Following the establishment of international trading relations in the nineteenth century, Shanghai became a commercial and cultural centre of East Asia and home to a large number of European commercial offices and consulates. Examples of Shanghai’s Art Deco style – European building styles combined with Asian elements, characteristic of the city’s early-twentieth-century architecture, are strung along the Bund, Shanghai’s boulevard on the west bank of the Huangpu river. An ensemble of historic buildings, now called the Rockbund Project, reflects the diversity of the colonial architecture and forms the northern part of the Bund. By restoring the existing buildings and planning new ones, a team of architects is helping to revitalise the Rockbund Project, which will accommodate office complexes, hotels, retail and apartments.