Shanghai (Chinese: pinyin: Shànghai; Shanghainese: Zanhe),is situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta, is China's largest city. The city is one of the most important cultural, commercial, financial, industrial and communications centers of China. Administratively, Shanghai is one of four municipalities of the People's Republic of China that have provincial-level status. Shanghai is also home to the world's busiest port, followed by Singapore and Rotterdam.

Originally a sleepy fishing town, Shanghai became China's most important city by the start of the 20th century and was the center of popular culture, vice, intellectual discourse and political intrigue in Republican China. After the Communist takeover in 1949, Shanghai languished under heavy central government taxation and much of its bourgeois elements were purged. Since the government authorized the market-economic redevelopment of Shanghai in 1992, Shanghai quickly surpassed early-starters Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and has since led China's economic growth. One of the challenges for Shanghai in the early 21st century is to regain its former status as a world-class city and also make city life more comfortable for all of its residents, including migrant workers from poorer provinces.

The 2000 census put the population of Shanghai Municipality to 16.738 million, including the floating population, which made up 3.871 million. Since the 1990 census the total population has increased by 3.396 million, or 25.5%. Males accounted for 51.4%, females for 48.6% of the population. 12.2% were in the age group of 0-14, 76.3% between 15 and 64 and 11.5% were older than 65. 5.4% of the inhabitants were illiterate. As of 2003, the official registered population is 13.42 million; however, more than 5 million more people work and live in Shanghai undocumented, and of the 5 million, some 4 million belong to the floating population of temporary migrant workers, a large proportion of whom are from Anhui Province as well as Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. The average life expectancy in 2003 was 79.80 years, 77.78 for men and 81.81 for women.

Shanghai is the financial and trade center of China. It began with economic reforms in 1992, a decade later than many of the Southern Chinese provinces. Prior to then, much of the city revenue went directly to the capital, Beijing, with little return. Even with a decreased tax burden after 1992, Shanghai's tax contribution to the central government is around 20-25% of the national total (Shanghai's annual tax burden pre-1990s was on average 70% of the national). Shanghai today is the biggest and most developed city in mainland China.

As in many other areas in China, Shanghai is undergoing a building boom. In Shanghai the modern architecture is notable for its unique style, especially in the highest floors, with several top floor restaurants which resemble flying saucers.

Besides literature, Shanghai was also the birthplace of Chinese cinema & theater. China’s first short film, The Difficult Couple (Nanfu nanqi, 1913), and the country’s first fictional feature film, Orphan Rescues Grandfather (Gu'er jiu zuji, 1923) were both produced in Shanghai. These two films were very influential, and established Shanghai as the center of Chinese film-making.

Shanghai’s film industry went on to blossom during the early Thirties, generating Marilyn Monroe like stars such as Zhou Xuan, who committed suicide in 1957. The talent and passion of Shanghainese filmmakers following World War II and the Communist Revolution contributed enormously to the development of the Hong Kong film industry.

Shanghai cuisine is noted for stir-fried dishes that use lots of cooking oil, along with ginger, sugar and wine, but not much spiciness. Special dishes include Shanghai Noodles, and many seafood dishes, including fish, shrimp, eels and crab.

The people of Shanghai are considered to be very honest, and also very smart.