WHO has the best understanding of Pudong's transportation and geography? Who best knows how Pudong has changed year by year during the past decade?

In Shanghai, 75-year-old Shen Ruqun is among the best candidates. He has witnessed and carefully recorded the transformation of Pudong since 1992.

"Before I retired from the Pudong Public Transportation Company. I took a bus from Nanhui to what is now Lujiazui every day. Along the way, I was shocked by the energetic, fabulous construction taking place in Pudong after April 1990, when former Premier Li Peng first announced the start of the development of Pudong," said Shen.

In 1991, Shen retired and the former air force instructor wanted to do something for the Party and the government. Since the government had set the development of Pudong as its focus for the ensuing decades, Shen came up with the idea of drawing a map of Pudong - with some 20years of military experience, he well knows the importance of maps.

"Yet at that time Pudong was like a young lady hidden in a secret room - unknown to the public. A map seemed to be the best way to introduce her," Shen said, using a sentence from an ancient poem.

So four retired soldiers, Shen, Sun Hanping, Wang Linchu and Xu Yunzhou, started to make a Pudong map by themselves.

The information collection process for the first map was not easy in 1992. During the day, the four old people would walk along every street of Pudong, visiting and recording every unit, company and building. At night, the four gathered to pool their data and add the information to the raw map.

"The first map was actually not to scale, because it was measured by our steps. So some streets seemed narrower than their actual size," said Shen with a smile.

For the first map, Shen and his peers collect some 35,000 yuan (US$4,237) to cover the expense of printing in July 1993. Since it had not been approved by the map management authority, it could not be sold, but only given away.

"We didn't ask for the financial support from the government, because we knew the money in the mayor's pockets was limited, but the money in the pockets of the market was endless," said Shen, adding that he really understands the role of the market economy.

They first went to the Lujiazui Development (Group) Co Ltd, that had already drawn up plans for the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone and just needed publicity to promote the zone.

"They paid us about 20,000 yuan (US$2,421) for 8,000 copies of a map with the zone shown clearly on it. We then contacted every company and unit in this area, lobbying them to pay to publish their data on the back of the map."

Shen's talent for fund-raising meant the small group had a satisfactory budget and the resulting map gained wide popularity in the market. For the second version, Shen entered into co-operation with the China Map Society, to publish an official Pudong map.

Maps reflect change

After the success of the first map, Shen's group found it impossible to stop their cartographic exploration of Pudong, because the rate of change in the wondrous area was so huge.

"Anyone using the map would still find themselves getting lost in Pudong after a few weeks, so we had to update it regularly," said Shen.

When the 11 maps (from 1993 to 2004) are displayed together, the enormity of the change is truly amazing - reflecting the incredible changes in Pudong over recent years.

"In the early versions of the map, there are very few streets or tall buildings. We had to add graphics of the buildings and public transportation instructions on the map to fill in the empty spaces, but now there is no room for such information," said Shen.

Over the past 15 years, the designers and constructors have been like inspired painters, adding ever more content to the area. The map has become larger and more colourful, and contains far more information than earlier versions.

The unfinished Shiji Dadao used to be marked with broken lines, which are now filled. Yanggao Lu - with a width of 100 metres and a 20-metre green belt in the middle - has been constructed. Another two cross-river tunnels have been finished, following the Yan'an Donglu tunnel, and three bridges over the Huangpu River have been opened. Metro Line II has been extended to the Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park and the Maglev Line built, connecting Pudong International Airport with the Metro Line.

Following the emergence of Lujiazui, the Jinqiao Export and Processing Zone has been identified on the map in detail since 1996, after the first group of multinational companies - including Intel, Siemens and Hitachi - located there.

Later, the Huamu Administrative and Culture Centre was built up around Century Park.

Pudong's fourth major component - Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park in the south - has been emphasized on the map since 2001. "This area used to take up the space of a business card - now its size is 20 times greater," said Shen.

It's interesting that all the east-west roads in Zhangjiang are named after Chinese scientists and the north-south roads are named after foreign ones.

In 2001, the Pudong government and enterprises located in the various business areas travelled to the US and Canada to recruit talents. About 1,000 bilingual copies of the maps were sent out immediately.

Meanwhile, the markings on the maps have become more diverse, with more red crosses to identify hospitals, large areas of green to indicate parks, as well as logos for schools, sports centres, residential areas and museums.

The function of the map has changed, with the area now hosting large numbers of residents and receiving many thousands of visitors each year, drawn to famous scenic spots such as the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Jinmao Tower, the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and Century Park.

Originally, the map was called "Map of Shanghai Pudong New Area", but it now bears the title "Transportation and Travel Map of Pudong New Area".

In addition, since 2001 the map has been released in a bilingual version because so many foreign tourists, expatriates and overseas Chinese have come to work, live and travel Pudong.

Cover story

The cover of each map also tells a story about Pudong. On the cover of the 1998 version of the map is the Lujiazui Central Green Land - known as the most expensive piece of greenland in the world, since it cost 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) in relocation and construction expenses.

"The 100,000-square-metre park used to be a residential area, crowded with some 3,000 families and 60 enterprises. They were packed together so tightly people couldn't even stretch out their arms," said Shen.

Residents resisted moving because they suspected the proposal to construct an area of green land might be a lie. Criticism also came from high-level officials, terrified by the huge investment required to build the park.

"Now we can see the planning for this park among the highrises has been great." Shen said.

"The designer made the artificial lake as a miniature replica of Pudong, and the roads around the lake create the shape of the city's flower - the magnolia," said Shen showing the map.

The cover of the 2001 version Pudong map is another testament to investors' confidence in Pudong. In May 2000, HSBC moved its China Headquarters from Hong Kong to Pudong and bought the naming right of the building from the office building developer.

The cover of the 2003 version Pudong map gives an impression of the soaring real estate market in the area. The picture shows the high-quality residential area "Xiangmei Park", named after the Chinese name of Anna C. Chennault.

This week, Shen will present his 12th map of Pudong. This one has a special meaning: commemorating the 15th anniversary of the Pudong New Area.

In the early 1990s, when Shen gave lessons for young bus drivers on the future of Pudong, in the company's school, they were very dubious and laughed about the plan - "The plans are just drawings on paper, such schemes seldom come to be realized".

"What has happened in Pudong and what has been recorded on my 12 maps shows such skeptics they are wrong. The development of this area has been tremendous and I believe the future will be even more astounding, especially up to 2010 when the World Expo will be held in Shanghai," said Shen.