World City Guide

Key Attractions

The Bund
Shanghai’s most popular tourist attraction, the Bund features 24 historic riverfront buildings, separated from the Huangpu River by a raised terrace embankment. The word ‘bund’ is an Anglo-Indian construction meaning ‘embankment’, recalling the flood barriers that used to line it.

The grand remnants of colonial power are crowded along the Bund. These include the Customs House (with its famous bell ‘Big Ching’), the former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, the Peace Hotel (one of Asia’s Art Deco masterpieces and a favourite of Noel Coward’s) and the Bank of China. Three buildings (Numbers 3, 5 and 18) have been lavishly refurbished and now contain high-end retail, arts and restaurant complexes. This parade of Shanghai’s past faces-off with the futurstic skyline of Pudong on the opposite riverbank.

Known in Chinese as ‘Waitan’
Free admission.

Shanghai Museum
Rebuilt in the shape of an ancient Chinese bronze ritual vessel in 1994, the Shanghai Museum houses over 120,000 historical and artistic treasures and is one of the city’s cultural gems. Its four storeys present a chronological and stylistic tour of China’s greatest artistic traditions, with bronzes, sculptures, ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, jades, coins, furniture and ethnic minority folk art, as well as special exhibitions. Particular highlights are the display of ancient bronzes on the entrance level and the Chinese paintings on the floor above. Given the size of the collection, only some 3% of the museum can be shown at any one time.

201 Renmin Dadao, Renmin Square, Huangpu
Tel: (21) 6372 3500.
Website: www.shanghaimuseum.net (in Chinese).
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700 (last ticket sales 1600), Sat 0900-2000.
Admission charge.

Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar
Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar cover several blocks of the historic downtown area, where souvenir shops and eating houses are packed together in brightly coloured alleys. A haven of tranquillity after the throngs of tourists in the bazaar, the Yuyuan Gardens were founded by a family of Imperial officials in 1559. Although looted by the 19th century Western colonialists the gardens still preserve an exquisite catalogue of tunnels and grottos, a stone boat for staging river parties, quiet pools, a fine Chinese opera stage and a hall that became the headquarters of the Small Swords Society. Outside this walled tranquillity, the Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse and Nine Twists Bridge have become attractions in themselves, with queens and presidents ceremoniously brought to visit it.

Old Town, from Fuyou Lu to Fangbang Dong Lu
Opening hours: Daily 0830-1700.
Admission charge.

Former French Concession
Lined with French colonial-era architecture that survives remarkably unspoilt in the heart of this dynamic city, the former French Concession is a great place to wander aimlessly and typifies Shanghai’s international sophistication and style. Particular gems include the grounds of the Ruijin Guest House, 118 Ruijin Er Lu, formerly the Morris Estate, full of restaurants, and the art galleries, designer boutiques and cafes of Taikang Lu. Fuxing Park has its shady walks and bar strip and there are many old residences along Sinan Lu (including ones belonging to Sun Yatsen and Zhou Enlai) and some fine colonial-period hotels – the Okura Garden Hotel, 58 Maoming Nan Lu, and the Jinjiang Hotel opposite.

French Concession, Puxi
Free admission.

Site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party
One for the history buffs, this site stands as testimony to Shanghai being the nursery of Chinese Communism. Here, the Chinese Communist Party was formed, in a room belonging to one of the delegates, Li Hanjun, on 23 July 1921. Another delegate, Mao Zedong, was one of only two of 13 that ever served in the first Chinese Communist government, formed in 1949. The modern museum occupies the whole building and documents the formative years of the CCP. Renovated in 1998, it incorporates delights such as a life-size wax diorama of the first meeting, with Mao centre stage, at his most idealised.

374 Huangpi Nan Lu
Tel: (21) 5383 2171.
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1700 (last ticket sold 1600).
Admission charge.

Shanghai Municipal History Museum
Shanghai’s most modern (and probably most expensive) museum, the Shanghai Municipal History Museum occupies the lowest ball of Pudong’s signature Orient Pearl Tower and uses all the latest interactive devices to tell the city’s history, including a diorama of a ‘main street’ from the 1920s. The museum documents 6,000 years, with sights, sounds and even scents of the colonial era. But the most recent exhibits, such as the lion dogs that used to guard the old Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building, are the most interesting. The high entrance fee reflects the admission price for the Tower itself – there is no way to get into the museum without entering the Tower, packaging past and future in one.

Gate 4, Oriental Pearl Tower
1 Shiji Dadao, Pudong
Tel: (21) 5879 3003.
Opening hours: Daily 0900-2100.
Admission charge.