If you're after a new cellphone, go to the Shanghai Railway Station. You can find good deals on secondhand phones as well as new phones (the selection is a mixed bag; you'll find Chinese off-brands mixed with reliable big-name brands as well as cutting-edge Japanese phones; if you live in North or South America be careful about buying the off-brand phones as most do not support the necessary frequencies for use there. Also, in the secondhand section of the market some of the phones are of dubious origin; CDMA phones may have their ESNs blacklisted in their home countries, but for GSM/3G phones the only issue is an ethical one. Be careful about prices that are too good to be true.
Also, for small discounts at various restaurants and hotels as well as 50% off tickets to certain attractions (Shanghai World Financial Center observation deck, Happy Valley, Science and Technology Museum, among others) try to find a branch of Woori Bank to sign up for the Shanghai Tourist Card. All Chinese banks issue this as a credit card, preventing non-Chinese visitors from signing up by virtue of requiring proof of income in China, but Woori is a Korean bank and caters to Koreans (including Korean tourists), and thus offers it as a debit card, allowing anyone to sign up for it with just a passport. Sign-up (including account creation) takes approximately half an hour and the card is immediately issued upon account creation. Branches are located near Metro Line 2 Century Ave. station (address is 1600 Century Ave. Pos-Plaza 1-2F) and Metro Line 9 Hechuan Rd. station (address is 188 South Huijin Rd: ask for directions to Bank of China; once you get there, turn right and keep walking until you see it). However, a hotel address may not be acceptable and there may be a handling fee for accounts canceled within a month of opening. An incidental advantage of the Woori Bank Shanghai Tourist Card is that the account allows unlimited free withdrawals at any ATM in China. Thus it will be more convenient to put all your money in the card and withdraw from ATMs only as necessary. If planning to visit two or more of the attractions that half-price tickets are offered for, the time spent is well worth the discount (maximum two discounted tickets purchased per card, offer lasts until end of World Expo).
In addition, Travelex offers a Shanghai Tourist Card Cash Passport IN JAPAN ONLY. If transiting through there, getting the Cash Passport version is easier and quicker, and offers all the benefits of the Woori Bank version except for free ATM withdrawals.
In Hong Kong, AEON Credit offers the Shanghai Travel Prepaid card instead. Same as the Travelex card except initial currency is Hong Kong dollars and a 1.1% fee is charged during the Hong Kong dollar->yuan conversion process.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Shanghai
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Shanghai - updated Apr 2024
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Shanghai Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
