Shanghai is a coastal international metropolis born close to ocean and prosperous thanks to ocean. Analyzing her social change from the perspective of ocean culture can help to understand the inner power of Shanghai’s urban transformation, the contents of Shanghai’s spirit and explore the changing trend of Shanghai. On the basis of historical analysis and ocean culture, the paper displays that Shanghai has gone through the changes of ocean cultural societies from the southern fishing village, the domestic trade port and the Far Eastern shipping center, to the international shipping center. The social changes reflect the impact of ocean culture and Shanghai’s spirit on the economic and social development of Shanghai. Therefore, in a sense, Shanghai’s urban transformation is the result of the development of ocean culture and the promotion of inner ocean spirit of Shanghai. The highest stage of urban development is to become an international cultural center. Because there are many unique ocean cultural contents in Shanghai’s spirit, Shanghai will be developed into an international cultural center with ocean culture as the major elements after becoming four international centers in future.