A compelling account of the rebirth of China's greatest city. Earmarked by China's leaders to again become an international business hub, Shanghai, in less than a decade, has blossomed from a depressed industrial town, forgotten by the outside world, into a shimmering metropolis filled with glass skyscrapers, modern factories, and thumping discotheques. Foreign investors are once again flocking to Shanghai, which is commonly seen as an up-and-coming rival to New York, Tokyo, and Hong Kong as the world's most important financial centers. But is it?

Is Shanghai, the capitalist Mecca of the Far East in the 1920s, re-emerging as the New York of Asia? The Whore of the Orient? The stomping ground of China's artistic elite? China's version of Silicon Valley? A tinderbox of social unrest as state-owned companies lay off workers by the hundreds of thousands?

Weaving insightful anecdotes with astute analysis, respected journalist Pamela Yatsko addresses these questions and many others to provide a vivid portrait of Shanghai, past and present. New Shanghai's lively narrative, culled from interviews with Shanghainese at all levels of society, explores key aspects of contemporary Shanghai -- from finance, foreign business and state enterprise reform, to vice, culture and social change. New Shanghai takes us into the world of shady Chinese stock speculators, prosperous yuppies, distraught laid-off workers, determined foreign executives and alluring bar girls, giving texture to the tumult that has rocked urban China. By painting pictures of Shanghai today, New Shanghai offers readers a better understanding of Shanghai and China tomorrow.