Shanghai: Architectural eye candy and more

Chris Potter
On the Go

NIGHT SPECTACLE: Pudong at night. Photo by Maurice Richardson.

By the time you read this, Shanghai’s World Financial Centre will be just about completed. When construction began in 1997, the 492-metre edifice was slated to be the world’s tallest building but delays — caused primarily by the financial crisis in Asia a few years back — saw Dubai claim the title with Buri Dubai at 555.3 metres. Taiwan came in second with Taipei 101 at 508 metres. Nonetheless, with its signature trapezoid “hole in the sky” feature, the world’s third tallest edifice is yet another eye-popping piece of architectural candy in Shanghai’s dramatic Pudong Financial District. And it will have the world’s highest public observation platform — on the 100th floor. Meanwhile, you can check out the view from the 88th floor of neighbouring, 421-metre-high Jin Mao Tower with its pagoda-influenced top.

Pudong’s dramatic buildings (like landmark Pearl Tower with its rocket-shape silhouette) are icons of the new China, so we could be forgiven for thinking of Shanghai as a relative newcomer to the world stage of architecture and commerce. We would be mistaken. Shanghai moved from a hudu (fishing village) to a zhen (commercial town) almost 1,000 years ago, and following Chinese defeat in the first Opium War (1839), international trading settlements were established in the city.

With China’s 5,000 years of culture and Shanghai’s thousand years of commerce, it seems fitting that Shanghai will be once more front and centre with the World Expo in 2010.

The city is a civic marvel. From its futuristic international airport, the world’s fastest train — a Maglev, run by electro-magnetic levitation — whisks you to downtown Pudong in eight minutes, a 30-kilometre journey that would take close to an hour by car.

Shanghai residents are known as smart, savvy, fashionable, and progressive. There were 18 million of them in 2005. The top restaurants are cited as some of the best in the world.

Trading comes naturally to the locals, whether it’s from the classic European buildings along The Bund (housing some of Shanghai’s best eating places and upscale clubs), the trendy offices in Pudong (viewed from The Bund across the Huangpu River), the frenetically active market stands, or street vendors. These will appear suddenly in front of you with arms loaded down with fake watches, and suitcases full of familiarly logoed shirts.

Don’t miss The Shanghai Museum with a collection of bronze said to be the world’s best, the ancient Temple of the Jade Buddha, or Yuyuan Garden, a magnificent rockery of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). A cruise on the Huangpu River yields terrific views of the new buildings, and of the busy docks which were for centuries Shanghai’s commercial heartbeat.

For a glimpse of old Shanghai, head to o the Heritage Village for Arts and Culture in Qingpu County near the Zhujiajiao water village (also well worth a visit). Qingpu is a favourite playground for city dwellers — rural enough to provide complete contrast to the city bustle — and a favourite day-trip for visitors.

Find out more from China National Tourism Office in Toronto, website www.tourismchina-ca.com, 480 University Ave., Suite 806. Tel: 416-599-6636 or toll-free 1-866-599-6636. CP 

2012—Celebrating 200 years of binational peace

BY ARLENE WHITE Executive Director, Binational Tourism Alliance
Special to The Business Executive

For the past several years, community groups throughout Southern Ontario and Western New York have been rallying around plans to commemorate that the upcoming bicentennial of the War of 1812 — a critical nation-building event in Canadian and U.S. history, and potentially, one of the biggest celebrations ever to take place in the binational Niagara Region.

In 2006, a volunteer group of U.S. and Canadian community leaders formed the Bicentennial Legacy Council, and hosted meetings with more than 100 representatives of cultural, heritage, community, academic, business and tourism organizations to learn about the plans underway in local communities and how best to coordinate these important efforts and share information.

Since then, the partners have created an information brochure and the Niagara Parks Commission created a web portal www.visit1812.com to provide interested partners and the public with updated information on Bicentennial preparations underway across Niagara and in other regions across North America. An 1812 Bicentennial logo contest was held in late 2006/early 2007 and the winning design was selected and announced in March 2007. Local print media partners have been working with historical writers to provide weekly columns on the various events and people involved in the War of 1812. Legacy Council members have presented Bicentennial information to community groups and municipal councils over the past several months and public interest in the event is gradually increasing. Seed funding for these initiatives were provided by the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, along with in-kind support and contributions by the Legacy Council members and a volunteer group of working members from the broader community.

Communities included in the cross-border Niagara Bicentennial planning include Niagara, Hamilton, Haldimand, Norfolk, Brant and the City of Burlington, as well as the eight counties of Western New York from Monroe to Chautauqua — the territory defined as the “Niagara Frontier” theatre of activity between 1812 and 1814.

On Jan. 29, 2008 at Oak Hall in Niagara Falls, Ontario, the Niagara 1812 Bicentennial Legacy Council Corporation was formalized when the new board members approved the organization’s bylaws and held their inaugural board meeting. This binational organization is an incorporated Not-for-Profit in both Ontario and New York State, with one combined U.S. and Canadian Board of Directors. The 2008 volunteer Board of Directors includes:

Dr. Percy Abrams, Native American Museum of Art, Niagara Falls, NY

Colleen Blake, Shaw Festival Theatre Foundation Canada, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

Stephen Brereton, Consul General, Canadian Consulate General, Buffalo, NY

J. Michael Collins, Former President & CEO, WNED-TV, Buffalo NY

Ron Dale, Parks Canada, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

Robert L. Emerson, Old Fort Niagara, Youngstown, NY

Patrick Gedge, Niagara Economic Development Corporation, Thorold, ON

Rosemary Hale, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON

Keith Jamieson, Six Nations Reserve, Brantford, ON

Hans-Rudy Kroeker, Whiting Equipment Canada Inc., Welland, ON

John LaFalce, Former Congressman & Distinguished University Fellow, Niagara University, NY

Alphonso O’Neil-White, BlueCross Blue Shield of WNY, Buffalo, NY

Dennis Parass, Handling Specialty Mfg., Grimsby, ON

Peter Partington, Regional Municipality of Niagara, Thorold, ON

Dr. Bonnie Rose, Niagara University, NY

Tom Schofield, Magavern, Magavern & Grimm LLP, Buffalo, NY

William Siener, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY

Arlene White, Binational Tourism Alliance, Buffalo NY/Niagara Falls ON

Jim Williams, Niagara Parks Commission, Niagara Falls, ON

The activities of the Legacy Council board are structured around four specific areas: Communications, Funding/Logistics, Education and Marketing.

OLD FORT ERIE — the site of the only siege in Canada during the War of 1812.