Revamped Shanghai Bund open to public

After almost three years of renovation, Shanghai's iconic waterfront, the Bund, reopened to the public on Sunday and is ready to welcome World Expo visitors.

For more than a century, the Bund has been the most famous landmark of Shanghai. It houses dozens of historic buildings, including foreign banks and trading houses.

The renovation aims to restore the riverfront to its 1930s glory. The improvement works have enlarged public spaces, extended greening projects and facilitated public traffic.

A Shanghai resident said, "I like how the Bund looks now. These flower decorations are beautiful."

Known as the "Wall Street of Asia", the Bund looks across to Shanghai's Pudong district, where imposing skyscrapers have sprouted over the past two decades. For some tourists, the Bund offers them a different angle on the pulsating city.

A tourist from HK SAR said, "Pudong houses many modern buildings, and it looks stylish, while Puxi harbors historical buildings. They are both good."

With the completion of the renovation, the Shanghai landmark will be one of the sites in the city to attract millions of World Expo visitors .

Photo taken on March 28, 2010 shows the overlook scenery of the Bund in Shanghai,  east China. The Bund of Shanghai reopened Sunday after nearly three years of  renovation designed to improve the landscape and facilities for visitors to the  World Expo.(Xinhua/Zhu Lan)

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