The Bund, Shanghai's most-famous tourist destination, overlooks the Huangpu River and the Lujiazui skyline. Photos by Gao Erqiang and Alywin Chew/China Daily

Shanghai was once heralded as the 'Paris of the East' and remains perhaps the country's most cosmopolitan city. Resident Alywin Chew devises a three-day itinerary.

Shanghai is a mega city that's the engine of China's financial and innovation development. It offers a captivating blend of modernity and old-world charm like no other place in the country.

Lujiazui district's towering skyscrapers are a symbol of Shanghai's rapid ascent as one of the world's most prominent financial hubs.

Yet the countless old alleyways, shikumen houses and unmistakable beauty of the former French Concession serve to temper the city's image as a modern behemoth with insatiable global ambitions.

Shanghai and neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces offer 144-hour visas. But China's most metropolitan metropolis is worthy of three days' exploration.