The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: May first, savoring the sizzle of Shanghai.

The last four centuries have brought many changes to this once sparsely populated fishing village situated on the spongy delta where the great Yangtze River finally filters into the East China Sea. Thrust into prominence as an opium port during the age of British colonialism, Shanghai became China's most international city, with a reputation for go go enterprise and decadent delight. Ripsawed repeatedly throughout the 20th-century by war, revolution and cultural chaos, its luster and energy faded. But over the last 15 years, fueled by economic reform and pent up initiative, the city's been reborn with an abandon that's both exhilarating and disorienting. This is not your father's Shanghai.

A furious building boom has transformed the skyline from picturesque dilapidation to 21st-century Buck Rogers. The classic, stone facades of the Bund waterfront district have been dwarfed by glittering towers sprouting skyward seemingly everywhere and often right before your eyes. Everything seems new; new airport, subway and elevated highways, along with stylish shopping and residential districts. There are new museums, new cuisines and entertainments, old and new. Most conspicuous are new attitudes about everything from home ownership to sexual propriety.

Seething again with entrepreneurial energy, Shanghai has regained its status as China's preeminent city, surpassing even Hong Kong and Beijing. Visitors might even question it's still communist. Despite international incidents, political dissent and economic downturns, Shanghai is easily Asia's most exciting metropolis.

This issue of National Geographic Traveler, a supporter of our program, looks at Shanghai rising.

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