Jay Pridmore's architectural survey of Shanghai unfolds like the lotus on the Westin Bund Center's crown. Beginning at the Bund in the city's center, the book meanders across the Huangpu River to the Pudong financial district, into the old downtown Puxi, and out to the sprawling suburbs. In the opening pages, Pridmore admires the centerpiece of the Pudong skyline, the iconic, retro-futuristic Oriental Pearl Television Tower. Subsequent chapters highlight China's penchant for ornamentation: Adrian Smith's Jin Mao Tower and Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden's China Insurance Building are both topped with decorative flourishes, and the four circular pods of Paul Andreu's Oriental Arts Center together form an open orchid. The mix of Shanghai's new developments and older structures is another example of the everyday encounters between tradition and innovation that have become emblematic of modern China. Even as the country leaps into the 21st century with brash modernist marvels, such as Brian Andrew's gateway arch at the Shanghai Securities Exchange and Ma Qingyun's Qingpu Community Island, vestiges of the old China remain.