Must-see attractions in French Concession

Tianzifang and Xintiandi are based on a similar idea – an entertainment complex housed within a warren of lòngtáng (弄堂, alleyways). Unlike Xintiandi,…

With its own namesake metro station, Xintiandi has been a Shanghai icon for over a decade. An upmarket entertainment and shopping complex modelled on…

This offbeat and macabre museum over three floors details how the Chinese authorities keep control. Display cases depict the illicit activities local cops…

Design junkies and history buffs will love this vast collection of original posters from 1950s, ’60s and ’70s China, stored in the basement of a…

Founded by Taiwanese artists Loretta Yang and Chang Yi, the Liuli China Museum is dedicated to the art of glass sculpture (pâte de verre or lost-wax…

Repositioned as a museum, this arts and crafts institute displays traditional crafts such as needlepoint embroidery, paper cutting, lacquer work, jade…

Built in the 1920s by a Greek shipping magnate, this quiet building became home to Soong Qingling, wife of Dr Sun Yatsen, from 1948 to 1963. Size up two…

This leafy spot with a large lawn, laid out by the French in 1909 and used by the Japanese as a parade ground in the late 1930s, remains one of the city’s…

This two-floor exhibition invites you into a typical shíkùmén (stone-gate house) household, decked out with period furniture. The ground-floor arrangement…

Sun Zhongshan predictably receives the full-on hagiographic treatment at this shrine to China’s guófù (国父, father of the nation). A capacious exhibition…

This charming little pebble-dash residence with a delightful garden is where the acclaimed author Ba Jin (1904–2005) lived from 1955 to the mid-1990s. Ba…

Head down the lane and through courtyards until you see blue cloth drying in the yard. Originally produced in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guizhou provinces,…

In 1946, Zhou Enlai, the much-loved (although some swear he was even more sly than Mao) first premier of the People’s Republic of China, lived briefly in…

On one of the area’s best-preserved streets, this centre displays scale-model concession buildings, photos of historic Shanghai architecture and maps for…

On those rare days when Shanghai’s skies are cloud-free, the chic Ferguson Lane courtyard fills up in the blink of an eye with boutique browsers, latte…

This small, French-inspired park features a central avenue lined with statuesque plane trees. Come evening, this walkway regularly transforms into a stage…

One of Shanghai's top galleries, this small space is concealed high above the street-level crowds. Curator Jean Loh captures humanistic themes in…

Spread across two buildings in the charming Ferguson Lane complex, the Leo Gallery focuses on works by young Chinese artists.

One of Shanghai’s most whimsical buildings, the Scandinavian-influenced Gothic peaks of the Moller House could double as the Munsters’ holiday home…

This is China’s largest public library, with a copy of Rodin’s sculpture The Thinker plonked outside. For a postmodern white-tile building, it is actually…