Ruan Lingyu (1910-1935, born in Shanghai), was a famous actress and box-office star of the 1930s. Her best known works include Spring Dream of an Old Capital and The Goddess.

    Qian Xuesen (1911-2009, born in Shanghai), was a pioneer in Chinese aerospace technology and widely praised as the “father of China’s rocketry development, missile program and automation.” He was a world authority in the aeronautics, the founder of engineering cybernetics, and a leader in China’s applied mathematics and mechanics during much of the 20th century.

    Rong Yiren (1916-2005), an influential figure in China’s modern industrial and commercial circles, was widely known as the “red capitalist.” He had held the posts of vice-mayor of Shanghai and vice-president of the PRC. In 1979 when China’s reform and opening up was launched, he set up the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC), which was responsible for introducing Western investment into China, opening the first window to the outside world.

    Tsung-Dao Lee (born in 1926 in Shanghai) is a famous Chinese American physicist. He completed his PhD thesis when he was only 23 years old, which earned him the title of “prodigy.” By 1957 he had won the Nobel Prize in Physics. After that he received various international awards and honors.

    Chen Yifei (1946-2005), a world-famous Chinese oil painter, is focused primarily on creating oil paintings with Chinese motifs. His paintings, featuring tranquility and stillness, are realistic in style and imbued with a traditional Chinese aesthetic. His works have been exhibited in Washington D.C., New York and Tokyo and widely collected around the world. His painting The Wind of Mountain Village depicting Tibetan folk customs was auctioned for the highest price ever paid for a Chinese oil painting. He also achieved great success in other fields, including film, advertising, publishing and fashion design. He spent most of his life living in Shanghai.

    Yu Qiuyu (born in 1946) is a professor at the Shanghai Theater Academy, a famous scholar and writer. His prose works on cultural explorations have been widely adored by Chinese readers since the 1990s.

    Zhou Libo (born in 1967 in Shanghai) is one of the hottest Shanghainese comic stars today, and made his debut in his native Shanghai in 2006 and gained overnight fame for his talk show entitled “A Laugh about the Past 30 Years” and “A Laugh about Great Shanghai” aired at the end of 2008. He is thought to truly represent Shanghai culture in popular media.

    Yao Ming (born in 1980 in Shanghai) is the first Chinese basketball player to enter the NBA Draft. He was chosen as image representative for the 2010 Shanghai Expo. In 2002 he was elected as one of the ten figures in CCTV’s program named “Top Ten People Who Moved China.” In 2009 he bought his former club Shanghai Oriental Basketball Club and became the first Chinese basketball player who also owned his own team.

    Han Han (born in 1982 in Shanghai) is a professional rally driver, best-selling author and one of China’s most popular bloggers.

    Liu Xiang (born in 1983 in Shanghai) won the gold at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics for the 110 meter hurdle event, where he broke the Olympic record and tied the world record. Liu’s performance brought China its first men’s Olympic medal in the sprint hurdle race. In 2006 he set a new world record in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 12.88 seconds at the Super Grand Prix meet in Lausanne, breaking the previous record held for 13 years by Britain’s Colin Jackson.