When we visited in the first week of October, the weather was warm, so we walked on the shady side of the streets - nature's eco-friendly air-conditioning.

Here is another street in the old French Concession that has a stunning tree canopy. We were surprised at how many streets have such beautiful tall trees.

Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning province, has trees like this but I thought that Dalian was unique. I now know that I was wrong.

The trees are planted close together so that the tree canopies touch each other. The shade protects the sidewalks from the sun's hot rays.

Electricians climb tall bamboo ladders and stand on the tree branches. They must peer through the leaves to feed electrical cables from one electrical pole to the next.

These trees follow the banks of the Wusong River in the Shidayicun District.

Residents enjoy views of the river, trees and Shanghai's skyline. In the distance, you can see the Cloud 9 Shopping Mall, (the tall grey building).

This is a city planner's dream for downtown residential areas. There are low-rise buildings with mostly independent small businesses — not franchise outlets — and plenty of trees, shrubs and flowers. Pedestrians and bicyclists share the road with cars.

It would be easy to think this photo was taken in a small town, not in a giant city with a population of 25 million.

This residential street in the Jinshaxincun District has shrubs and flowers in planter boxes set in the middle of the road to discourage jaywalking. The trees are on the sidewalks on both sides of the street.

I was strolling along one of Shanghai's greenways when I came across a tall tree that had large green fruit. When I got back to my hotel, I asked the hotel clerks what they were. They said that it was grapefruit.

I did not expect to see a grapefruit tree among the hundreds of trees that are planted beside a downtown greenway.

Here is a nice mix of older and newer condo residential buildings.

All the effort that Shanghai puts into its roadside trees, shrubs, flowers and art makes every downtown street special.

Holland Marshall lives in Toronto, Canada. He worked in China for a year and he now visits China once or twice a year. In his opinion, the rapid improvements in Chinese cities make China a world leader in modern urban living.