Shanghai/Pudong

Pudong (Chinese: 浦东 Pǔdōng) is a district of Shanghai on the eastern side of the Huang Pu River, an ultra-modern business hub full of high-rise buildings including several of the world's tallest.

Understand
The term "Pudong" is somewhat ambiguous:
 * This article covers the highly developed central area.
 * Officials and media often use it for the much larger administrative district Pudong New Area. This includes the large suburban area Nanhui to the south, which has a separate article.
 * Taken literally, it just means "east of the Huang Pu". West of the river is Puxi.

As part of Deng Xiao Ping's "Reform and Opening Up" program starting in the late 1970s, China introduced a program of Special Economic Zones to encourage development and foreign investment. The program has been quite successful and all those zones have seen rapid development. Pudong New Area may be the most successful of the lot; in particular, the pace of development in the downtown Pudong area which this article covers has been absolutely phenomenal. Until about 1990 Pudong was mostly farmland and low-rise residential or factory areas. An urban planning site has "Pudong Miracle" photos showing the same view in 1990 and 2010; the contrast is incredible. They also have an interesting critique of the urban design.

The most highly developed area of Pudong is Lujiazui, a peninsula sticking out into the Huang Pu directly across from Downtown Shanghai, the older center of town on the Puxi (west) side. The banner photo at the top of the page is within Luziajui; the photo on the right is a view of Lujiazui from the Bund, a riverside boulevard in Puxi. This is a view that is photographed a great deal.

Century Avenue is the main drag of Lujiazui and extends inland beyond there, ending at Century Park. It is about 5 km (3 miles) long. Most of Pudong's tourist attractions are on or near that street, either in Lujiazui or a short way inland. The first four stops east of the river on Metro line are on the street, while the fifth, Century Park, is on the other side of the park.

Get in
There is no bridge for pedestrians to cross, so if coming from the west side of the Huangpu River, your options are metro, taxi, ferry, sightseeing tunnel or bus. The cheapest way is to take the ferry from the Bund, near Yan'an Donglu, at the price of ¥2. Using the metro costs only a bit more.

By metro
Many lines of the Shanghai metro serve Pudong. Four of them meet at Century Avenue Station: Lines, , , and  also go to both Puxi and Pudong.

By sightseeing tunnel
A much more expensive way of crossing the river is the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel (north of the Peace Hotel), basically an overpriced 647 m underground travelator featuring several minutes of blinking lights at ¥45 a pop. (This "ride" lacks creativity or exhilaration, but toddlers who like to move at slow speeds and witness a few harmless props might enjoy it.)

By car
Yan'an Tunnel is the main road in and out of the district for cars. Expect a long line of cars throughout rush hours (also 17:00-21:00 on weekends) where you can get stuck up to 30 min. If you need to cross by taxi at these hours, try to talk your driver into using Renmin Lu Tunnel further south.

By plane
Coming in from Pudong Airport, the choices are taxi at around ¥150, Metro Line which runs until 21:00, or a magnetic levitation train. The Maglev runs only at 300 km/h since 2021 (some trains did run 430km/h till then). The in-town terminus is Longyang Rd Station with connections to metro lines, and. Travel time is around 10 minutes. It finishes running at about 21:30. Maglev tickets cost ¥50 single (¥40 with flight ticket for the same day), or ¥80 return.

By foot
Many tourists will just take Metro Line to Lujiazui Station and walk from there.

There is an elevated walkway that runs over the roads from the station to the Pearl Tower and the World Financial Centre via the Super Brand Mall and the IFC Mall. Some attractions can also be reached via tunnels from the station.

Metro Line 2
Line is the main east-west line through Shanghai and the city's busiest line, averaging 1.5 million rides a day.

On the Puxi side it runs under Nanjing Road through downtown and out to Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway station near its western end. In Pudong it runs through downtown under Century Avenue, and extends to Pudong Airport at its eastern end.

Metro Line 4
Line is another important one for Puxi-Pudong connections. It is a circular line which encompasses most of central Shanghai. Most of it is in Puxi, but it also comes into Pudong. Century Avenue Station, mentioned above, is the main connecting point, but there are other stations in Pudong.



Other metro lines
Lines, , , , , and  also cross the river and provide Puxi/Pudong connections.

Lines and  are both entirely on the Pudong side of the river and both run roughly north-south. Line runs near the river, from the northern edge of Pudong through the center then southwest. Line runs south from Longyang Road Station into Nanhui, all the way to the southeast corner of Shanghai.



The ultra-fast (over 400 km/h, 250 mph) magnetic levitation train (the maglev) is also entirely on the Pudong side of the river; it runs from Pudong Airport to Longyan Road Station.

See
Many of the sights of Pudong are the large buildings of Lujiazui, all built since 1990. As of mid-2017 the area has three buildings on Wikipedia's list of the world's 50 tallest, including two in the top ten. Counting the Pearl Tower &mdash; which does not make that list because it does not have floors all the way up &mdash; there are four buildings over 400 m, a quarter mile high.

The area also has other attractions.



Sleep
Hotels in Pudong cater mostly to the business traveller. For a wider range of choices or to be closer to the main tourist sights, look in Puxi instead.

Mid-range

 * Historic 1934 Hotel Shanghai Mansions or Broadway Mansions just over the bridge from the north-end of the Bund, have reasonable rates and great views from the river-view rooms.
 * Historic 1934 Hotel Shanghai Mansions or Broadway Mansions just over the bridge from the north-end of the Bund, have reasonable rates and great views from the river-view rooms.
 * Historic 1934 Hotel Shanghai Mansions or Broadway Mansions just over the bridge from the north-end of the Bund, have reasonable rates and great views from the river-view rooms.
 * Historic 1934 Hotel Shanghai Mansions or Broadway Mansions just over the bridge from the north-end of the Bund, have reasonable rates and great views from the river-view rooms.
 * Historic 1934 Hotel Shanghai Mansions or Broadway Mansions just over the bridge from the north-end of the Bund, have reasonable rates and great views from the river-view rooms.

Entry and Exit Bureau
The main Shanghai office of the Entry and Exit Bureau is located in Pudong.

Nearest metro station is Science and Technology Museum on Line. Leave via exit 3 and you will be facing east as you come off the escalator; continue east along the sidewalk. It is two fairly long blocks, about a 5 minute walk. At a big intersection after the Pudong Expo building you will see the bureau (a sort of oval-shaped building) to the right. The office faces on the other street, Ming Sheng Rd; cut diagonally through the parking area to reach the entrance.

Take the escalator up to the third floor for the area that serves foreigners. (First floor issues Chinese passports, second is for Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan residents.) Take a number from the ticket machine. There are different series of numbers for different services; an English-speaking staff member is at the machine to ensure you get the right one.

Everyone will need a photo to put on the visa form and a photocopy of the main page of the passport; for an extension, you also need a photocopy of the current visa. Photocopies can be obtained on the third floor (back left hand corner of the room, as seen by someone facing the service counters) and photos on the ground floor (under the escalators).

Be prepared for a bit of a wait; this is a large office and quite efficient but there were over 200,000 foreigners in Shanghai as of the 2010 census. If each of them renews their visa once a year, that works out to over 750 people per working day. Expect to wait for anything from 30 minutes to three hours to submit an application and anything from three days to two weeks for them to process it. For the shortest wait, arrive around 08:30, queue until 08:45 when the doors open, get a number and hope to be served shortly after the counters open at 09:00.

When you submit an application, they will give you a form with date and cost for pickup of your passport with the new visa. Pickup is on the ground floor, off to the right as you enter the building. You need to queue twice, first (with the form in hand) to pay and then (receipt in hand) to get your passport.

This office (third floor) also issues a form which many consulates require if you apply to replace a lost or stolen passport; you need a police report for the loss or theft to get that form. Once you have the new passport you need to return here to get a new visa. The process as a whole is remarkably tedious and annoying.

Go next
The obvious place to go is the rest of Shanghai, especially downtown Puxi which is right across the river and has most of the city's tourist sites and facilities. Shanghai also includes several quite scenic water towns.

Nanhui is just south of central Pudong, and has some beaches popular as a weekend getaway for Shanghai residents. It also has the Shanghai Disney Resort.

For possibilities outside Shanghai Municipality, see the Shanghai article,.