A stroll around Hudec's Shanghai

While Shanghai's Pudong business district may be home to the city's most breathtaking examples of contemporary architecture, the city is also defined by a wealth of earlier Chinese and Western architectural styles that have made their architects household names.

From 19th century Shanghai shikumen to the turn of the 20th century British and French-style villas to the art deco mansions of the city's Xuhui district in the 1920s and '30s, these architectural tours de force of old have become living cultural symbols of the city.

During Spring Festival, I tried to catch as many of Shanghai's architectural sights as possible, and found out more about one architect in particular - the Hungarian-Slovak architect Laszlo Hudec, who designed some of the city's most notable landmarks between 1918 and 1940, including the Park Hotel, the Grand Theater, and the Normandie Apartments.