Occupying the site of the colonial racetrack (which became a holding camp during WWII), People’s Park is the city centre's green refuge. It's home to the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, the Shanghai History Museum, pond-side bar Barbarossa and a small children's fairground, and is overlooked by the towering form of Tomorrow Square, and the art deco classic Park Hotel.

From noon on Sundays (and some Saturdays) it's the site of the Shanghai marriage market.

If you’re in Shanghai in June, join the photographers ringing the gorgeous pink lotuses that flower in the pond.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art

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Nonprofit MOCA Shanghai has an all-glass home to maximise natural sunlight (when it cuts through the clouds), a tip-top location in People’s Park and a…

3. Moore Memorial Church

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Designed by notable Hungarian architect Ladislaus Hudec, the Moore Memorial Church (c 1931) is a standout red-brick Christian edifice east of People’s…

4. Good Eighth Company Mural

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A fine example of socialist realism sculpture, the Good Eighth Company Mural is in the plaza at People's Square metro exit near the underpass of the West…

5. Park Hotel

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Designed by Hungarian architect Ladislaus Hudec and erected as a bank in 1934, the Park Hotel was Shanghai’s tallest building until the 1980s, when…

6. Shanghai History Museum

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Originally opened as the Shanghai Race Club in 1934, and having undergone several incarnations since, this iconic building now houses the Shanghai History…

7. Madame Tussauds

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The waxworks at Madame Tussauds are largely aimed at locals – so might be irrelevant to your celebrity spotting – and cost a lot, but may make do for…

8. Tomorrow Square

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This stupendous tower seizes the Shanghai zeitgeist with dramatic aplomb. Resembling a sci-fi corporation headquarters, the stratospheric building is…