Oriental Pearl TV Tower

The sky-piercing Oriental Pearl TV Tower is an awesome sight when you look at it from underneath. With a giddy height of 468 meters, the tower is Shanghai's new landmark and a big magnet for tourists. Every day, a constant stream of visitors files in and out of this magnificent building.

Oriental Pearl is the world's third tallest TV tower after the 553-metre CN Tower in Toronto and the 535-metre Moscow TV tower. It has eight globes lining vertically in a design that reminds one of a Tang Dynasty poem that compares sounds played on a plucked instrument to "a string of pearls dropping onto a jade plate."

The globes are for sightseeing, dining and hotel accommodations. The 20-room Space Hotel is located in the five small balls between two large globes, 140 to 230 meters above the ground. It does give people a feeling of being on a spaceship. Up here, guests can sit in sofas and enjoy a bird's-eye-view of the city aloft from the bustling life in the streets.

Each ball has a suite and three standard rooms on two levels connected by a winding stairway. The suite has a private lounge overlooking the Huangpu River and a booming Pudong. Three other rooms share two lounges facing the main section of the Bund and the city's old districts.

If you decide to stay, make sure to rent a telescope at the reception desk so you can zoom in on the city's interesting spots.

Starting from the east, you see the Yangpu Bridge, the longest cable-stayed suspension bridge in China, then a cluster of modern buildings in Lujiazui area, the 88-storey Jin Mao Building and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Lying in the middle is the 100,000-sqm Central Green with a contoured pool and a jet of water shooting skyward. Near your feet is the subway station for Metro Line Ⅱ, now still under construction.

In the south looms the Nanpu Bridge. Looking west, 31 colonial-era buildings along the Bund pop into your view. These buildings look splendid at night when all lights are turned on. If there is no haze, you can find the Yuyuan Garden, People's Square and other landmark buildings downtown.

The Bund ends with the Waibaidu Bridge. Around the bend of the river is the International Passenger Port where luxury liners from Japan and Hong Kong dock. The northern districts of Shanghai are crowded with factories and warehouses. On a fine clear day, you can see the Chongming Island, China's third largest island, in the Yangtze River.

Apart from great views, the hotel offers all the conveniences of a four-star hotel. The only drawback is that it has no restaurant.

Due to fire-control restrictions, the tower has no kitchen, Guests can go to a buffet restaurant below or dine out. The food in the buffet restaurant is cooked on the ground and delivered by elevator. Yet you still can have room service for breakfast or night snack, which hotel staff prepares downstairs and delivers to your room piping hot.

Guests also have the privilege of a reserved elevator. It can whisk you up to your floor in less than one minute. However, you need to call the operator before leaving your room.

Shanghai is one of the four municipalities under the direct jurisdiction of the central government. A leader in finance, industry and trade, Shanghai boasts the largest population - approximately 15 million - in all of China. Shanghai's history of revolution and culture attract tourists home and abroad. Being regarded as "Paris of China" and as the paradise for shopping, Shanghai has become an ideal city for tourism. Shanghai is situated in the middle of China's east coastal line and borders Jiangsu to the north and Zhejiang to the south. Shanghai covers an area of over 5,800 square kilos and has a population of over 13 million. The metropolitan of Shanghai is China's financial center and is now undergoing one of the fastest economic expansions that the world has ever seen. The center of the city is divided into two areas by the Huangpu River. Pudong, to the east, is a new business district, classified as a "tariff free zone", is growing rapidly. The most impressive street of Shanghai is the Bund. It is in every sense old Shanghai's commercial heart, with the river on one side, the offices of the leading banks and trading houses on the other. Nanjing Road is the center for theatres and cinemas as well as one of the most crowded shopping streets in the world. Besides, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the Huangcheng Miao and Yuyuan Garden are also a must in Shanghai.