Time Out Shanghai

With skyscrapers, trendy bars and new hotels sprouting up quicker than you can say 'the new superpower', Shanghai is every inch the city of the moment. Written by local experts, Time Out Shanghai is the only companion you'll need when getting to grips with 21st-century China's economic powerhouse. It takes you to shiny malls and cut-price markets, hip restaurants and dumplings joints, luxe spas and no-frills massage parlours - and everything in between. It also covers don't-miss side trips, among them canal towns, gardens and islands. This second edition includes a new chapter tracking the super-quick and -slick urban development of Shanghai, one of the world's fastest-growing cities. Its transformation into China's economic showcase has furnished it with sparkling malls and mind-boggling skyscrapers (the 492-metre-high Shanghai World Financial Centre, due to open in 2007, will be the world's tallest building). Time Out provides more useful information than other guidebooks: addresses, phone numbers, opening times, admission prices and transport details are given for every venue listed. In addition, our full-colour street maps pinpoint places of interest, restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars and hotels within the city.