Sights in Shànghǎi
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Yuyuan Gardens & Bazaar
With its shaded alcoves, glittering pools churning with carp, pavilions, pines sprouting wistfully from rockeries, whispering bamboo, jasmine clumps, stony recesses and roving bands of Japanese tourists, the Yuyuan Gardens are one of Shànghǎi’s top-notch sights. With over 1000 visitors daily, securing an early-morning visit is advisable. The adjacent bazaar is arguably tacky, but great for a browse, if you can ignore the surrounding sales roar and the fake-Rolex pushers. Look out for the lāyángpiàn ( 拉洋片 ) performer, a fashionable form of entertainment in 1920s Shànghǎi. Weekends at both the gardens and the bazaar can be overpowering. Pick up a map of the bazaar at the to…
reviewed
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Zhongshan Park
Known as Jessfield Park to the British, this is a moderately interesting park located in the north east, in the former ‘Badlands’ area of 1930s Shànghǎi. Kids will like Fundazzle ( 翻斗乐; Fāndǒulè), an adventure playground with slides, mazes and tunnels.
reviewed
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Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall
The 3rd floor features Shanghai’s idealised future, with an incredible model layout of the megalopolis-to-come plus a dizzying Virtual World 3-D wrap-around tour complete with celebratory fireworks.
reviewed
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M50
Chinese contemporary art has been the hottest thing in the art world for the past decade and there’s no sign of the boom ending, with collectors around the world paying record prices for the work of top artists like Zhang Xiaogang (whose paintings sold for a total of US$57 million in 2007). Běijīng may dominate the art scene in China, but Shànghǎi has its own thriving gallery subculture, centred on this complex of industrial buildings down dusty Moganshan Rd in the north of town. Although many of the artists who originally established the enclave are long gone, it is well worth putting aside a half-day to poke around the many galleries here. There’s some challenging, i…
reviewed
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Taikang Road Art Centre
Xīntiāndì and Taikang Rd are based on a similar idea – an entertainment complex housed within a layout of traditional lòngtáng alleyways – but when it comes to genuine charm and vibrancy, Taikang Rd is the one that delivers. Also known as Tiánzǐfáng, this community of design studios, wi-fi cafes, and boutiques is the perfect antidote to Shànghǎi’s oversized malls and intimidating skyscrapers. With families still residing in neighbouring buildings, a community mood survives, and the area’s relative transport isolation has prevented it from being utterly swamped by tour groups.
There are three main north–south lanes (Nos 210, 248, 274) criss-crossed by irr…
reviewed
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Xīntiāndì
Xīntiāndì hasn’t even been around for a decade yet and already it’s a Shànghǎi icon. An upscale entertainment complex modelled on traditional alleyway (lòngtáng) homes, this was the first development in the city to prove that historic architecture does, in fact, have economic value. Elsewhere that might sound like a no-brainer, but in 21st-century China, which is head-over-heels for the bulldozer, it came as quite a revelation. Well-heeled shoppers and al fresco diners keep the place busy until late, and if you’re looking for a memorable meal or a browse through some of Shànghǎi’s more fashionable boutiques, you’re in the right place. The heart of the com…
reviewed
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Shanghai Museum
A tour de force, this museum of traditional Chinese art is the centrepiece of People’s Square, if not Shanghai, so bookmark a whole day. Top galleries include the Ceramics Gallery, Bronzes Gallery and Painting Gallery. Arrive early to avoid the queues. The Shanghai Museum also has an emporium. Items include facsimiles of the museum’s porcelain collection, and postcards and books on the Chinese arts, architecture, travel and language.
reviewed
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Shanghai History Museum
One of Shanghai’s top sights, this fun museum charts the city’s highs and lows from its days as a cotton-producing town to its grandiose, opium-wreathed heyday and beyond. Life-size models of traditional shops are staffed by realistic waxworks and some exhibits are hands-on or accompanied by creative video presentations.
reviewed
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Shanghai No 1 Department Store
Opened in 1936, the Shanghai No 1 Department Store was formerly known as the Sun Company and was one of East Nanjing Rd’s big department stores (with Wing On, Sun Sun and Sincere) and the first equipped with an escalator. Today it averages 150,000 shoppers a day over 11 levels of merchandise.
reviewed
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Flower, Bird, Fish & Insect Market
One of the few remaining traditional markets in town, this is the spot to go shopping for city-sized pets. There are all sorts of critters for sale, but it’s the insects that are the most remarkable. Crickets come in a variety of sizes and are sold in woven bamboo cages; pick one up for under Y30.
reviewed
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Oriental Pearl Tv Tower
Love it or hate it, this 468m-tall bauble-adorned tripod has become a symbol of Pudong and the Shanghai renaissance. Join the queue for high-altitude views or head to the basement to visit the highly recommended Shanghai History Museum.
reviewed
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Jade Buddha Temple
Built between 1911 and 1918 in Song dynasty style, this active place of worship is one of Shànghǎi’s few Buddhist temples. The Hall of Heavenly Kings ( 天王殿; Tiānwáng Diàn) contains its namesake kings and a splendid statue of the laughing Buddha back-to-back with a fabulous effigy of Weituo, the guardian of Buddhism.
Festooned with red lanterns, the first courtyard is paved with slabs etched with lotus flowers and leads to the twin-eaved Great Treasure Hall ( 大雄宝殿; Dàxióng Bǎodiàn), where worshippers pray to the past, present and future Buddhas, which are seated on splendidly carved thrones. Also lodged within the hall are the temple’s drum and bell that would…
reviewed
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Ohel Moishe Synagogue
This synagogue was built by the Russian Ashkenazi Jewish community in 1927 and lies in the heart of the 1940s Jewish ghetto. Today it houses the new Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, which is an excellent introduction to the lives of the approximately 20,000 Central European refugees who fled to Shànghǎi to escape the Nazis. You can also visit the synagogue. For a mini walking tour of the surrounding streets, turn right outside the synagogue, then right again past the former Jewish tenements of Zhoushan Rd, once the commercial heart of the district. At Huoshan Rd turn left to visit Huoshan Park and the memorial plaque erected for the visit of Yitzak Rabin in the late 19…
reviewed
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Longhua Temple & Pagoda
Southwest of central Shànghǎi, close to the river, this is the oldest and largest monastery in Shànghǎi. Said to date from the 10th century, it has been much renovated. Lónghuá refers to the pipal tree under which Buddha achieved enlightenment. There are five main halls, starting with the Laughing Buddha Hall. To either side of the entrance are a bell and a drum tower. The temple is famed for its 6500kg bell, which was cast in 1894. There are several side buildings to explore, including the Thousand Luohan Hall, in which is arrayed a huge legion of glittering arhat. A large effigy of Sakyamuni seated on a lotus flower is contained within the main hall – the Great Treas…
reviewed
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50 Moganshan Road Art Centre
Chinese contemporary art has been the hottest thing in the art world for the last few years and there's no sign of the boom ending, with collectors paying record prices for the work of top artists. Traditionally Běijīng dominates the art scene in China. But Shanghai has its own thriving artistic community, centred on this complex of industrial buildings down dusty Moganshan Rd and edging up Suzhou Creek in the north of town.
Put aside a day to poke around the many galleries here. There's some challenging, innovative art, as well as work that won't last, and there are places to sip a coffee alongside the gallery owners and the artists themselves. A confusing series of si…
reviewed
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Gongqing Forest Park
The miserly lawn space in most of Shànghǎi’s synthetic parks can leave one cold, but this vast expanse of forested parkland on the western shore of the Huangpu River is a leafy, wooded and tranquil slice of countryside in town. This is about as wild as you get in Pǔxī, with acres of willows, luohan pines, magnolias, hibiscus and nary a skyscraper in sight. Aim to spend half if not a whole day picnicking and wandering around this huge area, or hop into one of the buggies (Y10) for express tours around the grounds. Children will whoop at the sight of the roller coaster (Y20), rock climbing wall (Y20), adventure ground and fun fair. There’s also a pricey football pitch…
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Confucian Temple
Most historic Chinese towns boast a temple dedicated to Confucius, although the iconoclastic spasms of the Cultural Revolution left many battered and bruised. A modest and pretty retreat, this well-tended temple to the dictum-coining sage is cultivated with maples, pines, magnolias and birdsong. Originally dating to 1294, when the Mongols held sway through China, the temple moved to its current site in 1855, at a time when Christian Taiping rebels were sending much of China skywards in sheets of flame. The layout is typically Confucian, its few worshippers complemented by ancient and venerable trees, including a 300-year-old elm. The towering Kuixing Pavilion (Kuíxīng Gé)…
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Shanghai World Financial Center
Completed in 2008, China’s tallest building (492m) was never able to grab the much coveted and elusive crown of ‘world’s tallest building’ and has instead had to settle for the title of ‘world’s highest observation deck’. There are actually three observation decks, the top two (located at the bottom and top of the trapezoid) of which are known as Sky Walks.
There is room for debate as to whether the top Sky Walk (474m) is the best spot for Shanghigh views, though. The hexagonal space is bright and futuristic, and some of the floor is transparent glass (a very nice touch), but the lack of a 360-degree sweep – windows only face west or east – is something of a…
reviewed
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Song Qingling Mausoleum
Despite its hard-edged communist layout, this green park is excellent for a stroll and for escaping the relentless Gǔběi skyline. Song Qingling herself is interred in a low-key tomb here, but she is memorialised in the Song Qingling Exhibition Hall ( 宋庆龄陈列馆; Sòng Qìnglíng Chénlièguǎn) straight ahead from the main entrance, which itself looks like a Chinese imperial tomb. Among the displays of Song memorabilia – including her black qípáo – is a telling photograph of Marxist Westerners reading from Mao’s Little Red Book back in the days when it was politically fashionable. The international cemetery here also contains a host of foreign gravestone…
reviewed
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Shanghai Museum of Natural History
Located in the former Cotton Exchange Building (built in 1923), the exhibits at this dusty and gloomy museum haven’t been touched since the 1950s – now that’s something! It is easily the city’s most forlorn attraction and is horribly out of date, but, like the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, it’s a bizarre experience and it has its fans. The museum’s former chairman, the gangster Du Yuesheng, built the dramatic red-brick building across East Yan’an Rd as the Chung Wai Bank (with a private bullet-proof elevator). It’s all expected to go soon, though. City officials feel it’s something of an embarrassment and a new natural history museum (more in line with post-1950s s…
reviewed
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Shanghai Botanical Gardens
The location just off the busy and polluted Longwu Rd is hardly idyllic, but the Botanical Gardens offer an escape from Shànghǎi’s synthetic cityscape. The Tropicarium gives you the chance to get close to tropical flora, and once inside, you can take the lift to the 6th floor for an impressive view of the gardens. Some of the flower arrangements are a little twee, but the place is well-maintained and bustling with visitors. The northern side of the gardens has a dusty memorial temple, originally built in 1728. It’s dedicated to Huang Daopo, who supposedly kick-started Shànghǎi’s cotton industry by bringing the knowledge of spinning and weaving to the region from Hǎinán.…
reviewed
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Temple of the Town God
Chinese towns traditionally came with a Taoist Temple of the Town God, but many fell victim to periodic upheaval. Originally dating to the early 15th century, this particular temple was badly damaged during the Cultural Revolution and later restored. Note the fine carvings on the roof as you enter to the main hall, dedicated to Huo Guang, a Han dynasty general, flanked by rows of effigies representing both martial and civil virtues. Exit the hall north and peek into the multifaith hall on your right dedicated to three female deities, Guanyin (Buddhist), Tianhou and Yanmu Niangniang (Taoist). Gazing fiercely over offerings of fruit from the rear hall is the red-faced and b…
reviewed
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People’s Park
Occupying the site of the colonial racetrack (which became a holding camp during WWII), People’s Park is a green refuge from Shànghǎi’s fume-ridden roads, with its Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art ) and pond-side bar, Barbarossa, all overlooked by Tomorrow Square, the Shanghai Art Museum and the Park Hotel. If you’re in Shànghǎi in June, join the photographers ringing the gorgeous pink lotuses that flower in the pond. On weekend mornings an unofficial matchmaking market is held here, where parents show up with their children’s CVs (but without the children) in an attempt to find a suitably successful spouse.
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Lu Xun Park
Especially gorgeous in spring and summer when the trees are in blossom, Lu Xun Park is one of the city’s most pleasant parks, with elderly Chinese practising taichi or ballroom dancing, and even the occasional retired opera singer giving a free performance. The English corner on Sunday mornings is one of the largest in all of Shànghǎi and a good place to chat to locals in English. You can take boats out onto the small lake. The park used to be called Hongkou Park but was renamed because it holds Lu Xun’s Tomb, moved here from the International Cemetery in 1956, on the 20th anniversary of his death. Mao himself inscribed the memorial calligraphy.
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Shanghai Science & Technology Museum
This impressive space-age building aims at providing a fun educational experience. Kids will like the Light of Wisdom hall, with its hands-on science experiments, and the audiovisual rides (including an earthquake simulator) are fun but draw long queues. Surprisingly, there is nothing on Chinese science and technology (this is, after all, the land that brought us fireworks and the rudder). There are four theatres (two IMAX, one 4D and one outer space), that show themed films throughout the day (tickets Y20 to Y40; 15 to 40 minutes). When you need a break there’s a good food court for lunch; get your hand stamped with a pass if you want to return to the exhibits.
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