In less than two weeks the FIA World Endurance Championship will
head to China and the "Pearl of the Orient" - Shanghai. With its
5000 skyscrapers and an economic boom which has seen a
continuous double-digit growth since 1991, the city will provide
the backdrop to the penultimate race of the 2013 season.
Located on the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze, the
city of Shanghai was originally a port, hence its name which
means "on the sea". Shanghai is the most populated city in China
with 23 million inhabitants in total, and it is sometimes called
the "Paris of the East".  Today, nearly 120 new buildings pop up
every year, especially in the new Pudong area (east of Pu), and
old houses are being gradually replaced by modern buildings.
With its tip reaching 492 metres, the World Financial Center in
the city is the tallest building in China.  A few years ago it
was the other side of the river, Puxi, which was the most
developed. This is the side where the Bund (waitan in Chinese or
foreigners ‘bank’) is s