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Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall
Urban Planning Exhibition Halls - where the creaking cities of yore are triumphantly redesigned by developers into fabulous metropolitan visions - are all the rage in New China (Běijīng has one). It's pitched as a tourist attraction, but this is really just a massively optimistic self-appraisal. Most Western visitors are in town to see how the city used to be rather than how it may be.
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Shanghai Zendai Museum Of Modern Art (Shanghai Moma)
This newish, small-scale museum delivers an invigorating shot to the arm to Shanghai's ever-flexing art scene. The emphasis is on contemporary exhibitions in a highly modern art space; the effect is a sophisticated and cool haven for fashionable aesthetes. Tours (in Chinese), lectures, concerts and other activities are part of the overall production. Check their website for details on current and forthcoming exhibitions.
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Shikumen Open House Museum
Arranged over two floors and entered via Xingye Rd in Xīntiāndì, this fascinating exhibition invites you into a typical shíkùmén household, decked out with period furniture.
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Site of the 1st National Congress of the CCP
On 23 July 1921 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was founded in this French Concession building (then 106 Rue Wantz), at one fell swoop converting this unassuming shíkùmén block into one of Chinese communism's holiest shrines.
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Song Qingling Mausoleum
Despite its hard-edged communist layout, this green and well-tended park is excellent for a stroll and for escaping the relentless Hóngqiáo skyline. Song Qingling herself is interred in a low-key tomb here, but she is memorialised in the Song Qingling Exhibition Hall straight ahead from the main entrance, which itself looks like a Chinese Imperial tomb.
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Taikang Rd Art Centre
This warren of shíkùmén architecture offers tranquil doses of genuine charm. A community of art galleries, studios, pocket-sized wi-fi cafés, petite shops and boutiques - the perfect antidote to Shanghai's oversized malls and intimidating skyscrapers. With families still residing in neighbouring buildings, a community mood survives, while the area's relative transport isolation has prevented it from being swamped by feral tour groups.
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Unique Hill Gallery
You'd never guess there was a gallery hidden in this anonymous apartment block east of Shanghai Stadium. The changing exhibits are strong on Old Shanghai memorabilia, such as cigarette posters and period photos. Some items are for sale. Check listings magazines or call (they speak English) to see what's on before heading out here.
