Overview
Lujiazui is the most dazzling financial center in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, and a modern urban marvel along the Huangpu River. It sits on the east bank of the Huangpu River, facing the Bund on the west bank across the water. Its name comes from the Lu family, led by Lu Shen, a Hanlin scholar of the Ming Dynasty, who settled here. Today, skyscrapers stand everywhere. The Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower, Shanghai Tower, Jin Mao Tower, and Shanghai World Financial Center form one of China's most recognizable skylines, earning it the nickname 'Oriental Wall Street.' The overall style of Lujiazui is extreme modernity and prosperity. Glass curtain walls reflect sunlight and river water, streets are packed with people, and the whole place pulses with the rhythm of an international metropolis. It's not just an office hub for financial elites; it's also a top choice for visitors who want to experience the urban charm of Shanghai. Whether you love photography, admire architecture, or simply want to soak up the modern vibe of the 'Magic City,' Lujiazui will keep your eyes busy. By day, you can watch clouds drift between the towers. By night, lights illuminate every building, making you feel like you're in a city of the future. It suits first-time visitors to Shanghai, and also urban wanderers who keep coming back to feel the city's pulse. But the real wonder of Lujiazui isn't any single building; it's the interaction between the whole cluster of towers and the riverfront. So it's best to slow down, look up, and also look down.
Highlights
The top three things to see in Lujiazui: first is the 'kitchen trio' — Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, and Jin Mao Tower. These three super-tall buildings stand right next to each other, and netizens have nicknamed them the 'bottle opener, the syringe, and the egg beater.' Each has its own personality: Shanghai Tower spirals upward, the Shanghai World Financial Center has an inverted trapezoid opening at the top, and Jin Mao Tower looks like a pagoda. The best viewing spot is the circular pedestrian bridge in Lujiazui. Standing there, you can get all three towers in one frame. A wide-angle shot from below gives a strong sense of pressure and futuristic feel. The second highlight is the Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower. It's made up of three spheres, changes colors at night, and is a symbol of Shanghai. I recommend walking to the Riverside Avenue, using the Oriental Pearl as the foreground and the historic buildings of the Bund as the background, to take a photo contrasting 'old and new Shanghai.' It has a different flavor by day and by night. The third highlight is the Riverside Avenue itself. This riverside walkway offers wide views: across the river are the historic buildings of the Bund, and at your feet flows the Huangpu River. In the early evening, with the river breeze on your face, you can watch the sunset paint the glass curtain walls gold, then wait for the lights on the opposite bank to come on. That's the most romantic experience in Lujiazui.
Stories
Behind the name Lujiazui lies the family story of a Ming dynasty scholar. According to legend, during the Jiajing period of the Ming dynasty, Lu Shen, a Hanlin academician, built a garden called "Hou Le Yuan" — meaning "Garden of Joy After All" — beside the Huangpu River in Pudong, Shanghai. After he died, he was buried there, and his descendants continued to live and thrive in the area. So this riverside bend came to be known as Lujiazui. Today, the skyscrapers of Lujiazui have long overshadowed the gardens of that era, but the name itself remains like a seal of time, preserving the scholarly spirit of five hundred years ago on this most modern land. Another fun folk tale is about the spheres of the Oriental Pearl Tower. It's said that the designers originally wanted to capture the poetic image of "big pearls and small pearls falling onto a jade plate." But at the time, some people joked that it didn't look like pearls at all — it looked more like a candied hawthorn skewer. Unexpectedly, this "candied skewer" later became a symbol of Shanghai, and netizens even nicknamed it the "spaceship." Lujiazui also has a well-known joke: Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, and Shanghai Tower are together called the "kitchen three-piece set" — the syringe, the bottle opener, and the egg beater. The nickname may not be elegant, but it unexpectedly makes these three serious skyscrapers feel more approachable. If you hear someone shout "Look, the egg beater!" on the circular sky bridge, don't laugh — that's the unique humor of Shanghai people.
History
The history of Lujiazui is a story of rising from riverside mudflats to an international financial center. Before the Ming Dynasty, this was just a piece of alluvial land at a bend in the Huangpu River. Because the family of Lu Shen, a Ming Dynasty Hanlin scholar, built their home and were buried here, it gradually became known as "Lujiazui." Before the 1990s, Lujiazui was still a large area of shantytowns and dock warehouses. Across the Huangpu River, the glittering foreign concessions symbolized Shanghai's prosperity, while the east bank seemed desolate. In 1990, the State Council announced the development and opening of Pudong, and Lujiazui was positioned as a financial and trade zone, ushering in dramatic changes. In 1994, the Oriental Pearl Tower was the first to rise, becoming Pudong's first landmark. In 1999, Jin Mao Tower set a new skyscraper record in mainland China at 420.5 meters. In 2008, the Shanghai World Financial Center became the world's tallest building at that time, at 492 meters. In 2016, Shanghai Tower reached the top as China's tallest building at 632 meters, and became the world's second tallest. Over these three decades, Lujiazui grew from farmland and docks into one of the most capital-dense areas in the world. Every step it took followed the rhythm of China's reform and opening-up, making it the most direct window into the speed of China's urbanization.
Architecture
Lujiazui's building cluster is truly a "textbook of skyscraper styles." The Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower was designed by the renowned architect Jiang Huancheng and completed in 1994. It uses the imagery of "large and small pearls falling onto a jade plate," with three spheres supported by angled steel structures, both modern and full of Eastern poetry. Jin Mao Tower is more like a "modern pagoda." Its body is made of metal and glass, tapering upward section by section, inspired by the dense-eave style of ancient Chinese pagodas. It has both traditional rhythm and aerodynamic efficiency. The Shanghai World Financial Center was designed by the American firm KPF. Its top features an inverted trapezoidal "wind opening," originally intended to reduce wind pressure, but later nicknamed "bottle opener" by netizens, which ironically became its signature. Shanghai Tower is the newcomer, designed by the American firm Gensler. Its shape is a spiraling cylinder, twisted at an angle of 120 degrees. This design reduces wind load by 24% while creating flowing light and shadow on the facade. The four buildings have completely different styles, yet they harmoniously squeeze together on about 1.7 square kilometers of land, creating an aesthetic of "conflict and symbiosis." If you're interested in architecture, I suggest taking a slow walk around the circular skybridge, observing their proportions, orientations, and material changes from different angles. That's Lujiazui's most interesting "architectural dialogue."
Travel Tips
Plan to spend half a day to a full day in Lujiazui. The best time to visit is from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., so you can see the daytime scenery and then seamlessly move into the night views. Take Metro Line 2 to Lujiazui Station, and Exit 1 leads directly to the circular skybridge, which is very convenient. If you plan to go to the top of Shanghai Tower or the Shanghai World Financial Center, remember to book tickets in advance on the official platform. Especially on holidays, the on-site queue can exceed one hour. Recommended route: first walk the circular skybridge to photograph the buildings, then go down to Riverside Avenue for a stroll along the river. In the evening, choose one of the tall buildings to go up and watch the sunset, and finally head to the Shanghai International Finance Center or Zhengda Plaza for dinner and rest. Tips for avoiding peak times: before 10 a.m., there are fewer visitors, perfect for clean empty shots; after 9 p.m., the lights gradually dim, but the crowds have thinned out, making it good for night photography. Wear comfortable flat shoes, because the walking distance is not short. For photo spots, besides the circular skybridge, you can also try the side of Riverside Avenue near the Oriental Pearl Tower, or the connecting corridor downstairs at the Shanghai International Finance Center. For rest and refreshments, you can go to the B1 level of the Shanghai International Finance Center, which has a variety of dining options. Prices are a bit high, but the environment is nice. Be careful not to trust scalpers on the street selling "fast track" passes. Buying tickets through official channels is the most reliable.
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