Superstar city: A glimpse of the future (with a dash of the past) in scintillating Shanghai
Five AM, and it’s dark outside.
But here in the Yongfu Buddhist temple every surface is burnished and blazing with jewel-bright colour. The rhythmic chanting of a dozen shaven-headed monks swells the air and reverberates in the 13 ft-high golden Buddha looming above me, as if he, too, is greeting the day with a prayer.

 Here comes the future: Shanghai is China at its most forward-looking and modern
Such a spectacular reveille should be invigorating, but I emerge with a buzzing head and throbbing back, even as a young woman in our assemble faints.
Overwhelming as it is, the truly remarkable thing about the ceremony in Hangzhou, eastern China, is that it happens at all. Only 35 years ago, the previous temple on this site was demolished by the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution. The monks were sent for ‘re-education’.


Timeless tradition: Nor is the past ever far away in the modern China
It is hard to convey the chaotic, compelling energy of a place with 20 million – at the last count – inhabitants. And the pace is driven by one thing: money.
The ancient-style Mao jackets and bicycle-clip simplicity have disappeared under a welter of consumer choice. Giant street-amount plasma screens advertise high-end goods to fuel the insatiable appetite for more clothes, cars and everything.


 Green and glorious: The Amanfayun resort sits amid verdant tea plantations
I stay in one of the most peaceful areas: the Aman resort in the traditional village of Fayun. Newly opened 18 months ago, Amanfayun has 42 restored dwellings housing the place to stay and suites in a lush 35-acre estate. Resorts such as this have become destinations catering for the most demanding Chinese and Western tastes.

Travel Facts

A double room at Amanfayun (00 800 2255 2626, www.amanresorts.com), costs £475 a night.

Doubles at The PuLi Hotel and Spa (00 86 21 3203 9999, www.thepuli.com) cost from £459 a night

British Airways (0844 4930 787, www.ba.com) flies from Heathrow to Shanghai from £734 return.