That Lupu Bridge is open to the public is a well kept secret, either that or nobody has any interest in climbing one of the major artieries that links Puxi to Pudong over the Huangpu River. The bridge was deserted even on National Day when the rest of Shanghai was heaving with visitors. Lupu Bridge is the longest arch bridge in the world, the white arches have 367 steps which lead to the top of the bridge with the Huangpu River, teeming with commercial traffic, over 100 metres below.

The view from the top is further removed from the bright lights of Lujiazui. Instead it offers a telling insight into Shanghai’s history and contrasting future. On the Puxi side it offers a look at an old shipyard. It is the last of Shanghai’s heavy industry within the city limits, everything else was moved to the outskirts in an effort to combat pollution and the shipyard will shortly follow suit. The Pudong side is at present nothing more than a building site but a massive construction project is underway along the banks of the Huangpu for the Shanghai 2010 Expo, otherwise trumpeted as the Olympic Games of the economy, science, and technology. The view is interesting if only to the see the scale of the project and knowing the pace of construction will be ready in the time it takes to knock down the shipyard on the opposite bank.