Shanghai

What it's known for

Shanghai is a global centre for finance, business, science and technology, and a province-level city in its own right. After the First Opium War, the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 opened it to foreign trade as one of five treaty ports.

Fun facts

1. The name is written with two characters meaning 'upon' and 'sea', so Shanghai means 'On the Sea'.
2. The Shanghai maglev, which began service in 2003 between the city and Pudong International Airport, was the world's first commercial high-speed maglev train.
3. The Chinese Communist Party was founded in Shanghai's French Concession in July 1921.