Shanghai is a city that never sleeps and for many, as thousands of neon lights flicker, shimmer and dazzle, night downtown becomes a brilliantly colored fairytale. The Bund is a prime example of Shanghai by night as both sides of the Huangpu River come to life with lighting showcasing the extraordinary range of architectural styles of buildings old and modern.

"When I was about 6, I remember it was a big occasion to go to the Bund to see the lights on the National Day," recalled You Jia, a 30-something accountant working at an IT company.

"As a little girl, I was amazed at the magnificence of the illuminated buildings. The structures were accentuated by the lighting. It seemed to me that the lights injected a new vigor into the grand buildings that had been standing there for more than 50 years." 

The lights along the Bund were not turned on every night, so on National Day it was a special event and people from all over the city flocked there. "Those childhood events had a deep impression on me. I felt proud to be a Shanghainese. The Bund, especially at night, became a Shanghai hallmark and I felt I belonged here. I love to show it off to friends from all over the world whenever they come here," she said.

An early start

Display lighting from the West arrived in Shanghai in the early 1900s after the city opened as a commercial port to the outside world in 1843. "They were first used in advertising signs outside the buildings on Nanjing Road, imitating the advertising styles in big Western cities," said Tao Zhen, a designer and assistant director from the Shanghai Landscape Lighting Monitoring Center.

In 1926, the first advertising sign using neon lights appeared in the window of the Edward Evans and Sons Ltd bookstore on Nanjing Road East. The neon lights formed the shape of a typewriter with the English brand name Royal.

Since then the lights of Shanghai have become part of its trademark though during wartime the lights were darkened and remained that way until 1989.

"Street neon lighting returned to Shanghai in the early 1990s with advertising signs outside the buildings on Nanjing Road East and they were aimed at creating a prosperous atmosphere for those streets around there where there were so many department stores and restaurants," Tao told the Global Times.

In the early 1990s when there were not as many shopping malls as today, taking a stroll on the Nanjing Road was an eye feast for Shanghainese and for tourists, You recalled. She believed that without the neon lighting, the streets would have looked bleak and uninviting. "For small children the novel designs of the neon lights itself were fascinating."

As the lighting proved popular in the 1990s, the city government decided to illuminate some of the older buildings on the Bund, Tao said. His office on the 32nd floor of the Shanghai Guangming Building has an inspiring view of the Bund. 

From a designer's point of view, Tao said commercial areas like Nanjing Road were given a happy feel with the twinkling style of neon lighting. "But this style of lighting does not suit the Bund. To create an impressive night view of those old buildings, we used flood lights to illuminate the exteriors alongside accent spotlights that highlight architectural details." 

The combination of these lighting techniques gives observers a good view of the form and surface of the buildings. The lighting plans for these were designed to precisely suit each building. And so were the lighting designs for structures in the City God Temple area.

For example, with the traditional Chinese architectural designs in the Yuyuan Garden, the key was to focus on the silhouettes of the curves of the cornices at the buildings' edges. "We used small lights to bring out the curves to accentuate the pleasing simplicity and elegance of traditional Chinese buildings," Tao said.

Good lighting enhances an onlooker's perception of a building. There is a very different atmosphere from viewing a building by day to when it is professionally lit at night.

Government funding

Thomas Edison invented the first reliable and long-lasting incandescent electric light in 1879 and electric light bulbs arrived in Shanghai the same year. The first neon light was brought to Shanghai in 1921. Early electric lighting was intended either for home, factory or office use or for advertising hoardings.

"In the 1990s, when the Shanghai government wanted to renovate the lighting for the buildings on the Bund, it contributed about two thirds of the total cost of the lighting design, the construction work and electricity while the rest was covered by businesses. The designers were recruited from advertising companies or related industries," Tao told the Global Times.

When the 2001 APEC meeting took place in Shanghai, there was a major upgrade for the city lighting schemes with the involvement of state-of-the-art equipment from overseas and professional designers.

"The government still led the way, but it invited the companies whose buildings were involved in the lighting to contribute and it sought new professional lighting designs. It was good timing because people were able to appreciate the beauty created by the lighting, and were thus willing to have money spent on this," Tao said.

The lighting market flourished as more foreign companies came to Shanghai, bringing new products and designers. "In the meantime universities in Shanghai began to offer courses in this area to encourage more young people to enter the industry," Tao told the Global Times.

It was then that light-emitting diodes (LEDs) arrived here bringing long-life bulbs and higher energy efficiency compared to incandescent light bulbs which convert electricity into more heat than light.

The LED bulbs gradually replaced neon lights in advertising hoardings and for the popular decorative street lighting.

At the end of 2008, the last 24 neon arched billboards that had been a showy centerpiece on Huaihai Road Middle for 20 years were dismantled. Nowadays, it is really difficult to find neon lights in the city.

"From 2004 LED bulbs began to replace the neon lights as street lights or building floodlights. Half of the light bulbs used for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai were LED," Tao said.

LED lighting shone throughout the Shanghai Expo. The LED Blue Earth showed at the opening ceremony was an unforgettable scene for many.

The organizer also displayed the largest LED screen in the world, 280 meters long and 32 meters high. The China Pavilion, one of the most popular attractions, was illuminated with 23,000 sparkling LED lights.

LED drawbacks

LED lights have longer life expectancy and higher efficiency. They are gradually replacing other electric light bulbs. The National Development and Reform Commission announced on its official website that it will ban the sale and import of incandescent bulbs rated above 15 watts by October 2016, except those intended for specialist medical or scientific research purposes.

However, there are still many problems with LED lighting, and these problems have limited their use in the city, Tao said. Unlike traditional light bulbs like neon or incandescent bulbs, LED lights are much more expensive because of their complex structure and production process.

For example, an incandescent 25 watt bulb costs 4 yuan ($0.64) or less, while an equivalent LED bulb sells for about 20 yuan. "Generally speaking, the prices of LED bulbs are higher, though I cannot tell exactly how much higher as there are several different products involved," Tao said.

There is another problem. Liang Shaoqiang is a senior technical consultant for the Office of Lighting Management in Huangpu district and he told the Global Times: "The complexity of LEDs leads to another disadvantage. They don't have the life expectancy that manufacturers claim."

There are also some health concerns although there is no evidence to date that blue light hazard sometimes reported has affected human eyes.

Liang believes incandescent bulbs have some advantages - they are cheap, simple, and can deliver vivid colors if needed but it is important to use the right lights for the right purposes.

"Part of my job is checking if lights are being used improperly for advertising or illuminating buildings," Liang said. "The angle of the projection of the light and the brightness have to be looked at carefully when businesses send their proposals to us."

He said that they tried to achieve the best effects for businesses or buildings without disturbing residents living nearby. "It is always better to consider the residents before starting new lighting schemes - it can be too late to modify if the residents start complaining after the scheme has been completed."