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.