It is an open city along the coast, as well as a famous historical and cultural city. Its total area is 6,341 sq.km., of which the Pudong New Area occupies 523 sq.km. Its total population is over 13 million. Shanghai is well-known both at home and abroad not only for its prosperous metropolitan feature and rich humanistic resources but also for a number of tourist attractions with modern flavour that have been developed in recent years. Varied and colourful tourist festivities, like the Shanghai Torism Festival, the New Year Eve Longhua Temple Bell Striking, the Longhua Temple Fair, the Nanhui County Peach Blossom Festival, the International Tea Culture Festival, the Sweet Osmanthus Festival and the Orange Festival are attracting an ever increasing number of domestic and foreign tourists.
Shanghai is also a paradise for gourmets.
There are over a thousand restaurants serving the famous 16 styles of Chinese food, such as Beijing, Sichuan, Guangdong, Yangzhou, Fujian, etc. There are also French, Russian, Italian, English, German, Japanese, Indian and other kinds of foreign flavoured cuisines, genuine Muslim food and vegetarian food. In Shanghai you can have a taste of all the different kinds of food in the world. Shanghai is well developed in communications in air, land and sea, which render tourists with fast, efficient and quality service. In building Shanghai into an international metropolis the open-minded, cheerful and hospital Shanghai people warmly welcome visitors from all places in China and the world.