilometers, it goes from the Hongqiao Airport to Longdong Rd E. in Pudong. The Metro Line 3 is the country's first elevated metro line. It extends 25 kilometers from Shanghai Southern Railway Station to Jiangyang Rd N. in the northeast. The Metro Line 4 covers 22 kilometers, with 17 stops, including 9 that it shares with Metro Line 3. The 17.2-kilometer Metro Line 5 joins Line 1 at Xinzhuang.
Exemplary Maglev Line
It is the first commercial maglev line in the world. It is also the first maglev line in China designed for transportation, sightseeing and tour trips. It connects Pudong International Airport with the expressways entering the downtown. With a total length of 30 kilometers, the maglev train has a designed speed limit of 430 kilometers per hour. The whole trip takes seven minutes. It started operation in December 2002.
Elevated Highways
The city's network of elevated roads consists of the Elevated Inner-Ring Road, the Elevated South-North
Road, and the Elevated Yan'an Road. The 48-kilometer Elevated Inner-Ring Road goes along the circular Zhongshan Road and links up the two sides along the Huangpu River through the Nanpu Bridge and the Yangpu Bridge. The Elevated South-North Road, with six lanes, goes across the city center, covering a total length of 8.45 kilometers. The Elevated Yan'an Road starts from the Zhongshan Road E1 in the east and reaches the Hongqiao Airport in the west. With a total length of 14.8 kilometers,it connects with the other two elevated roads to form anelevated road network in the city center.
Expressways
With a combined length of 560 kilometers, the city's expressway network now allows people to enter the network within 15 minutes, switch to any expressway within 30 minutes and arrive at any spot on the network within 60 minutes. This is the so-called"153060"target of the city's expressway network development. A number of expressways or sections, such as the Shanghai section of the Hu-Hang Expressway, the Shanghai section of the Hu-Ning Expressway, the Hu-Qing-Ping Expressway, the Tong-San National Expressway and the Hu-Lu Expressway, have all been completed and open to traffic.
Environment Protection and Rectification
Shanghai has made remarkable progress in pollution control and environment protection. In 2006, the city invested 31.085 billion yuan, or more than 3% of the city's GDP, into environmental protection projects. The effective control of discharged pollutants helped the city's good air quality to reach 88.8%. The city treated 71% of its sewage.
Urban Greening
By the end of 2006, the city's areas of parks and greenbelts amounted to 30,600 hectares. Of the total, 13,300 hectares were public green areas. The average per capita green area reached 11.5 square meters in the city and the green area coverage reached 37.7% of the city's total territory. In recent years, the city had built a great many large green areas, including the Yanzhong Greenbelt, Taipingqiao Greenbelt, Huangxing Park, Daning Greenbelt, the Xujiahui Park, the third phase of the People's Square Park, the third phase of the Xujiahui Park, Yanhong Greenbelt, Expo Forest, and the first phase of Riverside Forest Park.
