A short break in Shanghai

Ian Henderson finds out for the Sunday Telegraph if it’s possible to get a snapshot of the world’s biggest nation in just a few days.

Old China hands will tell you that getting a feel for one of the world’s most ancient civilizations and fastest-growing modern economies takes a lifetime – if it can be done at all. But what if, like me, you only have a long weekend? Is it worth even trying? We’re about to find out, so if your sofa has seatbelts buckle up now.

The Forbidden City and the Great Wall will keep, they’re not going anywhere. Unlike Shanghai, one of the world’s fastest-changing cities - my plan was to fast forward into the future there, then slam on the brakes in Hangzhou. As Kyoto is to Tokyo, its temples and forests are where many Chinese think the ancient soul of the country lives on. Four millennia of civilization in as many days; some sleep on the plane was clearly indicated. BA’s Club World beds proved just the job.

Landing refreshed at Shanghai’s Pudong airport and taking a taxi into town along spanking new ten-lane expressways, you have to adjust to the Truman Show feeling of being in a moving bubble of endless high-rise buildings appearing out of the white haze and fading away long before the horizon. Eventually the buildings get taller and the traffic denser, choked with everything from limos to antique pushbikes. The calm grey stone courtyard of the cool new PuLi hotel felt like a Zen garden of calm so I dropped the bags (the ‘guanjia’ butler will unpack if you’ve splashed out on a Club suite) and, since it was getting towards dusk, ran a bath and relaxed watching the city turn from day to night.

As the skyscrapers are lit, cars stream endlessly on the expressways and giant TV screens come to life there’s a rising sense of the excitement that has drawn travellers here from East and West for centuries. This isn’t a conventional tourist destination - most visitors are still from other parts of China together with a rich mix of business people rushing to trade money, microchips and a million furry dashboard ornaments. But there’s a vast amount to see - so it was time to jump out of the bath and plunge in.

As for every European since the first traders settled, first stop had to be the Bund; a world-famous strip of art deco buildings (of which Shanghai has more than anywhere else) along the Huangpu riverfront. An expat-style cocktail in the Waldorf then a stroll up to the just-restored Peace Hotel to see if the ancient (and unrestored) jazz band are playing in the bar.  Right across the road is the entrance to the Sightseeing Tunnel. (Sightseeing. Tunnel. Yes, it’s as odd as that sounds even after a pink gin or two.) An escalator took us down to tackyland where a silver pod waited to wobble through a tunnel under the river and transport us to paroxysms of hilarity with giddying lightshows, inflatable figures and a surreal voiceover describing the history of the world since “nascent magma”.

Bizarre, but the perfect way to arrive at the Pudong side of the river – you emerge surrounded by an architectural firework display including the Orient Pearl tower (a Sixties vision of the future) and one of the world’s tallest buildings, the World Financial Centre. Next was dinner, and there’s plenty of choice - the upscale Mesa, or the new Shanghai Tang Café in Xintiandi. We managed to get in to Kee, one of the dining clubs favoured by the city’s new elite set in twin just-restored villas (by Dunhill – another hugely popular Western brand) from the glory days of Shanghai’s French Concession.

Fighting off jetlag (that flat bed on the plane was worth it), it was back to the Bund for dancing to a swing band at the Glamour Bar (we spotted several westerners in vintage Twenties plus fours and flapper dresses – the erspatz look?) and a cocktail or two looking over the neverending traffic, tugboat exhausts glowing cherry red as they haul gigantic laden barges upriver. After a last look in at the Drop club it was time to see how many threads I could count in the PuLi’s sheets. Very few.

A good thing too; the next day was set aside for Shanghai’s most visible economic activity - shopping. It’s startling quite how many Prada, Gucci and Patek Philippe shops there are – if you’re into big ticket buying you’ll find plenty to choose from on the Bund or Shaanxi Road. The old French Concession – a more relaxed area of tree-lined, low-rise streets that hasn’t yet been swept away by China’s constant bulldozing of the past – has a perhaps more interesting mix of the funky and functional, the fashionable and the fake. There are still roadside fruit vendors and scooter repairs too – although even there prices have shot up in the last year as the economy has boomed. Don’t miss Tianzifang, where old factories have been turned into a hive of upcoming new designers.

Shanghai street food is perfect for this frenetically fast-moving city – at lunchtime you can queue with the locals at standups like Yang’s but I needed a seat so watched chefs hand-make little steamed dumplings of loveliness called xiaolongbao at the famous Din Tai Fung. Later, the PuLi’s ‘urban resort’ – restful spa and a big, beautiful pool – were just the thing to unwind and prepare for the next day’s travel … through time as well as space.

Hongqaio railway station. Imagine the biggest airport terminal you’ve ever been to and trains that are more like aircraft without wings; one of them was going to whisk us to Hangzhou in just 35 minutes, the same distance as Birmingham to London (and a first class ticket costs £13). The city never really ends as we accelerate away; more gaps between the buildings with a few fields mixed in, but this is what it means to be in one of the most populous areas on earth. There are no favelas or shanty towns, at least this close to the city; just tidy apartment block after tidy apartment block. The landscape only begins to become more mountainous and wooded as we approach Hangzhou (a city of six million itself).

The city is worth a look – it’s the scissor-making capital of China and there’s a fascinating traditional medicine market – but I was looking for the bamboo forests and tea plantations above West Lake, the single most popular tourist destination within China. To many, this area is the country’s spiritual heart, where legends and myths surround the temples of Longyi built on the Peak Flying from Afar where over 300 stone Buddhas have been carved since 376AD.

Amanfayun is a farming village converted into a resort hotel, carefully-restored wood and mud-wall houses scattered along the centuries-old path leading down to the temples. Cobbled pathways run between them, opening into quiet courtyards filled with birdsong. The simple elm furniture and subdued lighting in each room seems a world away from the glitz of Shanghai and climbing through the dawn mist to one of the temples for the monks’ morning chanting is a powerful link to ancient tradition. (It also sets you up nicely for the Aman’s excellent breakfast.) A spa with traditional wooden baths and an outdoor pool, carefully placed out of sight of the monks, slows things even more – enough to fully appreciate tea from the hotel’s own plantation or even start learning calligraphy in the village library.

Like a Buddhist chant, the Aman makes time irrelevant; a couple of days here is the perfect counterpoint to the acceleration that happens as soon as the train is hurtling you back to speeded-up Shanghai. Take both cities together and you’ve compressed past millennia and a snapshot of what may well be the dominant culture of the next into one brief visit. I got back on the plane exhausted, exhilarated – and determined to spend longer in China next time. 

ESSENTIALS

GETTING THERE

British Airways (0844 493 0787; www.ba.com) offers flights direct to Shanghai from £538 return. There are few Shanghai/Hangzhou packages, but specialist operators Audley (01993 838 220; www.audleytravel.com) can arrange tours.

THE INSIDE TRACK

·      Get your visa at least a couple of weeks in advance from the very efficient Chinese government service – go to www.visaforchina.org.uk for details.

·      Instead of a taxi from Pudong airport try the futuristic Maglev shuttle then swap to the cheap and efficient Metro into town. Taxis in town are plentiful and not expensive (but get someone to write down the address in Chinese).

·      The 200mph high speed trains from the vast Hongqaio station to Hangzhou, Beijing and elsewhere are a bargain as well as an experience (£13 first class return Shanghai-Hangzhou). Driving between the cities takes forever.

·      Book in advance for the remarkable light and dance show on Hangzhou’s West Lake, by the designer of China’s Olympic opening ceremony. VIP seats get you a free box of Chinese sweets which will keep your tastebuds guessing. 

·      Get up early and join the dawn chanting at Longyi Temple, and enjoy the warnings from loudspeakers disguised as rocks against fortune-tellers outside.

WHAT TO AVOID:

·      Avoid breathing too deeply; Shanghai claims that pollution is under control and on a par with Los Angeles, but a catch in my throat decided me against going for a run.

·      Resist those imported brands – prices are higher than at home and smart Chinese go to discounted warehouses away from the centre for their designer handbags.

·      Don’t waste too much time looking for fake Rolexes either – find authentic new Chinese designers in Tianzifang instead.

·      Bars on the Bund like Rouge and Glamour are fun, but try Constellation 1, 2 or 3 for something more authentic and Drop for an intimate late-night club.  

·      You won’t see much graffiti or litter on the streets, even minor transgressions bringing furious shouts and whistles from ubiquitous officials in oversize hats.

·      So behave, but don’t be too polite – unless you charge through the ticket barriers with everyone else you’ll miss that train.

·      Avoid the hot, sticky summer months and the cold, wet winter months – spring and autumn are the time to go.

THE BEST HOTELS:

Old House Shanghai £

In the French Concession, a comfortable and traditional B&B on a quiet street. (00 86 62486118; www.oldhouse.cn; £60)

URBN Shanghai ££

Carbon-free cool at Shanghai’s most stylish boutique hotel in the heart of downtown district (00 21 5153 4600; www.urbnhotels.com; from £150).

PuLi Shanghai £££

Relaxed urban resort hotel next to Jing’An Park with 207 superbly-designed rooms (Club suites come with butler), outstanding spa and restaurants (00 86 21 3203 9999; www.thepuli.com; from £373)

Amanfayun Hangzhou £££

Peaceful five-star resort village among bamboo forests and tea plantations next to Longyi temple complex (00 800 2255 2626; www.amanresorts.com; from £375).

THE BEST RESTAURANTS

Din Tao Fung Shanghai £

Street food of the gods – xialongbao amazing filled dumplings – suck out the soup first to so they explode in your mouth not on your shirt (Unit11, 2F House 6, South Block  Xintiandi, Lane123, Xinye Rd, Shanghai: 00 86 21 6385 8378)

Steam House Hangzhou ££

For delicious food in a rural setting, try Amanfayun’s Steam House – ask for the scarily-named but delicious hairy crab (Amanfayun, 22 Fayun Nong; 00 86 571 8732 9999)

Jing’An Shanghai £££

At the PuLi hotel, chef Dale Clouston is fast gaining a reputation among the city’s finest. The beef cheek is perfection (1 ChangDe Road, The PuLi Hotel and Spa, Jingan District, Shanghai 200040; 00 86 21 2216 6988)

FURTHER INFORMATION

Lonely Planet’s Shanghai covers Hangzhou too, while Wallpaper’s city guide will find you the cooler side of life. Read Ballard’s Empire of the Sun and Cheng’s Life and Death in Shanghai on the plane. Tourist offices are at www.meet-in-shanghai.net and www.visithangzhou.com.