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Passionate traveler, writer and photographer Michael Clinton traveled to Shanghai in 2010. Here are his observations about the Asian super-city.

I had to see Shanghai with my own eyes. Actually, I had already seen it in the late 80’s, when a walk on the Bund (the local river embankment) resulted in a near riot, when more than a hundred locals surrounded us in a circle, just to take a look at their first Westerner. The shimmering skyscrapers of Pudong, across the Huangpu River, where the tallest building in China now stands, soon to be overtaken by a new building that will be the tallest in Asia, simply didn’t exist. In those days, Pudong was just marshland. The “Number One Department Store” was dark and gloomy with lots of empty cases, while today it overflows with merchandise. And as for restaurants, in those days, we often times didn’t know what we were eating.

That was 20 years ago!

Today, Shanghai will dazzle you with its futuristic view of the world, where hundreds of skyscrapers have been built in place of small neighborhoods within the city. And hundreds more are in the works. The transformation has been nothing short of breathtaking, perhaps one of the fastest development works in the history of the world!

What else will you see in today’s Shanghai? Mega stores that house Vuitton, Gucci, Prada..with.multiple locations around the city. GAP, Nike and Starbucks (there are 400 Starbucks in mainland China) are in neighborhoods around town. And then there are the two gigantic Apple stores, along with the Maserati, Mercedes and Audi dealerships. And if you’re hungry, Jean Georges has a restaurant here, and you can find any type of cuisine you crave, although I wasn’t able to find a Mexican restaurant (for you entrepreneurs out there).

And yes, there are still many small family owned boutiques and dumpling stores on the streets, but parts of Shanghai don’t even feel like China. However, One thing is for sure. This town feels rich! And with 200 million Chinese entering the middle class over the last 7 years, it will only get richer.

I had come to Shanghai in search of old Shanghai. To photograph the crumbling and disappearing neighborhoods for a new book called “Global Remains” (Glitterati, Fall 2011) My guide Annie, a local 20 something who watched Project Runway and Sex and the City on the internet (Chinese television would never show it), who has a page on the Chinese version of Facebook, which translates to “Happy” (facebook is outlawed), one of 100 million Chinese on the site, and who wears one of the hottest fashion trends….UGGs, or pronounced here as three letters U.G.G., was as frustrated as I became, as we drove around the city looking for vanishing neighborhoods.

Aside from moving into the 21st century at warp speed, Shanghai went on steriods a few years ago, to prepare itself for the 2010 World Expo, which just ended after greeting 73 million visitors. This has been the main catalyst in the city’s remarkable evolution.

Over two days, we crisscrossed the city on leads of abandoned neighborhoods, and we did find some great subjects. But I soon realized that I had missed the real opportunity. Shanghai has already metamorphosized into a modern Asian city of 25 million. And while you can still see many lane houses, local housing tucked in alleyways off of the main streets, there is more of a feel of Hong Kong here, or Singapore. Vanishing Shanghai has already vanished.

While this town is several hundred years old, it is the 1920’s that put this place on the global map. It was then that the city lived up to its legendary status…home of glamour, spy rings, brothels and commerce. It was then that many of stunning art deco buildings (many along the Bund) were erected by the European businessmen, who came here to create the most Western destination in Asia. To walk along the Bund is to see the famous Peace Hotel, the Shanghai Club and the famous Customs House.

Today, those buildings are beautifully restored, housing offices, shopping complexes and restaurants. Here, you’ll find Armani, Cartier, the famous M restaurant, and now a Peninsula Hotel. Also here is the House of Roosevelt (yes, that Roosevelt), which is a wine bar, store and three restaurants, boasting the largest collection of wine in all of China (over 2,600 wines). In many ways, the Bund carries on its tradition as the center of the Universe. And to walk along its nearly one mile riverbank, on a modern expansive walkway with views of Pudong and the river says it all. Hello 21st. century. And by the way, Westerners are now a dime a dozen. No one even looks twice!

Like many big cities, Shanghai is a collection of neighborhoods…The Old City, the Bund, Pudong, Jingang, Xintandi and more. But I want to focus on two areas….People’s Square and the French Concession. And getting around is easy…a modern, sparkling clean metro system, along with plentiful and cheap taxis (think $3 for a 15 minute ride).

A microcosm of modern Shanghai, is the People’s Square, an area that was once the home of an in-town racetrack and is now the cultural center of the city. Here, in a massive and leafy park are walkways, fountains and flower gardens. along with the stunning Shanghai Museum, The Shanghai Grand Theatre, the Contemporary Art Museum, and the Shanghai Art Museum. All of this has been built within the past decade, a monument to urban planning gone right. And from here, it is a 20-30 minute walk down famous Nanjing Road to the Bund. Here is Shanghai’s daily life and a great place to people watch. Stylish young women in knee high boots (or UGGs), teenage boys who look like they could be in any mall in the U.S., and what would any major city be without street hawkers. Although here, people approach you and ask if you want “watches, iphone or ipad” Welcome to Shanghai.

The French Concession, Shanghai’s most charming neighborhood is where I stayed, as recommended by Han Feng, the Chinese designer, who returned here after 20 years in NYC to build her fashion and theatre costume business. This part of town was literally given to the French, when they first came here (the Americans and British got a designated area too), which is why it has the name it does, not to mention touches of Parisian life, like the leafy trees that fill the neighborhood of Paris, and are very evident here.

This part of town has charming streets, alleyways, shops, bistros and believe it or not, the highest concentration of art deco buildings anywhere in the world! This is where both Sun Yatsen and Mao Tse-Tung chose to live (what a surprise), and here is where you will find many embassies and consulates. Strolling theses streets can feel like you are in the sixth arrondisement of Paris and here is where you will see the charm of Shanghai that has not been torn down and rebuilt from the ground up.

The Shanghainese have mixed feelings about the rapid changes going on in their city. In one sense, it is making them prosperous and modern. On the other, the street life that gives a city it’s unique character is fading into the past. I guess all major cities go through this at one time or another, but is is making for a more homogeneous place. Shanghai today is more like Singapore, or Frankfurt, or even Houston.

The change was inevitable, as China marches forward to become the second most prosperous country in the world. Some say that it will surpass the U.S. in GDP by 2025.

China is on the move. It’s people are being educated and they cannot get enough of education and success and hard work. It is inspiring to see and to hear the locals talk about their opportunities and their drive to achieve it. There is no entitlement like what has creeped into our national psyche. And while the one child rule has lead to what many say is a spoiled class of young adults, they are all working hard to make it on their own.

If Shanghai is symptomatic of the new China, then look out. This is an economic tsunami that is going to continue to ripple across the globe.

It would seem that every American who can should come to China to see for themselves what is happening and perhaps to take a lesson. How do we reinvent ourselves to stay competitive and vibrant? What is happening in China right now is affecting all of us and our future.

At one point, I was strolling through the old market area of Shanghai (complete with a Starbucks), when Annie and I came across the oldest teahouse in Shanghai. I remember it from my trip here in the 80s. The whole area was subdued and drab and dotted with dumpling shops. Today, the old teahouse is restored, the crowds were buzzing with energy and off in the distance were towering skyscrapers. The old dumpling shop is still there, but it is now lined up with young, stylish Shanghainese who go there as a trendy destination. And while dumplings will always be a mainstay of the Chinese diet, something tells me that these same people would be dining at the new Mortons that night, or a sushi restaurant or at Barbarossa, a Moroccan style restaurant.

Welcome to the new China. Welcome to the future.