An active development of the city is increasingly conditioned with its profitable strategic position. It has a status of a major shopping center since ancient times. For the first time the name «Shanghai» was mentioned in the 11th century. The name of the city can literally be translated from Chinese as "the upper sea". The first settlement has appeared much earlier on site of the city. Shanghai was a part of the largest district Songjiang . In 1553 people started to build fortification walls in Shanghai. Soon it was given a status of the city and it became an independent administrative unit. Given the fact that being at one time the large county, now Songjiang is one of the districts of Shanghai. We can imagine how fast was the development of the young city.
Overlived a mass of destructive wars and disasters, today the city comes out in all its greatness. Among the main features of modern Shanghai there are amazing contrasts which dawns almost in everything: architecture, lifestyle of the indigenous population, cultural traditions and even cooking. People who like excursions will be pleased surprised with a huge number of preserved historic buildings of different eras in the city. Now some of them board with modern skyscrapers and futuristic buildings of large economic organizations.
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