Practical5 min read

Shanghai's Blind-Box Craze Finds Its Tallest Stage

From 31 August to 1 November, Pop Mart's travelling City Park carnival moves inside the Oriental Pearl Tower — a Labubu-sized slice of contemporary Chinese leisure, parked inside the city's most photographed landmark. Here is how to fold it into a visit.

By Shanghai Welcome · August 31, 2026

The most-photographed tower now has a toy floor

From 31 August through 1 November 2026, the POP LAND City Park Carnival Tour (泡泡玛特城市乐园嘉年华巡展) sets up inside the Oriental Pearl Tower (东方明珠塔), at 1 Century Avenue in Lujiazui. It runs daily, 10:00 to 21:00, on the tower's lower levels around the Blissful Restaurant (欢乐餐厅) floor — so you can meet the toys without climbing to the sphere.

The cast is Pop Mart's headline family: THE MONSTERS, with Labubu front and centre, plus the rest of the designer-toy roster that has turned blind boxes into a genuine global hobby. Tickets are sold through the Oriental Pearl Tower's own channels and the Baiyulan (白玉兰) livestream, in three flavours: a single ticket at ¥159 bundled with the Titan Space Pearl Star ship ride (钛空·明珠星舰游乐), a ¥368 double ticket with the Blissful Restaurant buffet, and a ¥99 single ticket that also admits the Shanghai History Exhibition Hall (上海城市历史发展陈列馆) on the tower's ground level.

•31 Aug – 1 Nov 2026, daily 10:00–21:00
•Inside the Oriental Pearl Tower, Lujiazui
•Tickets ¥99–¥368 via the tower's official channels

Why a toy carnival is worth a traveller's time

Labubu is no longer a niche collectible. The elf-eared figure has become a quiet ambassador for a side of China that guidebooks rarely capture: a design-led, slightly mischievous leisure culture built on small, joyful objects. Seeing it staged at the Oriental Pearl Tower — the very symbol of Shanghai's 1990s leap into the future — is its own small commentary on how the city spends its weekends now.

For an international visitor, this is the rare attraction where you are watching a live cultural moment rather than a preserved one. The queues, the unboxing rituals, the crowds photographing a vinyl figure the size of a child — it is contemporary Shanghai in miniature, and it is more fun than it sounds.

•Labubu as a window into modern Chinese leisure
•A live cultural moment, not a museum piece
•Easy to reach, easy to leave

How to actually go

The tower sits in Lujiazui, Pudong, a short walk from Lujiazui metro station on Line 2 — the same line that runs to both airports and to People's Square, so it slots neatly into almost any route across the city. Because the carnival lives on the lower floors, you can pair it with a trip up to an observation deck or a walk through the nearby riverside parks in the same visit.

Two practical notes. First, the carnival runs for more than two months, so there is no pressure to sprint on day one — a weekday morning is the calmer window. Second, the ¥99 ticket that includes the Shanghai History Exhibition Hall is the thriftier way in if you mainly want the tower experience rather than the buffet; the hall downstairs is a gentle, air-conditioned primer on how this corner of the river became a skyline.

•Lujiazui Station, Line 2 — connects both airports
•Runs to 1 Nov, so no need to rush
•¥99 combo includes the tower's history hall

Make a half-day of the Pudong waterfront

The Oriental Pearl Tower is the obvious anchor of a Lujiazui wander, but the district rewards a slower loop: the riverside promenades, the cluster of towers, and the ferry across to the Bund when the light turns gold. The carnival is a good excuse to cross the river and see the modern city from both banks.

For visitors who would rather not map the metro themselves: a private, English-speaking guide folds the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Lujiazui skyline and the riverside icons into one relaxed, all-inclusive half-day — admissions and logistics handled, so you simply show up, ride the carnival, and look up.

Explore Shanghai Modern & Future Tour →

Our planning note

Shanghai has no shortage of serious museums and serious skylines. What the Pop Mart carnival captures is the city's lighter instinct — the one that queues happily for a tiny monster and calls it a good afternoon. Build it into a Lujiazui day, go on a quiet morning, and you will have seen something the brochures leave out.

Practical6 min readFor Six Weeks This Autumn, Shanghai Is a City-Sized StageThe 25th China Shanghai International Arts Festival opens on 17 October 2026 and runs through late November, and a good share of it is free and outdoors — open-air jazz at Qiantan, international dance on the city's stages, and pop-up performances along the riverbanks. Here is how to fold the best of it into an autumn visit.Practical5 min readYu Garden Just Put a Stage on Its Most Famous BridgeFor the first time in its history, the Nine-Zigzag Bridge in Yu Garden has a stage floating on the water. It is the quietest, loveliest reason to visit Shanghai's old town this autumn — and it is free to wander into.Practical6 min readFor Eight Days, Saudi Arabia Sets Up Shop Beneath the Pearl Tower — Free of ChargeA 1,000-square-metre slice of Saudi Arabia has landed at the foot of the Oriental Pearl Tower — oasis walks, dates and cardamom coffee, oud music, and a quiet invitation to plan the trip after. It is free, it is drop-in, and it is only here until November 15.Practical6 min readA Century-Old Shanghai Shipyard Reopened This Week — and the Riverside Is the ArtOn November 2, a former Shanghai shipyard on the Yangpu riverfront opened its doors as MEET178 — ByteDance's new riverside center. Behind the office tower, every public space is free to wander: a red-brick hall built from the old workshops, a rusted shipway square, and a riverside park where the Pudong skyline looks back at you. It is the city's industrial past, handed over to the public.Practical5 min readShanghai's Nanjing Road Just Became a 10-Day Digital PlaygroundFrom 3 to 15 August, Shanghai's most famous shopping street reinvents itself as the G-POWER digital carnival — esports on a giant LED stage, anime IPs you can hug, and an AR stamp trail linking the Bund, Yu Garden and Nanjing Road. Here is how to play it like a local.Practical6 min readShanghai Turns Into a Screen: Jing'an's Autumn of Sound, Light and Robot CoffeeFrom late September, central Jing'an becomes the stage for the 2026 International Audiovisual Arts Carnival — light parks, AR fireworks, open-air symphonies and robot-made coffee, all free and spread across Nanjing West Road and Suzhou Creek. Here is how to wander it like you live there.

Plan with us

Turn this guide into your Shanghai trip

Tell us your dates and what you would like to see. A Shanghai Welcome travel butler will reply with ideas and a private itinerary — no obligation.

Want this as your own journey?

Build a private itinerary around the places and experiences that interest you.

Create Your Trip