Across the Suzhou Creek in the Hongkou District, the riverfront turns into the North Bund, which has been redeveloped as a transport hub centred on a passenger cruise terminal.

BBC: The regeneration of Shanghai��s Bund

Last year he rented a factory in the city's up-and-coming North Bund area, turned it into a hotel and decided this year to adopt the Super 8 brand for marketability.

FORBES

At the north end of the Bund, Shanghai's famous waterfront, the area around the original British consulate has been renovated.

ECONOMIST: Shanghai's history

"It's not cheap, but the location is good, " she says of the apartment in a high-rise building in a residential district north of the Shanghai Bund.

WSJ: Income-to-Housing Price Gap Narrows in China