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Walking along an old cobblestone road in Shanghai as the rhythmic chants of vendors and rattle of pushcarts echoes all around, time rolls back a century. This time-travel experience is courtesy of the Shanghai Museum of Urban Development History, which offers a virtual experience spanning the 400-year history of the city. Opened in May of last year, the museum collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets Shanghai's progress. Its location inside the cloud-piercing Oriental Pearl Broadcasting and TV Tower, guarantees that the museum will be a prime tourist destination , says Will Ma, a sales executive at the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Broadcasting & TV Tower Co. Ltd. As a history museum, it focuses on artifacts from different periods during the city's development and roles that local people have played on the national stage. Through exhibits, miniature replicas, lifelike waxworks, and the recreation of everyday life, the museum reflects the ways in which city folk have shaped and reacted to their environment. The 10,000-square-meter museum includes four sections, the first of which relates to the story of Shanghai's earliest days, illustrated through traditional commerce like bean curd stalls and bamboo shops. In the next section, the boundary stone of the International Settlement stands as witness to Shanghai's concession days. Multimedia shows allow visitors to relive one day in a "shikumen" (stone gate) home, a classic Shanghai architectural style. Pick up the telephone to hear the sonorous voice of Zhou Xuan, the most celebrated songbird film star in China's film history, as well as nostalgic old school songs. The third section accents the glamorous side of old Shanghai, the golden days of the Great World Entertainment Center, the red-light district along Fuzhou Road, and teahouses where underworld figures settled disputes. The final section is a repository of multinational architecture, displaying miniature replicas of Concession-era villas, including the famous Hardoon Park, a French style garden. A new section featuring the development of Shanghai's transportation was opened to the public during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday. After immersing yourself in the past, check out the future with a bird's-eye view of the city, 350 meters above from the bustling streets. The Oriental Pearl Tower is the world's third-tallest TV tower, after the 553-metre CN Tower in Toronto and the 535-metre Moscow TV tower. It has eight globes, lined up vertically in a design that refers to a Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) poem that compares the sounds played on a plucked instrument to "a string of pearls dropping onto a jade plate." The design of the project won the Architectural Creation Award from the Chinese National Society of Architecture and the First Award of Distinguished Design in Shanghai.. The 20-room Space Hotel is located in the five small balls between two large globes, 140 to 230 metres above the ground, which gives guests the feeling of being in a spaceship. At the top of the tower is a 110-meter transmitting beacon, the longest of its kind in the world. The beacon is able to transmit nine TV programs and 10 FM broadcasting programs to Shanghai and neighboring provinces within a radius of 80 kilometers. A trip to the tower ends with a meal 267-meters above the ground. The candlelit revolving restaurant is the highest in Asia. Fire-control restrictions prohibit a kitchen, so food is cooked in ground floor kitchens and delivered by high-speed elevator. Opening time: 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Admission: 50 yuan (entrance fee for the TV tower), 35 yuan (museum) Address: 1 Century Blvd. Tel: 5879-8888 How to get there: Metro Line 2