The old buildings on Shanghai's waterfront are very reminicent of the Pier Head . If you watch the opening sequence of Empire of the Sun a movie from a book by J G Ballard who grew up in Shanghai you can see the shots of The Bund ( Shanghai's Pier Head)
Since the end of the cultural revolution there has been amazing building development in Shanghai but most on the Pudong side of the river. The iconic buildings on the Bund are in amazing shape and the Chinese are proud of the heritage value of the original buildings.New towers are all over the city some 88 stories high with open atriums and nightclubs on the penthouse floor this is all good but they also have 20 million people living in Shanghai- and that is just the legals so there are plenty of takers for apartments and office space. It would be hard to justify any sort of similar development in Liverpool and the one thing that Chinese want is a return on their investment either money out or people in.
Last time I visited and I have been there many times it had become very westernised with a Marks and Spencers and a Barbie shop the latest additions.The people part of Shanghai is going through massive clearance and many thousands are thrown out of their homes and workplaces roads are developed almost instantly.There is no going back once the blot on the landscape is there