There had been a lot of efforts to beautify the city not long before I was in Shanghai. In all of these photos, note the recently transplanted trees, with props to hold them up. In all but the first, there was also what appeared to be recently installed shrubbery.
Recently transplanted trees with protective rope wrapped around their trunks.
Even elevated highways could have shrubbery along their sides, in rectangular planters.
For equivalent photos taken in 2005, see Shanghai: Beautification and Greenery
Copyright © 2005, Edwin E. Moïse. Revised June 18, 2005.