Situated on the banks of the Hyungpu river, close to the Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai is one of the most densely populated cities in China. Widely regarded as the citadel of China's modern economy, the city also thrives as one of the most important cultural, commercial, financial, industrial and communications centres of China, and it is also one of the busiest places on Earth, alongside Singapore and Rotterdam.
In Chinese, Shanghai is abbreviated to Hù and Shēn, meaning literally ‘on the sea’ or ‘in the sea’.
Before becoming a city in its own right, Shanghai was part of the county of Songjiang, governed by the Suzhou prefecture. This province was founded around 1000 years ago, and from the time of the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279), Shanghai gradually grew to become a busy seaport.
The city walls were built in 1553 AD, which is generally accepted as the date of foundation of the city of Shanghai. However, before the nineteenth century, Shanghai was not considered a major city of China. Therefore, compared to most other major Chinese cities today, there are few ancient monuments or places of historical interest to be found in the city.
Until 1927 Shanghai belonged to the Jiangsu district (with the capital Nanjing) but it was later to be officially promoted to a municipality.
The importance of Shanghai grew suddenly and radically in the nineteenth century, as the city's strategic position at the mouth of the Yangtze River made it an ideal location for trade with the West.
During the First Opium War in the early nineteenth century, British forces temporarily occupied Shanghai. The war ended with the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, which saw the treaty ports, Shanghai included, open up to international trade. The Treaty of the Bogue signed in 1843, and the Sino-American Treaty of Wangsia signed in 1844 together saw foreign nations achieve extraterritoriality on Chinese soil. 
In 1863, the British and American settlements  joined in order to form the International Settlement, and Shanghai became the most important financial centre of the Far East.
On 27 May, 1949, Shanghai succumbed to communist control and thus underwent a series of changes in the boundaries of its subdivisions over the ensuing decade. After communist takeover in 1949, most foreign firms moved their offices from Shanghai to Hong Kong and the city became an industrial centre for revolutionary left-wing politics.
Even during the most tumultuous times of the Cultural Revolution, Shanghai was able to maintain high economic productivity and relative social stability. Historically Shanghai has always been the largest contributor of tax revenue to the central government. In fact, at the beginning of the eighties, 70-80% of the whole tax revenue paid to the central government originated solely from the municipality of Shanghai.