Recently featured in many business and travel magazines and newspapers, Shanghai has seemingly once again become the latest "It" city of the world. Much like in the first half of the 20th century, visitors from around the world are flocking here, drawn by curiosity, a sense of possibility, the lure of potential professional and financial success, or perhaps simply a desire to be in the coolest, brashest, and most exciting city in the new century. While Shanghai lacks the classical Chinese monuments of Beijing, its colonial legacy gives it a character all its own. This museum of East meets West on Chinese soil is also China's capital of commerce, industry, and finance, and the one city that best shows where China is headed at the dawn of the 21st century.
