[14] Originally a fishing village and market town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to both domestic and foreign trade and its favorable port location.

"[17] Shanghai is officially abbreviated 沪[b] (Hù/wu) in Chinese, a contraction of 沪渎[c] (Hù Dú/wu-doq, "Harpoon Ditch"), a 4th- or 5th-century Jin name for the mouth of Suzhou Creek when it was the main conduit into the ocean.

[21] 申 (Shēn/sén) or 申城 (Shēnchéng/sén-zen, "Shen City") was an early name originating from Lord Chunshen, a 3rd-century BC nobleman and prime minister of the state of Chu, whose fief included modern Shanghai.

[24] The city has various nicknames in English, including the "New York of China", in reference to its status as a cosmopolitan megalopolis and financial hub,[25] the "Pearl of the Orient", and the "Paris of the East.

[39][47] This new Chinese municipality covered an area of 494.69 km2 (191.0 sq mi), including the modern-day districts of Baoshan, Yangpu, Zhabei, Nanshi, and Pudong, but excluded the foreign concessions territories.

In 1990, Deng Xiaoping permitted Shanghai to initiate economic reforms, which reintroduced foreign capital to the city and developed the Pudong district, resulting in the birth of Lujiazui.

[74] It does not administratively include an exclave of Jiangsu on northern Chongming or the two islands forming Shanghai's Yangshan Port, which are parts of Zhejiang's Shengsi County.

[30] The historic center of the city was located on the west bank of the Huangpu (Puxi), near the mouth of Suzhou Creek, connecting it with Lake Tai and the Grand Canal.

Along Shanghai's eastern shore, the destruction of local wetlands due to the construction of Pudong International Airport has been partially offset by the protection and expansion of a nearby shoal, Jiuduansha, as a nature preserve.

(All the mean values mentioned in this paragraph are data observed in Baoshan District） According to China's seasonal division standard, from 2001 to 2024, Shanghai enters spring on 9 March, summer on 16 May, autumn on 5 October, and winter on 4 December.

The Bund, located by the bank of the Huangpu River, is home to a row of early 20th-century architecture, ranging in style from the neoclassical HSBC Building to the Art Deco Sassoon House (now part of the Peace Hotel).

[112] The CCP committee acts as the top policy-formulation body, and is typically composed of 12 members (including the secretary), and has control over the Shanghai Municipal People's Government.

These seven districts are collectively referred to as Shanghai Proper (上海市区) or the core city (市中心), which comprise Huangpu, Xuhui, Changning, Jing'an, Putuo, Hongkou, and Yangpu.

[k] Seven of the districts govern suburbs, satellite towns, and rural areas farther away from the urban core: Baoshan,[l] Minhang,[m] Jiading,[n] Jinshan,[o] Songjiang,[p] Qingpu,[q] and Fengxian.

[152] Shanghai's nominal GDP was projected to reach US$1.3 trillion in 2035 (ranking first in China), making it one of the world's Top 5 major cities in terms of GRP according to a study by Oxford Economics.

In April 2014, The Banker reported that Shanghai "has attracted the highest volumes of financial sector foreign direct investment in the Asia-Pacific region in the 12 months to the end of January 2014.

After the Treaty of Nanking ended the First Opium War in 1842, the city was opened up to western populations and merchants traveled to Shanghai for its rich business potential, including many prominent Jewish families.

The Sassoons amassed great wealth in the opium and textile trades, cementing their status by funding many of the buildings that have become iconic in Shanghai's skyline, such as the Cathay Hotel in 1929.

[209] In the late 19th century, downtown Shanghainese (市區閑話 or simply 上海閑話) appeared, undergoing rapid changes and quickly replacing Suzhounese as the prestige dialect of the Yangtze River Delta region.

In recent years, cycling has seen a resurgence in popularity due to the emergence of a large number of dockless app-based bicycle-sharing systems, such as Mobike, Hello, and DiDi Bike [zh] .

[265] According to the city's vehicle regulations introduced in June 2016, only locally registered residents and those who have paid social insurance or individual income taxes for over three years are eligible to be in the auction.

[155] Shanghai is part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast to the south via the southern tip of India to Mombasa, from there to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and the Eastern Europe.

In 1997, affected by the Asian financial crisis, Shanghai's land lease was greatly reduced, but the scale of the domestic securities market expanded rapidly, residents' savings deposits continued to grow, and social surplus funds increased.

[294] Haipai culture emerged after Shanghai became a prosperous port in the early 20th century, with numerous foreigners from Europe, America, Japan, and India moving into the city.

[296] The term Haipai—originally referring to a painting school in Shanghai—was coined by a group of Beijing writers in 1920 to criticize some Shanghai scholars for admiring capitalism and Western culture.

[321] In the mid 19th century, the Shanghai School movement commenced, focusing less on the symbolism emphasized by the Literati style but more on the visual content of painting through the use of bright colors.

Shanghai's film industry grew during the early 1930s, generating stars such as Hu Die, Ruan Lingyu, Zhou Xuan, Jin Yan, and Zhao Dan.

The exile of Shanghainese filmmakers and actors as a result of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Communist revolution contributed enormously to the development of the Hong Kong film industry.

[338] The movie In the Mood for Love directed by Wong Kar-wai, a Shanghai native, depicts a slice of the displaced Shanghainese community in Hong Kong and the nostalgia for that era, featuring 1940s music by Zhou Xuan.

[382][383] Additionally, the government has moved almost all the factories within the city center to either the outskirts or other provinces,[384] and provided incentives for transportation companies to invest in LPG buses and taxis.