Hong Kong film auteur Wong Kar-wai’s TV debut Blossoms Shanghai aired its finale on Jan 9. Although ended more than a week ago, the fever of the TV series still lingers.  Posts about the drama alone have been read 4.3 billion times on China's micro-blogging platform Weibo. Boasting a stellar rating of 8.5 on Douban, a major Chinese media review platform, Blossoms Shanghai won mostly positive reviews from critics and audience.   The TV series set off a new upsurge in cultural tourism in Shanghai, with many citizens and tourists checking out the real-life locations of scenes depicted in the series. As of Jan 5, the search volume for Shanghai as a travel destination has increased by over 20 percent compared to last month's, with pre-orders for both private and group tours jumping by 75 percent and 30 percent, respectively, according to data from Chinese online travel platform Ctrip. Directed by Wong, an Oscar nominee who was born in Shanghai, the 30-episode show, six years in the making, is adapted from a 2012 novel of the same name written by Shanghai writer Jin Yucheng. Written in Shanghai dialect, the novel won the 9th Mao Dun Literature Prize, one of China's highest literary honors, in 2015. John Balcom, the translator of its English version, said the novel "could almost be called a Shanghai encyclopedia." The series takes audience back to Shanghai in the early 1990s, following the rise of Ah Bao, an ambitious young man who seizes the opportunities of the early stock market and transforms into a self-made millionaire, expanding his business to foreign trade. Wong purchased the adaptation copyright of the novel around a decade ago, and had spent three years on shooting the TV series, also Wong's first directorial television project, making it one of the most anticipated works for his fans. Through Wong's lens,the series is a testament to the cultural richness of Shanghai — bustling, vibrant, and captivating. The drama features some of the city's landmark sites from the era, ranging from the flamboyant and lively Huanghe Road, where businesspeople from all over the country gather, to the Fairmont Peace Hotel, which showcases Shanghai's charm and international flair. Due to its distinctive style, many viewers saw shades of Wong's previous Hong Kong movies like In the Mood for Love and Days of Being Wild in the show, though the keywords for the last one are "retro," "the 1990s," and "Shanghai city."  The unique visual and auditory language Wong used, as well as memorable music and characters that linger long in the memory stays true to the novel's distinctive local flavor, especially through a cast that were all born or raised in Shanghai. Diving into the bustles of Shanghai in 1990s The essence of the city has been captured well in Blossom Shanghai, with a lot of vibrant night scenes, cramped and noisy old houses in the bustling Huanghe Road. The road, named after the Yellow River, was one of Shanghai's gastronomical paradise that used to be home to over 100 restaurants.Many served high-end fare that only the rich and famous could afford. Still, everything started to change in the late-1990s when a spate of changes sapped the luster out of this bustling street.　 But now, the road is gaining new popularity due to the series, along with Tai Sheng Yuan, the inspiration of the most grand restaurant in the drama. While some viewers were surprised by the shocking prices of the signature dishes in the drama, others arrived at Tai Sheng Yuan, ready to relive their memories of old-school Shanghai in the 1990s.Many diners have ordered the restaurant’s 10-personBlossoms Shanghai-themed nostalgic set meal for 1,680 yuan. At the Fairmont Peace Hotel, Ctrip shows that its British Blossoms suite has been fully booked for Saturday and Sunday.Not only because of the16,888 yuan per night suitethat the characters stayed in which became fully booked overnight but also for its co-branded Blossoms Shanghai dinner a