The Bund will be bathed in blue and yellow lights and 10 "theme" streets - featuring traditional culture or food, for example - will be promoted as city fathers continue to reshape Shanghai into an international metropolis that tourists will want to visit as much as New York or Tokyo.

This week, the blue and yellow lights in street lamps that line 1,200 meters along the Bund's flood-prevention wall will start brightening the night sky, said officials from the Shanghai Public Sanitation Bureau, which is responsible for city beautification.

Also, 50 more office buildings around the Bund will have night lighting, bringing the total to 78, bureau officials said.

"Controlled by a computer system, the 'light performances' will create a wonderful night scene in downtown Shanghai," said bureau official Wang Yiyong.

Meanwhile, the bureau is asking the public to nominate 12 streets well-traveled by tourists that feature food, movies, plants or Chinese culture. "Before the end of this year, 10 will be selected as symbols of Shanghai's street scenes," said Zhao Lei, the bureau official heading the project.

The official said one candidate is a 1,200-meter stretch of Jiangchuan Road in Minhang District that is known as "Chinese Camphor Tree Street" because there are 300 camphor trees on each side of the street.

(Eastday.com.cn 05/30/2001)