news feature At No 100, Xinye Lu, in Shanghai's downtown business district, site of the first Communist Congress, hangs two huge banners celebrating the 80th birthday of the founding of the Communist Party of China on July 1.

In the surrounding neighborhood an area of some 30,000 sq meter rises Xintiandi, which literally means 'a new world' in Chinese. Xintiandi is a trendy cultural and entertainment hub symbolic of the good life celebrated in capitalism. It is an urban renewal project, a joint venture between the Shanghai Municipal Government and Hong Kong entrepreneur Vincent Lo.

Xintiandi, says the developer, is where the past and future meets; a place where history was made some 80 years ago with the founding of the Chinese Communist Party that has brought the new China.