- published: 19 May 2015
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The Shanghai Metro is the urban rapid transit system of China's largest city, Shanghai. The system incorporates both subway (地铁) and light rail (轻轨) lines. It opened in 1995, making Shanghai the third city in Mainland China, after Beijing and Tianjin, to have a rapid transit system. Since then, the Shanghai Metro has become one of the fastest-growing rapid transit systems in the world.
As of 2011, there are eleven metro lines (excluding the Shanghai Maglev Train), 278 stations and over 434 kilometres (270 mi) of tracks in operation, the longest network in the world. The Shanghai Metro delivered 2.101 billion rides in 2011, the fifth busiest in the world. It set a daily ridership record of 7.548 million on October 22, 2010. The system continues to grow, with new lines and extensions of old lines currently under construction.
There are two types of interchange stations: physical interchange and virtual interchange stations. In a physical interchange station, passengers can transfer between subway lines without exiting a fare zone. In a virtual interchange station, however, passengers have to exit and re-enter fare zones as they transfer from one subway line to another. In order to receive a discounted fare, passengers must use a Shanghai public transport card (SPTC) instead of Single-Ride tickets.
Shanghai is the largest city by population of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the largest city proper by population in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities of the PRC, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010. It is a global city, with influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology, and transport. It is a major financial center and the busiest container port in the world.
Located in the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China, Shanghai sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the middle portion of the Chinese coast. The municipality borders Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces to the west, and is bounded to the east by the East China Sea.
Once a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to European recognition of its favorable port location and economic potential. The city was one of several opened to foreign trade following the British victory over China in the first opium war and the subsequent 1842 Treaty of Nanking which allowed the establishment of the Shanghai International Settlement. The city then flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became the undisputed financial hub of the Asia Pacific in the 1930s. However, with the Communist Party takeover of the mainland in 1949, the city's international influence declined. In the 1990s, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance and foreign investment to the city.