Shanghai diaries

The production team visited historical sites, featured people who witnessed the city's growth and sought data from over 60 overseas archives and libraries, including the British Library, the National Portrait Gallery in the United Kingdom and Yale University in the United States.

"We desire to make Shanghai better understood, along with the goal of reviving its history," says producer Han Yun.

"Why is the city the birth place of the Communist Party of China? How did it combine the domestic and international cultures? These questions will be answered by the documentary," she says.

The city's openness is rooted in its history, and its evolution has been shaped by education, finance and science, she adds.

Some stories like the expansion of foreign concessions in Shanghai are illustrated via sand paintings by Chinese painter Gao Jie.