The Oriental Pearl Tower is Shanghai’s most unmistakable skyline landmark: a 468-metre television tower whose pink spheres rise above the Pudong waterfront. Completed in 1994, it became a symbol of the city’s rapid transformation, when Lujiazui was taking shape as a new financial district across the Huangpu River from the historic Bund.
A visit is as much about the tower’s exuberant 1990s design as the views. Observation decks look across the river to the Bund’s colonial-era buildings and over Pudong’s forest of newer skyscrapers. The transparent glass-floor walkway adds a vertiginous perspective, though the tower is no longer the tallest building in the neighbourhood.
For clearer views, choose a day with good visibility; haze can soften the skyline considerably. Book tickets ahead during weekends and holidays, and allow time for security and lift queues. Lujiazui station on Metro Line 2 is a convenient starting point, and an early-evening visit lets you see the city transition from daylight to illuminated skyline.