To make a cheap Shanghai tour, you need to know its history to decide where to visit.As one of the international metropolis cities, Shanghai has an amazing long history.

Shanghai Ancient History:

 

During the Warring States Period (475 -221BC), Huang Xie, known as Lord Chunshen of the Chu state, organized people to excavate the Huangpu River. The river therefore has a nickname of 'Chunshen River' and Shanghai has sometimes been referred to as 'Shen' ever since. Fishermen living in the area at that time created a fishing tool called Hu, so Shanghai has the other nickname of 'Hu'.

 

During the Qin Dynasty (221 - 206BC) Shanghai was not even a town. People used boats in the former Mao Lake and the rivers of today's Songjiang District to trade and do business.

 

From the Han Dynasty (206BC - 220AD) on the industries of coin-casting, metal-smelting and salt-production grew dynamically in the Shanghai area and the economical connection between this area and the hinterland gradually strengthened. Prosperity continued into the Jin Dynasty (265 - 420).

 

In the Sui (581 - 618) and the Tang (618 - 907) Dynasties the Shanghai area enjoyed rather fast progress, as great importance was attached to the economic development of southern China. The area became an important bread basket, thanks to proper reclamation of arable land. After this the area gathered a larger population by degrees and it had more economical and cultural exchange with places at home and abroad.

 

During the Song Dynasty (AD 960–1279), Shanghai grew into a market town from a village, and in 1172, to stabilize the ocean coastline, a second sea wall was built.

 

In the Ming Dynasty, with the building of a city wall in 1554 and the erection of a City God Temple (Cheng Huang Miao) in 1602, Shanghai developed and gained great honor. The honor probably reflects the town's economic importance, as opposed to its low political status.

 

During the Qing Dynasty, due to the change of two important central government policies, Shanghai became the most important sea port in the whole Yangtze Delta region. First of all, Emperor Kangxi (1662-1723) in 1684 reversed the previous Ming Dynasty prohibition on ocean going vessels, a ban that had been in force since 1525. Secondly, Emperor Yongzheng in 1732 moved the customs office for Jiangsu province from Songjiang city to Shanghai, and gave Shanghai exclusive control over customs collections for the foreign trade of all Jiangsu province. As a result of these two critical decisions, Shanghai had become the major trade port for all of the lower Yangzi River region, despite still being at the lowest administrative level in the political hierarchy.

 

Shanghai Modern History:

The importance of Shanghai grew radically in the 19th century, as the city's strategic position at the mouth of the Yangtze River made it an ideal location for trade with the West. During the First Opium War in the early 19th century, British forces temporarily held Shanghai. The war ended with the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, which saw the treaty ports, Shanghai included, opened for international trade. The Treaty of the Bogue signed in 1843, and the Sino-American Treaty of Wangsia signed in 1844 together saw foreign nations achieve extraterritoriality on Chinese soil, the start of the foreign concessions.

 

Under the Republic of China (1911-1949), Shanghai's political status was finally raised to that of a municipality on July 14, 1927. Although the territory of the foreign concessions was excluded from their control, this new Chinese municipality still covered an area of 828.8 square kilometers, including the modern-day districts of Baoshan, Yangpu, Zhabei, Nanshi, and Pudong. Under the leader of a Chinese mayor and municipal council, this new city center was planned to include a public museum, library, sports stadium, and city hall.

Shanghai has seen great development over the past 15 years. On 27 May 1949, the Communist Party of China controlled the People's Liberation Army and took control of Shanghai, which was one of only three former Republic of China (ROC) municipalities not merged into neighbouring provinces over the next decade (the others being Beijing and Tianjin). Shanghai underwent a series of changes in the boundaries of its subdivisions, especially in the next decade. After 1949, most foreign firms moved their offices from Shanghai to Hong Kong, as part of an exodus of foreign investment due to the Communist victory.

 

During the 1950s and 1960s, Shanghai became an industrial center and center for revolutionary leftism. Yet, even during the most tumultuous times of the Cultural Revolution, Shanghai was able to maintain high economic productivity and relative social stability. In most of the history of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Shanghai has been the largest contributor of tax revenue to the central government compared with other Chinese provinces and municipalities. This came at the cost of severely crippling Shanghai's infrastructure and capital development. Its importance to China's fiscal well-being also denied it economic liberalizations that were started in the far southern provinces such as Guangdong during the mid-1980s. At that time, Guangdong province paid nearly no taxes to the central government, and thus was perceived as fiscally expendable for experimental economic reforms. Shanghai was finally permitted to initiate economic reforms in 1991, starting the huge development still seen today and the birth of Lujiazui in Pudong.

 

Nowadays, the international metropolis of Shanghai is well-known all over the world and the most developed city in China, as well an economic, financial, trade, cultural, science and technology center of China. Shanghai is also the sample of modernization, internationalization and fashionalization.

Special Touring Regions:

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