Shanghai Business Travel Guide

A pre-booked car or taxi is easiest: about 40–60 minutes to Lujiazui and 50–75 minutes to Jing’an or the Bund, depending on traffic. The Maglev reaches Longyang Road in about 8 minutes, but you’ll still need a taxi or Metro from there, so it saves less time than it seems.

Metro Line 2 runs from Pudong Airport to Lujiazui and Nanjing West Road but takes over an hour. Hongqiao Airport, on the west side, is much closer to the center and sits beside Hongqiao Railway Station, the hub for high-speed trains to Suzhou, Hangzhou and Beijing.

Lujiazui, the Pudong skyline facing the Bund, is the financial district: banks, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Tower, with international hotels linked to office towers. It’s efficient but quiet after hours.

Jing’an, around Nanjing West Road, hosts many multinationals’ regional headquarters, plus walkable streets and restaurants. The Bund offers historic hotels such as the art deco Peace Hotel. For the National Exhibition and Convention Center or high-speed rail day trips, stay in the Hongqiao business district.

The Metro is extensive, clean and signposted in English. Taxis and DiDi are inexpensive, and DiDi works in English through Alipay. Carry addresses written in Chinese, since many drivers can’t read English ones.

Crossing the Huangpu River at rush hour can take 30 minutes or more, so group meetings by side of the river. Allow extra time for visitor registration in office towers.

Relationships (guanxi) and face shape business. Exchange business cards with both hands, Chinese side (in simplified characters) facing your counterpart, and study the card before putting it away. Use titles and surnames, and let the most senior person enter and speak first.

Banquets matter. The host orders and seats guests by rank; expect several toasts, and return them, though tea or a soft drink is fine instead of baijiu. Avoid political topics, don’t give clocks, and present modest, quality gifts with both hands. Agreements often take several meetings, and a signed contract may still open further negotiation.

Avoid Chinese New Year (Spring Festival), when much of the country stops for a week or more and travel peaks; in 2027 it falls in early February. Golden Week (October 1–7) and the Labor Day holiday in early May also close offices and fill trains and hotels.

Hotels near Hongqiao fill during the China International Import Expo in November and the Shanghai auto show in April of odd-numbered years, and the Canton Fair in Guangzhou (April and October) draws buyers through Shanghai too. Summers are hot and humid, with typhoons possible from July to September.

Set up your phone and payments before you leave Los Angeles; fixing them on arrival is harder.