Development in the 1990s concentrated on Pudong, an area formerly dominated by farms and marshland that was designated a special economic development zone. A project to divert much-needed water for the city from the Chang River into the Huangpu was completed in 1996. The 1990s also brought new bridges and tunnels and a subway system. The city's commercial section, the former International Settlement, is modern and Western in appearance, with broad streets and boulevards lined with imposing buildings. Next to Beijing, Shanghai is the country's foremost educational center and houses Fudan Univ., Jiaotong Univ., Shanghai Univ. of Science and Technology, Tongji Univ.
Shanghai has an astronomical observatory and many research institutes and learned societies.
The ensuing Western influence launched the city on its phenomenal growth. In 1863 the United States and Great Britain consolidated into the International Settlement the areas that had been conceded to them. The French, who had obtained a concession in 1849, continued it as a separate entity. The foreign zones, which were under extraterritorial administration, maintained their own courts, police system, and armed forces. Thus Shanghai until World War II was a divided city.