Shanghai Lonely Planet's No. 1 'city on the rise'

The folks over at Lonely Planet emailed to let us know that our fair city has been named the number one "City on the Rise" for travellers in 2006, according to their new Bluelist book. Bluelist, which is indeed blue, covers 2006 and 2007, so we'll still be on the rise heading into the Olympics. Here's how they describe the Bluelist:

The Lonely Planet Bluelist captures the world's hottest trends, destinations, journeys and experiences for the year ahead.

Drawing on the knowledge, passion and miles travelled by the Lonely Planet community of authors, staff and travellers, and covering every country in the world, this first edition is a selection of 618 of the best places to go and things to do in the world right now.

And here is what the 2006-2007 Bluelist says about Shanghai:

Since market restrictions were lifted, sparkling Shanghai has positively bristled with hyper-driven cultural change, embracing the world of business and design and rewriting its own destiny: it's a sophisticated, inventive city with all eyes firmly fixed on the future. Shanghai still embodies fulltilt sensory overload, but whereas in the colonial era that meant visions of brothels and opium dens, today it's fine art, fine dining and contemporary urban living.

To all you sex tourists who just lost your lunch with that one, let us assure you: Shanghai is still teeming with brothels.

You can see more from the book and "create your own Bluelist" here.