Mission & Aim

Large exhibitions such as the ones organized by Shanghai Biennale provide not only an important occasion to showcase of contemporary art production, but also forums where artists can meet, challenge their own works and expand their experiences. Besides, the biennale offers the opportunity of a truly international exchange of ideas; while bringing together artists, curators, writers, theorists and art supporters from around the world, the biennale has become a critical space of dialogue within an increasingly global art market. The Shanghai Biennale highlights the increasingly important role of artistic production in the Asia-Pacific region.

Shanghai Culture Background

Geographical Situation
Shanghai is located at longitude 121"29" East and latitude 31 "14" North. The city is lying on the western coast of the Pacific Ocean and on the East border of the Asian continent. Surrounded by the Yangzi River on the North, the East China Sea on the East, the Hangzhou Gulf on the South and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces on the west, it stands at the mid-point of China"s north-south coastal line where the Yangzi River is emptying into the sea. Shanghai enjoys great advantages in its easy transportation, vast territory and ideal location. All these factors have made Shanghai a leading port.

Climate
Shanghai belongs to the northern subtropical maritime monsoon climate and benefits of four distinct seasons, generous sunshine and abundant rainfall. Concerning temperatures and humidity, spring and fall are quite short, summer and winter quite long. In 2003, the temperature averages 17,4deg C; 1,699.8 yearly hours of sunshine; the annual rainfall is registered to be 931.2 millimeters, half of these during the May-September season which is divided into three rainy periods: the Spring Rain, the Plum Rain and the Autumn Typhoon Rain.

Territory
In 1949, Shanghai area was only 636 square kilometers. In 1958, ten districts (Jiading, Baoshan, Shanghai, Songjiang, Jinshan, Chuansha, Nanhui, Fengxian, Qingpu, Chongming, all in Jiangsu province) were joined to form Shanghai resulting in an area of 5,910 square kilometers, almost ten times bigger than in 1949. At the end of 2003, Shanghai municipality area was 6,340.5 square kilometers, that is to say a land area of 0,06% of the national total, about 120 kilometers from North to South, 100 kilometers from East to West. Within Shanghai territory are the Chongming Island (the third largest Island in China: 1041,21 square kilometers), and other isles such as Changxing and Hengsha.

Hydrology
Shanghai benefits of plenty of waterways, a huge water network and great water resources: it is the famous Jiangnan area (697 square kilometers), which represents about 11% of the whole city area. Most of this water network depends on Huangpu River and its tributaries Suzhou River, Chuanyang River and Dingpu River, etc. The 113-kilometers long Huangpu River (its spring is Tai Lake) divides the city in two parts; it is between 300 and 700 meters wide, on average 360 meters wide. The river, which does not freeze during winter time, constitutes Shanghai's river road. The part of Suzhou River included in Shanghai area is 54 kilometers long, on average 45 meters wide. Shanghai lakes are located at the West part of the limit between Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the biggest one is called Dianshan Lake (62 square kilometers).

Shanghai Topography
Except in the South West part, Shanghai area has not a lot of mountains and hills, most of the region of Shanghai lies in the broad and even alluvial low-altitude plain of the Yangzi Delta. Chinese land surface is a bit like a staircase descending from West to East. Da Jinshan Montain is the highest one in the Shanghai territory, averaging 103,4 meters above sea level.

Administrative Divisions
In 1949, Shanghai was divided into 20 urban zones and 10 suburban ones. After a lot of administrative reOrganizing s, at the end of 2003, Shanghai was divided into 18 districts, one county, 118 towns, 3 townships, 100 subdistricts, 3,293 neighborhood comities and 1,991 villages comities.

Origin of " Hu " and " Shen "
The city of Shanghai's abbreviations are also known as "Hu" or "Shen". The current West and East part of Shanghai became counties respectively six and two thousands years ago. In the late 400s B.C., during the Warring States Period, Shanghai was known as "Shen" when the sovereign of the Chu Kingdom, Chun Shen, used Shanghai as a feudal investment. During the Jin Dynasty (4th and 5th centuries of our era), there were fishing grounds in the lower reaches of Song River (current Wusong River) and along the coast. The tools that the fishermen used to catch fish with were called "Hu" and "Du" means creek, consequently this area was called "Hu Du".

Shanghai Establishment
In 751 (10th year of Tang Emperor Tian Bao's reign), Shanghai region did belong to the district of Huating (i.e. the current Songjiang district), from the current Hongkou in the North to the sea in the South, and until Xiasha in the East. In 991 (2nd year of Song Emperor Chunhua'reign), because the upstream Songjiang was continuously silting up, the seacoast moved to the East. Boats could not easily enter anymore, big ships arriving had to moor in a tributary of the Song river called "Shanghaipu" (situated between the current Bund and the 16th dock of Huangpu River). In 1267 (3rd year of South Song Emperor Xianchun'reign), on the West coast of the Shanghaipu River was built a township called Shanghai city. In 1292 (the 29th year of Yuan Emperor Zhiyuan'reign), the central government of the Yuan dynasty extracted the city of Shanghai from the district of Huating and approved Shanghai as a district, symbolizing the beginning of Shanghai as a city.

Modern History of Shanghai
In the 16th century (i.d. in the middle of the Ming dynasty), Shanghai became to be China's largest textile center. In 1685 (24th year of Qing Emperor's Kangxi), the Qing government set up customs in Shanghai. In the middle of the 19th century, Shanghai was already a prosperous commercial port. After the opium wars, Shanghai gradually became one of these China's major trading port opened by colonialists. During one hundred years, western powers successively invaded different districts of Shanghai. From this, the city acquired a fundamental and strategic position for imperialist countries, which began to enter intrusively in Chinese politics, economy and culture. On May, 27th 1949, the city of Shanghai was liberated and began its new independent life.

Historic Changes
The crucial year of 1949 opened a new historic page in the development of the city. According to the leaders of the Communist Party, Shanghai people have just gone through more than 50 years of trouble: the old half-colonized half-feudal Shanghai which went through a "deformed development" had to be reconstructed from the beginning and huge changes had to be organized in the sphere of economy and society. The opening reforms have particularly increased right from 1978. Dynamic, audacious and practical Shanghainese people went to a new development direction respecting Chinese particularities and reflecting the specificities of the period while being appropriate to the characteristics of a huge city like Shanghai. The consequence is that each part of Shanghai benefits of these historic reforms in terms of economic and social development. Consequently, Shanghai is now the biggest economic center in China and a famous name in the sphere of history and culture; besides Shanghai has taken great steps forward in order to become an international center in terms of economy, finances, commerce and navigation

Population
Shanghai population has undergone a fast and uninterrupted growth. When the city became an international trading port in the mid-18th century, population was about 100.000 people; in 1949, it was 5,2 million persons and, at the end of 2003, the permanent population in Shanghai had reached more than 17 million persons (1% of the national total), what represents 2.6 times more than in 1949 and an increase of 860.000 persons since 2002.13 million inhabitants are inhabitants with a Shanghainese citizenship. In 2003, Shanghai's density was 2,116 persons per square kilometer.

Historic and Cultural Relics
Shanghai is a famous historical and cultural city with many underground and surface relics. By the end of 2003, there were 16 national key cultural relic protection units, 114 municipal level historical relic protection sites, 29 memorial sites and 14 protection sites. Shanghai has preserved quite a lot of national relics from Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and also magnificent gardens. There are the more-than-1000-years-old Longhua Temple, old peaceful temples built during the Three Kingdoms period, the internationally famous Jade Buddha Temple, the scenic Yu Gardens, the Jiading Confucian Temple, the Songjiang Square Pagoda, Zuibaichi, etc.

Revolutionary Relics
Shanghai is also a heroic city with glorious revolutionary history, many important events happened in Shanghai during the Revolution, what left a lot of revolutionary relics. For example, the Site of the First National Congress of the CCP and a lot of leading figures" (Sun Yatsen, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Lu Xun, etc) former houses.

Tourist Sightseeing
From the nineties, Shanghai has successively developed a solid international reputation in the sphere of architecture which represents now an attractive aspect in the city setting and, at the same time, constitutes a new tourist landscape: those buildings are nothing but the new incarnation of what Shanghai reflects for the rest of the world. Shanghai symbols are the Bund, People Square, the Oriental Pearl Tower, the first skyscraper built in China called Jinmao Tower and also Nanjing Road, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Theatre, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, etc.