Celebrating the beauty of the city’s waterfronts

THE newly opened waterfronts along the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek went on show at an exhibition yesterday.

Photos and paintings selected from thousands collected from the public are on display at the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center.

“It is an amazing idea to invite children and local artists to participate in the city’s development,” said Karen Gutierrez, a tourist from Panama.

“They showed us in a colorful way about how Shanghai looks at night and along the river.

“We can imagine how local people work together to make the city great.”

Maria Zapior from Poland, a tourism major postgraduate student at Shanghai University, said it is quite interesting to show the beauty of the city from the perspective of children.

Her classmate Sariah Calderon from Spain said she had seen great development in the city in recent years.

According to the plan of “striving for a world-class waterfront area,” seamless riverside zones will be created along both the river and creek by 2020, featuring more greenery, historic buildings, bridges and “sponge city” technology.

Planners studied riverfronts across the world, including Paris and Chicago, before coming up with the blueprint for Shanghai.

Many children from local international schools have visited other waterfront cities such as Paris, said an official with the center. A painting by 9-yearold Chen Fanrui “East Meets West,” for instance, combines the scenery of the Seine with the Huangpu.

Zheng Hanwen, one of the winners, said of her work: “Highrises along the Huangpu River are decorated with Chinese patterns, while the auspicious clouds, dragon and phoenix symbolize the rejuvenation of China.”

Ye Yucheng, another winner, was more personal. “Deliver Meal for Father” is about her father, a soldier in the People’s Liberation Army who is based in Pudong and who goes home to Puxi twice every week.

“The Huangpu River has become an emotional bond between Ye and her father,” said her mother.

Walkways between Yangpu Bridge and Xupu Bridge have been opened with plans to extend them both upstream and downstream. And the 60 kilometers of the Huangpu waterfront between Minpu No. 2 Bridge and Wusongkou are to be a “demonstration zone” for the city’s development.