what’s next: SHANG T he megalopolis The world cities of the future are emerging now. And china has not one, but . . . is the world’s two—working in lockstep. FOR TRAVELERS, says Dorinda elliott, this is a great largest city, population almost kongpackage of high style, rich history, and the frisson of big money 19 million. It suddenly looks like New York—only more modern. This July a World Expo will be the coming-out party for the city. . . . has grown from a population of 125,000 in the nineteenth century to 7 million today. It’s the old hand as financial powerhouse and broker between China and the rest of the world.

Photographs by andrew rowat  Percent Change 500 Staying on top A boom, a bust, 400 and a rapid bounce 300

200 Shanghai Composite Index

100 Hang Seng Index 0 Dow Jones Industrial Average

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e gasp as we are led into our beginning to look and feel like New York—only more modern. white and earth-toned room on the eighty- Dingy edifices are being refaced fifth floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel in everywhere. The eleven-year-old Pudong, Shanghai’s new financial district. Shanghai Grand Theater and the new Shanghai Art Museum, both On the way, my seventeen-year-old son, first-rate institutions, now dominate Linus, and I passed well-dressed Chinese People’s Square. The nearby Tomor- taking tea in the cloud-high lobby—masters row Square—only one of dozens of the universe looking out on their new of glassy shopping malls scattered around the city—offers all manner empire. In the room, from our double- of Western luxury, from Chanel to height windows, we can see several ages of bowling lanes. It’s hard to believe the city spread before us: the magnificent row of grand European that just twenty-odd years ago, in the midst of an “Anti-Bourgeois Liber- shanghai . . . wants buildings, built in the 1920s and 1930s, along across the alism” campaign against Western it (and gets it) now: W pooches in the Park Huangpu River, where barges and tourist boats wend their way; the influences, the square was draped Hyatt’s Chairman new glassy towers dotting the skyline; and the huge construction with slogans on red banners. Suite; a chandelier at The sense of optimism is palpable the Whampoa Club, sites down below. ¶ Linus and I have come back to Asia, where we a power hot spot; the in the streets. A cab driver tells me observation deck used to live, to explore the proposition that Shanghai has become that he has been making piles of at the Shanghai World Financial Center; an half of a fast-emerging world duopolis—the other half being Hong money in the local stock market. updated version of Kong—and that together the two cities will epitomize China’s global He describes a ruthless culture in a bag lady at Chanel’s which the rich are getting very rich new flagship store. economic power. In theory they complement each other perfectly: while the have-nots stay poor. “The problem is that poor people can see a rising Shanghai looking for international expertise, how rich the rich people are,” he says. “If the government and a sophisticated Hong Kong eager to stay relevant doesn’t resolve this, there will be social instability.” as the mainland economy soars. Maybe it was inevitable that the fates of these two historic port cities would even- Conversation is hushed at the Jinpu tually merge, and that they would rise together. After all, Club, where members of Shanghai’s financial elite, they share the same colonial history and an energy and dressed in chic grays and blacks, discuss deals while nib- pragmatism that stem from exposure to foreigners and bling dim sum. Biting into a morsel of beef tendon, Andy the art of negotiation. Lin, the thirty-six-year-old head of one of China’s biggest A hundred and fifty years ago, after the Opium Wars, private mutual funds, with ten billion dollars (that’s with the foreign powers humiliated China, dividing Shang- a b) under management—a man who may one day be re- hai into concessions and colonizing Hong Kong. But membered as the J. P. Morgan of China—is telling me why the foreigners—and the trading traditions that they the Shanghai stock market is a great place to invest. brought—lent these cities a sense of cosmopolitanism Come on, I protest—it’s a crazy roller coaster domi- which even communism couldn’t crush. Now, driving nated by corruption and insider trading. Lin laughs. No, the fastest economic growth in history, the two cities are no, he says; the market is rapidly developing modern prac- on a roll, sometimes competing but increasingly in sync. tices. “Ten years ago, it was easy to manipulate the market Shanghai is preparing for the World Expo in July of this because it was so small,” Lin tells me. “The market is now year, an economic fair that is being treated by China’s huge, so it’s much, much harder to play games.” leaders as the city’s coming-out party. More than twenty This scene could easily pass for a power lunch in New international pavilions are going up around town, eight York, London, or Hong Kong. Lin’s commentary, in new subway lines are being built, and hotels everywhere fact, is shattering my perception of Shanghai’s stock are being refurbished. market as a glorified casino. “There are lots of great com- Let there be no doubt: This is a world-class city. It’s panies here,” says Lin, an unassuming Harvard Business

 Cond´E nast T r av e l e r / cntraveler.com shanghai tomorrow square, only one of dozens of glassy shopping malls scattered around the city, offers all manner of western luxury, from high fashion to bowling laNES

shanghai . . . is on a construction tear. At a cost of $220 million, the China Pavilion, designed by He Jingfang for the World Expo, is Boomtown Shanghai a modern twist on tradition. To learn more about the 2010 World Expo and the China Eight new metro lines are Pavilion, snap this tag with your being laid in time for the event. smartphone’s camera. (For instructions on downloading the free app, see page 14.)  hong kong School graduate, a former village “take the money now, because it might not be you could boy who was the first person in his there tomorrow.” Yet another cab driver, listen- once spot family to attend college. “I’ve made ing to a radio talk show about stock tips, tells us my clients a lot of money—in many that he has made many thousands of dollars buy- mainlanders cases, I’ve doubled it!” Lin’s under- ing and selling every week. Why don’t you keep by their lying optimism—study hard, work your money in the market long term, I ask, and hard, and you can do anything— take advantage of China’s economic growth? A bumpkin strikes me as so . . . American. naive question, it turns out. “Because a year from manners. He has interests in the other now,” the driver says, “you can’t even be sure today, they half of the Shang-Kong gorilla: these companies will be around!” “Hong Kong is an open society, Another foreign venture capitalist friend are more exposed to global markets and in- (who hasn’t put a penny in the local market) tells likely to have novations,” he explains. “It’s much me that her maid, a peasant from the country- more mature. Shanghai is develop- side, invested in shares and lost all of her savings chanel shoes ing quickly, but it’s still basically a when the government abruptly cut off liquidity and bags closed market. We can learn a lot in 2008 and prices collapsed. from Hong Kong.” You can feel Shanghai’s new money at the Lan Club, inus and I fly to Hong Kong, whose neoclassical exterior belies its modish interior decor. our old home, in a plane packed with Lan opened with a huge gala last year that was catered by Hong Kong Chinese and expat lawyers, Belgian chef Yves Mattagne, with a caviar starter valued at bankers, and accountants—business three hundred dollars a head. My venture capitalist friends commuters doing their weekly run. As and I make our way past a lounge in red with black Deco our aircraft descends, we see dozens piping and large black birdcages along the walls and a dance of container ships lined up in the tur- club that we are told heats up after 11 p.m. At the second- Lquoise waters, waiting for Chinese wares head- floor Szechuan restaurant, we eat spicy scallops and aba- ed to the West. We pass through super-efficient hong kong . . . is old lone and asparagus, with a decent pinot noir at long modern immigration and hop on the silent express train money and new style: Cépage restaurant; the tables. I’m thinking that at about eighty dollars a head, the to Hong Kong’s Central District. Zipping past Four Seasons goes doufu dish should have come faster. fishing villages and then the bustling industrial ultra hip; the night My investor friends tell us that despite the flash evident estates of the New Territories, laundry flapping market in Kowloon; the steamed duck liver here, the Shanghainese don’t like to show their from bamboo poles in the breeze, you can already at Lung King Heen, real money—a hangover of communism, per- sense the city’s scrappy entrepreneurial energy. the only Michelin haps, but no doubt also fear of taxes and corrup- We check into the Four Seasons, the city’s swankiest new three-star Chinese restaurant in the world. tion investigations. The most over-the-top wheel- business hotel, and what occurs to me immediately is that the ing and dealing occurs behind closed doors. “In elegant lobby is filled with mainland Chinese. Over the years, London or New York, you might want to be Gor- it’s become much more difficult to distinguish them from don Gekko, but that’s not how you do business the locals—twenty-odd years ago, you could spot them by here,” says Will Plummer, a Chinese-speaking their plastic shoes or plastic tote bags, or by their bumpkin American who lives here. “These people would manners. Today, they are more likely to have Chanel shoes rather entertain clients by going to a karaoke club and bags, while Hong Kong’s citizens prefer to buy cheap and supplying prostitutes, or by something very, knockoffs across the border in Shenzhen. Now it’s more very private like dining in a private villa. They likely you’ll nail the mainlanders because of their swagger. don’t want to be seen as too ostentatious.” In pri- Lung King Heen, the hotel’s hushed Cantonese restaurant, vate, however, the sky’s the limit: Plummer tells of is the city’s power lunch central—the only Chinese restaurant gold-dusted shark’s fin soup and $3,600-a-bottle with three Michelin stars. My friend Alex, who writes about cognac being served—often mixed with tea. (Last the culture scene here, and I are explaining to Linus a bit of year, that cognac sold out in China.) Chinese history—how the lines between Hong Kong and Chi- One night, after dining at T8, a fusion restaurant na became so blurred, and how the mainlanders eating around with an open kitchen and beautiful Chinese staff, us moved so quickly from the com- we head to Mint, a hot new nightclub. The space is munes to the best Chinese restaurant Shanghai enormous and dark. In a long tank along the back in town. Tucking into tangy abalone An American who wall, slate-gray sharks glide by. It’s only eleven tarts and delicate goose puffs in light o’clock, so the place is still relatively empty. The pastry, we race through commu- lives here tells bartender says that the party scene doesn’t really nism, agricultural reform, private of gold-dusted pick up until after midnight—past my bedtime. business, capitalism (corrupt capi- But the stock market is what seems to intoxi- talism, that is—controlled by Com- shark’s fin soup cate everybody in Shanghai, and despite Andy munist officials, with no checks and and $3,600-a- Lin’s reassurances, I am hearing that it is as risky balances), and voilà: Across the way, as high-stakes gambling. The Chinese love to a Rolex-flashing young mainlander bottle cognac gamble, and all across China, there is a sense of and his (Continued on page 128) that sold out

Cond´E nast T r av e l e r / cntraveler.com m a rc h 2 0 1 0  6 d

k NATHAN A TALLY OF TWO CITIES # AUSTIN Tsim Sha Tsu

Where are the eye-popping places to stay, shop, eat, drink—and have that power KOWLOON KOWLOON

breakfast or deal-clinching rendezvous—in Shanghai and Hong Kong? p 7 CHATHAM Lodging Cuisine Bars Shopping Culture Golf s SALISBURY Read on for a data-drop by true insiders @ 8

Huangpu River, rooms at the new CUISINE Power Lunches: Try trées, $10–$26). aM on the Bund h shanghai 4Peninsula Hotel feature a color qYè Shanghai for its xiaolong- has unbeatable views and Europe- 1 Sheung Wan q MAN PO A 19th-century missionary once printer/scanner, fax, wireless, and bao dumplings (338 Huangpi Nan an dishes (7/F, 5 Zhongshan Dong CONNAUGHT e lamented, “If God lets Shanghai VoIP (2327-2888; doubles, $380– Lu, Xintiandi; 6311-2323; entrées, Yi Lu; 6350-9988; entrées, $21–$41). Victoria i Central 5 w s DES VOEUX endure, he owes an apology to $790), while the popular Port- $8–$22). Nearby is the sleek T8, Mr. and Mrs. Bund serves clas- SHAN Harbour QUEEN’S Sodom and Gomorrah.” Shanghai man Ritz-Carlton has Wi-Fi known for its fusion cuisine (House sic French (6/F, 18 Zhongshan Dong MAN YIU 2 Wan has indeed endured, and the best (6279-8888; doubles, $586–$760). 8, North Block Xintiandi, Lane 181, Yi Lu; 6323-9898; entrées, $30–$73). ABERDEENx y Admiralty Chai c w 0 5 way to navigate the opulence is by The 6URBN Shanghai, originally Taicang Lu, Xintiandi; 6355-8999; set At the Cool Docks development is b r CAINE z g taxi—and they’re easy to find, ex- a 1970s post office, is China’s first menus, $23–$29). eChinoise Sto- dStiller’s Restaurant, lauded for ! . u v t HARBOUR cept during peak times (fares start carbon-neutral hotel (5153-4600; ry is a hidden gem in the Jin Jiang its Foie Gras Cake (6-7/F, Bldg. 3, n / HARCOURT at $1.75). Always have the address doubles, $293–$586). The 7Old Hotel (6445-1717; entrées, $10–$25). 505 Zhongshan Nan Lu; 6152-6501; m , 4 of your destination written out House Inn, in a French Conces- rShintori serves sushi in an air- entrées, $30–$40). Farther afield QUEENSWAY HENNESSY COTTON TREE 3 ; 9 l o in Chinese, though: Most drivers sion house, harkens back to old plane hangar–esque open kitchen is the latest hot spot, fFactory j f a % CANAL $ JOHNSTON don’t speak English. The U.S. con- Shanghai with kang-style beds (803 Julu Lu; 5404-5252; entrées, (1933 Creative Complex, 1/F, Bldg. Morrison Hill sulate is located at 1469 Huaihai and mosquito netting (6248-6118; $11–$21). tJade Garden serves 4, 29 Shajing Lu; 6563-3395; entrées, Zhong Lu (3217-4650) . doubles, $130–$165). Similar is the great dim sum (127 Maoming Nan $20–$30). New in Xujiahui Park is 8 g The country code for China is 86, Lapis Casa Boutique Hotel, Lu; 5403-7028; entrées, $5–$15). Spanish Restaurant Martin $540–$747). The 8InterConti- your-mouth honey roast pork are against the world’s flashiest and the city code for Shanghai is 21. at Xintiandi (5382-1600; doubles, High-Flying Dinners: Most (811 Hengshan Lu; 6431-6639; set hong kong nental Hong Kong has a stunning presented in European chinoiserie backdrop (departs from Pier No. 9 9 $220–$263). The Mansion Ho- of the best restaurants for power menus, $85–$114). In the Shangri- At eight o’clock every evening, Presidential Suite with its own surroundings in the Grand Hyatt in Central). h Lodging The Lujiazui Financial tel, in a 1930s villa, has rooms with dinners are on the Bund, led by La, Jade on 36 has an inventive the Hong Kong harbor erupts in a infinity pool (2721-1211; doubles, (2588-1234; entrées, $23–$103). Post-Prandials Live music makes y District in the Pudong special colonial-era tchotchkes (5403- Jean Georges at Three on take on French cuisine (6882-8888; dazzling light show involving la- $605–$812). yL’Atelier de Joël Robuchon the jIsland Shangri-la’s Lobster economic zone is China’s only 9888; doubles, $423–$774). The the Bund (6321-7733; set menus, entrées, $30–$70). sers set to music played along the Rooms with a View: Some of serves innovative French fare (Shop Bar a standout (Pacific Place, Su- 0 u finance and trading zone. One Langham Yangtze Boutique $78–$128). The Cupola, on the promenade and streaming off your The Peninsula’s Garden Suite fac- 401, 4/F, The Landmark, 15 Queen’s preme Court Rd.). The W’s kLiving of the world’s tallest hotels, the has been restored to its Deco 7th floor, overlooks Pudong and Bars Pre-Prandials: Start at the mobile phone (call 3566-5665 for es the Hong Kong harbor and has Rd.; 2166-9088; entrées, $37–$140). Room has world-famous DJs spin- 1 j Park Hyatt occupies the 79th splendor (6080-0800; doubles, offers set menus from four of the Peninsula’s discreet Compass English, 3566-5668 for Mandarin). a balcony big enough for a party More traditional types might prefer ning music. Oenophiles’ tongues k to 93rd floors of the Shanghai $205–$277). building’s restaurants (6321-0909; Bar or the Long Bar at the Puli Hong Kong launched the extrava- (2920-2888; Garden Suite, $4,895). a steak at Mandarin Oriental’s are wagging over lCépage’s World Financial Center (6888-1234; Rooms with a View: The menus, $219–$335, reservations Hotel. For jaw-dropping views, ganza to entertain the millions of On the Hong Kong side, the Upper uMandarin Grill (2522-0111; 84-page wine list (23 Wing Fung 2 i l doubles, $410–$586). The Pu- Peninsula Hotel’s Grand Deluxe required). Laris (6321-9922; en- try Cloud 9, on the 87th floor mainlander tourists. House’s huge bathrooms have entrées, $51–$64). iIsola’s osso St.). Whiskey connoisseurs favor o dong Shangri-La has perhaps River Rooms overlook the Pudong trées, $29–$73) and the Wham- of the Grand Hyatt, the two-floor The area code for Hong views of adjacent skyscrapers buco and other Italian dishes have ;Executive Bar (27/F, Bartlock ; the best location (6882-8888; skyline (2327-2888; doubles, $615– poa Club, with possibly the best VUE at the Hyatt on the Bund, Kong is 852. Prices quoted are (2918-1838; doubles, $372–$436). earned it a following (Level 3, IFC Centre, 3 Yiu Wa St.). 3 z doubles, $380–$490). The St. $790). The Pudong Shangri-La’s modern Shanghainese cuisine or 100 Century Avenue at the for March 2010. Central Hall.; 2383-8765; entrées, After-hoursModels and mo- Regis has rooms with ergonomic Horizon Rooms and its Diplomat (6321-3737; entrées, $27–$42), are Park Hyatt. Cuisine Power Lunches: Tables $25–$51). oBo Innovation special- guls hang out at clubs near Lan p Aeron chairs (5050-4567; doubles, Suite ($2,562–$3,000) have views also in Three on the Bund. Lost Post-Prandials: For sophistica- LODGING The 1Four Seasons at the Upper House’s 49th-floor izes in molecular Chinese cookery Kwai Fong, such as zDragon-I (60 x $495–$522). of the Bund (6882-8888; doubles, Heaven serves Yunnan cuisine (17 tion, start off at the Vault Bar at Hotel, close to the Stock Exchange 9Café Gray Deluxe are fully like deconstructed preserved egg Wyndham St.). Down an alleyway, On the Puxi side, across the $314–$490). Yan’an Dong Lu; 6330-0967; en- continued on page 128 and overlooking Victoria Har- booked weeks in advance (2918- (60 Johnston Rd.; 2850-8371; set the DJs at xDrop spin hot dance bour, is the preferred hangout for 1838; entrées, $30–$61). The menus, $87–$140). pAt Hutong, tunes (39-43 Hollywood Rd.). Beau- 0 )f wealthy mainlanders (3196-8888; Mandarin Oriental’s Man Wah if the crispy lamb doesn’t impress tiful people kick back at low-key # doubles, $540–$683). The original serves some of the city’s best dim you, the view of Hong Kong will (1 cHalo (10 Stanley St.). Concierges 2 P Mandarin Oriental, recently sum (2522-0111; entrées, $13–$38), Peking Rd.; 3428-8342; entrées, $13– can get you into the members- A renovated, is legendary for its but the Four Seasons’ qLung $52). aFook Lam Moon’s sautéed only vKee Club (32 Wellington ; seamless service (2522-0111; dou- King Heen is the only Chinese lobsters make it one of the city’s St.). If it were up to the bouncer Lujiazui b Financial District bles, $425–$657). In the Admiralty restaurant in the world with three finest Chinese restaurants (35-45 at Volar, ugly people would go district, the top-notch 3Island Michelin stars (3196-8888; entrées, Johnston Rd.; 2866-0663; entrées, elsewhere (38-44 D’Aguilar St.). % * Area 2 l 1 6 0 of Shangri-La pulls in well-heeled $30–$97). On the much trendier $19–$154). Pair one of 25 Chinese detail h z shopping The nLandmark is T Huangpu S visitors from Asia (2877-3838; side, style maven Bonnie Gokson’s teas with the Peking duck at The I U Huangpu R. home to international and local D doubles, $374–$683). Rooms at the wSevva serves comfort food like Peninsula’s sSpring Moon (2315- O Y continued on page 128 5 Jing’an $ new 4Upper House epitomize wonton soup (25/F, Prince’s Bldg.; 3160; entrées, $22–$154). High-end , PUDONG 3 8 G modern Asian style, with bamboo 2537-1388; entrées, $36–$110). Hong Kongers trek to dShatin 18, FAN k q WEI et w textures and a celadon palette High-Flying Dinners: For at the Hyatt Regency in the New rR d BUND (2918-1838; doubles, $372–$436). Chinese bigwigs looking for a spot Territories, for hand-pulled noo- 9 Xiantiandi @ & Beijing 4 Bund The 5Grand Hyatt’s Plateau Spa to negotiate their share listing, it dles and duck served three ways PUXI Sightseeing French j Tunnel has an outdoor grill next to a pool doesn’t get more exclusive than (3723-1234; entrées, $19–$64). R ! U Concession Nanjing (2588-1234; doubles, $438–$618). the private section at the Four Sea- I . / J s I East LUJIABANG ^ N c In the West Kowloon district, son’s three-Michelin-star French Bars Pre-Prandials: The views French ( Jiujiang Concession b the contemporary 6W Hotel restaurant eCaprice (3196-8888; rival the wine list at fCafé Gray F West Hankou hosts movers in the money and entrées, $60–$127). rPierre Deluxe (88 Queensway). Load on Q CHINESE TAKEOUT W art worlds (3717-2222; doubles, serves star chef Pierre Gagnaire’s the caviar and the Dom Perignon To bring along our guide to Fuzhou m a v $464–$515). 7The Peninsula, the signature fare atop the Manda- at the Grand Hyatt’s gCham- Shanghai and Hong Kong as a mo- E colonial-era grande dame, serves rin Oriental (2522-0111; entrées, pagne Bar. hAqua Luna, a bile Web page, snap this tag with Lodging Cuisine Bars Shopping Culture Golf n your smartphone’s camera. (For 7 g y a perfect afternoon tea in its opu- $70–$85). tOne Harbour Road’s restored wooden junk crisscross- Three on u instructions on downloading the the Bund and Haisam Maps Pendola by Hussein Joyce lent lobby (2920-2888; doubles, crackling suckling pig and melt-in- ing the harbor, serves cocktails free app, see page 14.) Guangdong i p o x m a rc h 2 0 1 0 Yan’an  Jinling