Shanghai is one of the four
direct-administered municipalities of the
People's Republic of China. The city is located on the southern estuary of the
Yangtze River, with the
Huangpu River flowing through it. With a population of 24.89 million as of 2021, Shanghai is the
most populous urban area in China and among the
most populous cities proper in the world. It is the only
city in East Asia with a GDP greater than its corresponding capital. As of 2018, the Greater Shanghai metropolitan area, which includes
Suzhou,
Wuxi,
Nantong,
Ningbo,
Jiaxing,
Zhoushan, and
Huzhou, was estimated to produce a
gross metropolitan product (
nominal) of nearly 9.1 trillion
RMB ($1.33 trillion). Shanghai is divided into 16
county-level districts, including the
Pudong district pictured here.
Photograph credit: Tony Jin