Still China's Second City.(Shanghai )(Brief Article)

Shanghai's first Congress Hall, where the Chinese Communist Party was born 80 years ago, now sits amid a capitalist wonderland of upscale restaurants and bars--a $150 million property development that includes everything from a Brazilian barbecue joint to a Jackie Chan-theme restaurant to a Cuban-cigar den. That's the kind of thing that causes most foreigners and many Chinese to hail the city as the future of the People's Republic: its apparent ease at moving beyond Communist orthodoxy to embrace the modern. "I moved here from Beijing because of the quality of life," says dancer and choreographer Jin Xing, who relocated last year with her dance company.

Yet while some see Shanghai as the most advanced, most livable of China's megalopolises, others sense that the city is developing into a Singapore-style "nanny state." The city suits those who already have Westernized tastes. Many of its partisans are expatriates, who find its European architecture and its ethos more comfortable than those in places like Guangzhou or Beijing. Tree-lined streets mimic residential blocks in Paris, while a glittering financial district has materialized across the river. "There is a kind of classic Western order to Shanghai. Glass windows suggest transparency, and doors open onto city streets," says Beijing-based consultant Lawrence Brahm, noting that in the capital's traditional hutong dwellings, "if you enter the front door and walk straight, you will literally hit a wall."

Businesses are attracted by Shanghai's almost brand- new infrastructure. Smoke-spewing factories have been banished to the outskirts. Pudong, the city's new development zone across the Huangpu River, is slowly filling out its skyline with more and more needlelike office towers. The city has made sure its bankers and businessmen are never too far from a Starbucks or a good ...