3 'specialties' in Shanghai

'Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen. Do you know what the three specialties of Shanghai are?' - A Tien, a Chinese tour guide, asked in Vietnamese as the car moved between tourist attractions in Shanghai, China.

Tour guide A Tien understands Vietnamese and Vietnamese culture well enough to say "your belly is tight and your eyes are loose, right?", "you are a young man with a buffalo spirit," "money comes in like the Da River, money goes out like drip coffee" and can explain "fermented bacteria" when talking about stinky tofu - Photo: MINH KHUÊ

This year, 50 years old, previously studied Vietnamese in Guangxi for three years and "one year in Cau Giay, Hanoi ", A Tien speaks Vietnamese very fluently.

"Shanghai only had a traffic jam once"

Shanghai, China, one morning in late July 2025. Blue license plates are gasoline cars and green license plates are electric cars - Photo: MINH KHUÊ

"Did you know? Shanghai has less traffic jams than Ho Chi Minh City," A Tien said in Vietnamese with a northern Vietnamese accent.

Having been to Vietnam many times, this tour guide knows that Ho Chi Minh City has traffic jams during morning and afternoon rush hours.

"Shanghai only had a traffic jam once. It was from 6am to 10pm. So traffic jams in Shanghai are less, right?" - A Tien said and laughed out loud.

The Shanghai city tour itinerary for tourists will include places such as Shanghai Bund, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Thanh Hoang Temple, Nanjing Avenue...

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"If you ask A Tien about the distance between the tourist attractions, A Tien will say it's only about 3-4 kilometers. But if you ask how long it will take, A Tien can't answer because of the traffic jam," added the tour guide, originally from Nanning, China.

As if to further illustrate the lines of cars lining the streets, A Tien said: "In Shanghai, if two people in love make a date by car, they will most likely not arrive on time."

Due to traffic jams, people in China's most populous city (about 24 million people) often prefer to ride motorbikes or public electric bicycles, which is very convenient.

In Shanghai, you can see many public bicycles on the streets in yellow, green, blue, and different brands. These public bicycles are placed on the streets, near subway stations for people to move conveniently - Photo: MINH KHUÊ

Bike rental fees are quite cheap. Sometimes, to encourage people to ride bicycles, there will be support programs where people can rent bikes for free for a month - Photo: MINH KHUÊ

"The Skyline"

"Do you know what the second specialty of Shanghai is? It's the elevated road," A Tien continued to introduce.

It is true that the elevated road system in Shanghai makes tourists amazed. When driving below, there are always 2-3 levels of traffic networks above.

Both sides of the road, both below and above, are always decorated with beautiful seasonal flower pots of all colors: green, red, purple, yellow.

A Tien did not explain much about the elevated road system, but searching online, we can see that to develop logistics, Shanghai city built a dense elevated road system. This is also one of the "specialties" and unique features of this city.

The transportation system in Shanghai is very developed. The elevated road system is a unique feature of this city - Photo: MINH KHUÊ

Laugh out loud with the "national flag"

As the car passed through the lush green trees on the road along the Huangpu River, the tour guide told us that in the old days in Shanghai, each civil servant couple's family was given a 50-60 square ^meter apartment .

Two-bedroom apartment but has three generations living including grandparents, parents and children.

"The kitchen was renovated to make a sleeping area for the children," the tour guide said. "So what about the kitchen? The kitchen has to be moved out onto the balcony, so there is no place to dry clothes. Therefore, each apartment will install an additional clothes drying rack outside."

"The flag of ten thousand nations" is how Shanghai residents jokingly refer to drying clothes on the balconies of their apartments. Most apartments have these clothes drying racks, partly because of tradition and also because people like the 'smell' of clothes drying in the sun - Photo: MINH KHUÊ

Pointing to an apartment with clothes drying racks outside, Mr. Tien said: "Shanghai people jokingly say that it is the national flag. It is very colorful."

Nowadays, in modern life, young people can buy their own apartment instead of living with their parents or grandparents.

"But many apartments still add a clothes drying rack on the balcony. Because many people believe that clothes should smell like the sun," A Tien added.

It was raining as we drove across the street to Nanjing Avenue. But it was interesting to see the "national flags" on the balconies of the apartment buildings.

After the rain, the clothes are collected, leaving reinforced drying racks outside the balconies of Shanghai apartments. The clothes drying poles added outside the balconies to dry clothes are truly a specialty, a unique feature of this city - Photo: MINH KHUÊ

Whose pocket is the easiest to get money from?

Shanghai at night seen from the Huangpu River. "If Shanghai during the day is like a black and white TV, then Shanghai at night is like a color TV" - the tour guide said a leader once commented like that - Photo: MINH KHUÊ

Coming to Shanghai, tourists are overwhelmed by the skyscrapers, clean streets under the shade of sycamore trees, and old neighborhoods packed with young men and women checking in, waiting to buy xiao long bao or pearl milk tea.

"Chinese people believe that money from women's pockets is the easiest to take, money from children's pockets is the second easiest to take, and money from men's pockets is the hardest to take," A Tien explained as the car arrived at a shopping mall.

"So the first floor will sell fashion and cosmetics for women. The second floor will sell children's toys and the top floor will sell things for men" - the tour guide said.

Minh Khue

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/3-dac-san-o-thuong-hai-20250726100918625.htm