Love it or hate it, it’s hard to be indifferent to this 468m-tall poured-concrete tripod tower, especially at night, when it dazzles. Sucking in streams of visitors, the Deng Xiaoping–era design is inadvertently retro, but socialism with Chinese characteristics was always cheesy back in the day. The highlight is the excellent Shànghǎi History Museum , in the basement. You can queue up for views of Shànghǎi, but there are better views elsewhere and the long lines are matched by a tortuous ticketing system.
Boat tours on the Huángpǔ River operate from the Pearl Dock , next to the tower.
