Shanghai
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Shanghai (night view)
Source: www.panix.com
Today's Shanghai
Shanghai is China's largest open city and most important economic, financial, trade, scientific and technological, information and cultural center, as well as one of the 10 big ports in the world with annual turnover of cargos exceeding 100 million tons. It maintains close trade ties and friendly exchanges with more than 170 countries and regions around the world.

With the opening up and current development, Shanghai has developed into a modern international economic and trade center in the Asia-Pacific region.
The City Emblem
The city emblem of Shanghai is a triangular pattern formed by the city flower magnolia, a sailing ship and a screw propeller. The triangular design resembling a ship propeller signifies that Shanghai is a city making unceasing progress. In the center of the pattern, the offshore sailing ship -- the city's oldest kind of vessel -- in its full sail symbolizes Shanghai as a port city with a long history and manifests her splendid future. The ship is backed with a booming magnolia greeting early spring.

This emblem was examined and approved as the city emblem of Shanghai by the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress in September 1990.

Source: www.sh.com
The City Flower
Yulan, a native of China, is a deciduous tree belonging to the Magnolia Family. It had been grown in all the imperial gardens since the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). It is now a precious and ornamental tree planted in parks and gardens.

Yulan's delicately scented and spotlessly white flower with a tint of jade green grows on the terminal of branches. It blooms before the leaf sprouts. The flower usually has nine petals, each three disposed on a floral axis in a campanulate shape. In Shanghai, Yulan begins to bloom in March shortly after winter. The flower has large, white petals and its eye always looks towards sky. Therefore, the flower symbolizes the pioneering and enterprising spirit of the city.

Yulan was chosen to be the city flower of Shanghai by the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on October 25, 1986.

The City Flower
Source: www.sh.com