Geographic Location

Shanghai is situated at 31°14’north latitude and 121°29’east longitude, right on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean and holding the east costal line of the Asian Continent. Bordering on Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces on the west, Shanghai is washed by the East China Sea on the east and Hangzhou Bay on the south. North of the city, the Yangtze River pours into the East China Sea. It also assumes the central location along China’s coastal line. Thanks to its advantageous graphic location, Shanghai has become an excellent sea and river port, Boasting easy accesses to a vast hinterland.

Climate

With a pleasant northern subtropical maritime monsoon climate, Shanghai enjoys four distinct seasons’ generous sunshine and abundant rainfall. Its spring and autumn are relatively short compared with the summer and winter. In 2013, the average annual temperature was 17.6 degrees Celsius. The city had a total sunshine time of 1,885.9 hours in 2013 and received a total precipitation of 1,173.4 millimeters. More than 60% of the rainfall came during the May-September flood season.

Land Area  

Shanghai covered an area of only 636.18 square Kilometers in 1949.At the end of 2013; the city had a total area of 6,340.5 square kilometers, 0.06% of China’s total territory. The city has three islands----Chongming ,Changxing and Hengsha----under its administration and Chongming Island is the third largest island in China.    

Water Resources

Most of the rivers, including the Suzhou Creek, Chuanyang River and Dianpu River are tributaries of the Huangpu River.Winding through the downtown area of the city, the ice-free Huangpu River is the main waterway in the Shanghai area. The city’s largest lake is Dianshan Lake.

Topographic Features

Except for a few hills lying in the southwest corner, most parts of the Shanghai area belong to the alluvial plain of the Yangtze River Delta region. The average sea-level elevation is about 4 meters. The land slopes slightly downward east to west. The highest point within Shanghai is Dajin Hill which has a sea-level elevation of 103.4 meters.

Administrative Divisions

In 1949, Shanghai was divided into 20 urban districts and 10 suburban districts. After multiple adjustments, Shanghai had 16 districts and one county at the end of 2013.There were 108 towns, two townships, 98 sub-district committees,4,024 neighborhood committees and 1,610 villagers ‘committees in the city.