Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall is on People’s Square in Shanghai city center. a short walking distance from Shanghai Museum, and close to the Municipal Governmental building. Since it opened to the public in February 2000, when it aimed to show a current full view of Shanghai and its development through different models, the place quickly caught the eyes of locals and foreigners. The Michelia Alba (or White Sandalwood, a type of magnolia) on the roof of the building, the city flower of Shanghai, symbolizes a beautiful Shanghai.
Covering an area of 7,000 square meters, the building consists of four floors for visiting, a sightseeing floor, and a basement designed as an old street in 1930s style. The exhibits focus on the current buildings and planned buildings in Shanghai using large scale models, which are the a must-see for those on a Shanghai trip who want to understand the phenomenal development of the city.
Visitors first go through the foyer on the first floor and see the model titled “Morning in Shanghai”. The middle floor is home to the Hall of Historic and Cultural City Models, including several small models focusing on a certain areas of Shanghai, like the picture presentation of “the History of the Bund”, the video of “the Urban History of Shanghai”, and an electronic screen presentation of “Yu Garden”. The second floor houses the Hall for Temporary Exhibitions, offering space for temporary exhibits with a wide range of themes which change irregularly.
On the third floor, the main floor of the building called “Hall of Master Plans”, visitors will see the centerpiece of all exhibits in the building — the Model of the Downtown Area of Central Shanghai. There you can see the existing Shanghai and future Shanghai vividly by walking around the model on walkways. Or a better way is to go up to a gallery running around the big model and take a full view from above. On the same floor there is a Circular-Screen Demonstration Hall with a 360° screen.
The fourth floor carries "the Hall of Plans for Specialized and Key Construction Projects", emphasizing some area’s future development, like "The Exhibition Zone of Yangshan Deepwater Port" and "The Exhibition Zone of Integrated Transportation and Urban Planning".
The fifth floor is the Sightseeing Hall, mainly favored by the most young and energetic urban people. The basement (B1) has a 1930s Shanghai-Style Street, providing an image of past days in Shanghai when there were European settlements in the city.
Special hallways for disable people are incorporated and free wheelchairs and walking sticks are offered. Free baby carriages are provided to ensure parents have a more relaxing visit.
Audio Guiding Devices are for rent at CNY 20/device, featuring eight languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish). The devices can be played repeatedly without time limitation and have detailed information about every exhibition hall.
There are also professional guides speaking both Chinese and English. Visitors need to pay CNY 200 for the guide service.
Some visitors are not interested in visiting this place just because of the not-so-inspiring name, but we highly recommend you ignore the name and go! There are over 800 attractions in Shanghai and this place is ranked number 10 among all of them on Tripadvisor.com, which is a testament to its true appeal.
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