If you want to know why Shanghai is such an intoxicating city, stand at the People’s Heroes monument, that cement sculpture of abstracted gun barrels pointing skyward. It can all be seen from here: the past, the future, the promise, the alchemy happening before your eyes. Weaving through the center of it all is the churning Huangpu River, packed with ships laden with construction materials. Along the western bank lies the historic heart of the city, the Bund, a beautiful boulevard lined with pla...