The 1960s brought with it the Cultural Revolution, which led to turbulent times in Shanghai. The Gang of Four, who controlled much of the revolutionary activity, were based in the city, and one of the major ideologies was to get rid of things ‘old’ – customs, habits, culture and thinking. Much of the city’s religious heritage was destroyed, and an estimated one million Shanghainese workers were forced to migrate to rural areas to work in communes.

It wasn’t until 1990 that China’s future seemed to brighten with president Deng Xiaoping’s announcement that Shanghai would become the centre of China’s economic reforms. Deng was succeeded in 1994 by former Shanghai mayor Jiang Zemin, who is said to have surrounded himself with the ‘Shanghai Clique’, a group of officials important to the city at the time. In 1998, Zhu Rongji, a member of the Clique and a former Shanghai mayor himself, became prime minister and was responsible for driving home the economic reforms announced in 1990.

The following decade saw unprecedented development of the city, particularly Pudong. Then, in 2002, Shanghai was announced as the host for Expo 2010. With billions of dollars’ worth of developments under way, a skyline which has become the envy of the world and economic growth outpacing that of China, the future is looking very rosy for Shanghai.­­­­­­­­­­­­