SHANGHAI, Jan. 27, 2026 -- For decades, visiting Shanghai meant following a familiar set of stops: the Bund at sunset, a stroll through Yuyuan Garden, perhaps a first glimpse of the skyline from Pudong. Increasingly, though, the city wants travelers to move beyond the checklist — and to describe Shanghai in their own words.

That shift is on display in a citywide tourism guide competition launched last November, which invited participants to document how they experience Shanghai, from classic sightseeing routes to more personal, idiosyncratic discoveries. In less than two months, the contest drew more than 8,900 submissions, many of them shared widely online, with related videos and posts viewed hundreds of millions of times.

Rather than focusing solely on travel agencies and industry influencers, the competition opened its doors to the public, placing curated itineraries alongside accounts shaped by everyday experiences — neighborhood walks, food discoveries, and encounters that don't always appear in traditional guidebooks. Together, they offered a portrait of a city that is at once well known and still in the process of being rediscovered.

The timing is deliberate. As the Lunar New Year approaches, Shanghai has rolled out a dense calendar of events across the city, including thousands of cultural activities and performances, accompanied by seasonal promotions from attractions, hotels, guesthouses, and travel agencies. The aim is less about drawing visitors for a single landmark than about encouraging longer stays and repeat visits, particularly during one of China's busiest travel periods.

What emerges from these efforts is a broader recalibration of how the city presents itself to travelers, both from within China and abroad. By encouraging visitors to explore beyond established routes — and to share what they find — Shanghai is betting that personal stories can carry more weight than official narratives.

In doing so, the city is aligning itself with a wider shift in global travel, where tourists increasingly seek experiences that feel specific, lived-in, and worth retelling. For Shanghai, the hope is that these stories linger well beyond the trip itself, shaping how the city is remembered — and why travelers choose to return.