From farmland to financial powerhouse, Lujiazui’s speedy rise to fame is one of the Chinese government's proudest accomplishments. Today’s skyscraper-studded skyline was just flat fields 20 years ago. Then the government drummed up investment money to transform the east bank of the Huangpu into a New Open Economic Development Zone – the booming finance hub we see today.

Banking institutions and factories were the earliest arrivals on this side of the river, but in the last five years, Lujiazui has also become a thriving community with five-star hotels, excellent infrastructure and high-end retail plazas.

The most obvious reason to visit Lujiazui, of course, is a matter of vertical, rather than horizontal, achievement. Since its completion in the 1990s, the Oriental Pearl Tower has indisputably become the best-loved landmark in Shanghai. Then the Jin Mao sprang up. In 2008, the Shanghai World Financial Centre topped that one too. All three towers are open to visitors, and have dining facilities and other fun things to do within.