Culture of Shanghai

City Culture of Shanghai

As the biggest city of China, is the center of economic, trade, finance and shipping of the mainland. There are more than 20 million people working and living there, most of them are from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, they speak Wu dialect and Shanghai dialect. Shanghai is also a blooming tourist city; it has a profound city culture and a lot of famous historical sites. Shanghai has developed into a famous international metropolis. The local culture of Shanghai was called Shanghai Culture. It combined the traditional Wu culture in the south of the Yangtze River and the Western culture which laid a far-reaching influence on Shanghai. The Shanghai Culture is traditional and fashionable, old and modern, and is very different from Chinese traditional culture.

Culture of Shanghai - World Expo

Shanghai Expo 2010 is the 41th. World Expo. It was held in Shanghai from May 1, 2010 to October 31, 2010. This Expo is the first Expo held by China. The theme of the Shanghai Expo 2010 is "Better City, Better Life". The total investment of the Expo is 45 billion RMB and this is the biggest investment in the history of World Expo. Shanghai also carried out the "Harmonious City" concept to respond to the theme "Better City, Better Life".

The Shanghai Culture

The Shanghai Culture is based on the traditional culture of China and combined the essence of the culture in other regions like Wu culture in the south of the Yangtze River. It also absorbed some special foreign culture, especially the Western culture which laid a far-reaching influence on Shanghai. It is a brand-new and special culture and is characterized by striving to make inventions, pursuing super excellence, and good at absorbing and abandoning. The inclusive Shanghai Culture is reflected in many aspects, such as its architecture culture, stage culture, music culture and dining culture.

Culture of Shanghai - Traditional Opera

The Shanghai Opera is a special local opera of Shanghai. It was formed about the First Opium War at the end of Qing Dynasty. It is doomed to take the reflecting of the real life as the main form of expression. Since the expressions of the Shanghai Opera was very simple in the early time, it was called Flower Drum Opera. The two people involved in the show would play and sing themselves, one of them would play the Chinese violin and the other would bang a drum. It was very popular since it was mainly comment on the news and it reflected Shanghai's ways of the world in the end of Qing Dynasty. When it got into the city, it performed a lot of fashion show, and that did an influence on the city life of the modern period. It also met the audiences' appreciation of beauty and was the main stream of the Shanghai Opera in 1930s and the 1940s.

Culture of Shanghai - Traditional Architectures

The Old God Temple is one of the main Taoist temples, it has a long history. It enshrines three Bodhisattvas: the Qin Yubo Bodhisattva, the Chen Huacheng Bodhisattva, and the Huo Guang Bodhisattva. There are many versions about their stories. It is said that Qin Yubo was called "the man of ideas" during the period of Late Yuan and the Early Qing Dynasties. He resigned and backed to the little town city in the time of misfortune. Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang in Ming Dynasty invited him to be his assistance many times, and then Qin Yubo returned to be an officer. Since Qin Yubo served for Yuan many years, he was skillful in dealing with things, and was put into an important position by the emperor. He was given the title of the Bodhisattva of the Old God Temple after he passed away.

Culture of Shanghai - Modern Architectures

The Bund on the Huangpu River is a landmark of Shanghai. It is a must-see attraction in Shanghai. It is about 1.5 kilometers long. The Huangpu River is on its east, and 52 various- styled buildings on its west. The 52 buildings is called "international architectures" since it includes various styles of buildings, such as the Romanesque, the Gothic, the Chinese-foreign style, and the Barroque. Shanghai was established as a port and opened to foreign trade in 1840. The Oriental Pearl Tower and the Bund face each other across the river. The Oriental Pearl Tower is 467.9 meters high; it is the highest tower in Asia and the third highest tower in the world. It was named after "pearls falling into a jade plate" the famous poetry – Pipa wrote by Bai Juyi.