Must-see attractions in The Bund & People's Square

  • Sunrise on Bund Shanghai with walking man

    The Bund

    The Bund & People's Square

    Symbolic of concession-era Shanghai, the Bund was the city’s Wall Street, a place of feverish trading and fortunes made and lost. Originally a towpath for…

  • Shanghai,People's Square,Shanghai

    Shanghai Museum

    The Bund & People's Square

    This must-see museum escorts you through the craft of millennia and the pages of Chinese history. It's home to one of the most impressive collections in…

  • Shanghai History Museum

    The Bund & People's Square

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

  • Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall

    The Bund & People's Square

    Set over five levels, this modern museum covers Shanghai's urban planning history, tracing its development from swampy fishing village to modern-day…

  • Rockbund Art Museum

    The Bund & People's Square

    Housed in the magnificent former Royal Asiatic Society building (1932) – once Shanghai's first museum – this world-class gallery behind the Bund focuses…

  • The Bund, customs house.

    Custom House

    The Bund & People's Square

    The neoclassical Custom House, established at this site in 1857 and rebuilt in 1927, is one of the most important buildings on the Bund. Capping it is Big…

  • Hongkong & Shanghai Bank Building

    The Bund & People's Square

    Adjacent to the Custom House, the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank Building was constructed in 1923. The bank was first established in Hong Kong in 1864 and in…

  • Yuanmingyuan Road

    The Bund & People's Square

    Like a smaller, more condensed version of the Bund, the pedestrianised, cobblestone Yuanmingyuan Rd is lined with a mishmash of colonial architecture…

  • Former British Consulate

    The Bund & People's Square

    The original British Consulate was one of the first foreign buildings to go up in Shanghai in 1852, though it was destroyed in a fire and replaced with…

  • East Nanjing Road

    The Bund & People's Square

    Linking the Bund with People’s Square is East Nanjing Rd, once known as Nanking Rd. The first department stores in China opened here in the 1920s, when…

  • People’s Park

    The Bund & People's Square

    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…

  • Jardine Matheson

    The Bund & People's Square

    Standing at No 27 on the Bund is the former headquarters of early opium traders Jardine Matheson, which went on to become one of the most powerful trading…

  • Park Hotel

    The Bund & People's Square

    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…

  • Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art

    The Bund & People's Square

    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…

  • Glen Line Steamship Co.

    The Bund & People's Square

    This elegant 1922 neoclassical building served as the office of a British shipping company before being occupied by the Japanese during WWII and serving…

  • PearlLam Galleries

    The Bund & People's Square

    The Shanghai branch of this Hong Kong contemporary gallery is set within an old bank building dating from 1936. With a mix of Chinese and international…

  • AroundSpace

    The Bund & People's Square

    Housed in a beautiful 1932 art deco building, that – like several other galleries in the area – was formerly a Chinese bank, AroundSpace is an elegant art…

  • Shanghai Gallery of Art

    The Bund & People's Square

    Take the lift up to the 3rd floor of Three on the Bund to this neat, minimalist art gallery showcasing current highbrow and conceptual Chinese art. It's…

  • Monument to the People's Heroes

    The Bund & People's Square

    Up from Huangpu Park, this anachronistic monument stands above the Bund History Museum. Its socialist realism friezes depict the postwar triumphs of…

  • Magda Danysz Gallery

    The Bund & People's Square

    Well worth a cultural diversion, this bold and vibrant art space for both emerging and established Chinese and international names is twinned with its…

  • Gutzlaff Signal Tower

    The Bund & People's Square

    This signal tower was built in 1907 to replace the wooden original as well as to serve as a meteorological relay station for the tireless Shanghai Jesuits…

  • Bank of Communications Building

    The Bund & People's Square

    With the Bund offering a showcase of the world's great architecture styles, representing art deco is the Bank of Communications Building with its classic…

  • Peace Gallery

    The Bund & People's Square

    This intriguing little museum, in essence a long room stuffed with period objects and photos relating to the colourful history of the Peace Hotel, is an…

  • Bank of China Building

    The Bund & People's Square

    Originally established in 1897, the Bank of China relocated its headquarters from Beijing to Shanghai in the 1920s. Although the bank has occupied this…

  • Three on the Bund

    The Bund & People's Square

    When it opened in 2004, Three on the Bund was the strip’s first lifestyle destination and the model that many other venues have since followed. It's now…

  • Moore Memorial Church

    The Bund & People's Square

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

  • Yokohama Specie Bank

    The Bund & People's Square

    One of several buildings along the Bund designed by British architecture firm Palmer & Turner, the Yokohama Specie Bank was built in 1924 mixing…

  • Holy Trinity Church

    The Bund & People's Square

    Dating back to 1869, this was an important church for the British during the days of colonial Shanghai (and featured in JG Ballad's Empire of the Sun)…

  • Huangpu Park

    The Bund & People's Square

    China’s first ever public park (1886) achieved lasting notoriety for its apocryphal ‘No Dogs or Chinese allowed’ sign. The park today is blighted by the…

  • North China Daily News Building

    The Bund & People's Square

    The former building of Shanghai-based English newspaper North China Daily, this 1921 neoclassical building is notable for its top-level Atlas art-nouveau…

  • Bund History Museum

    The Bund & People's Square

    Beneath the Monument to the People's Heroes, this underground museum has some interesting info and photos on the history of the Bund. It's a good starting…

  • Madame Tussauds

    The Bund & People's Square

    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…

  • Bund 5

    The Bund & People's Square

    Built in 1925 for a Japanese shipping company, this building's design features a mix of Western neoclassical and Japanese styles. Upstairs is luxury…

  • Banque de l'Indochine Building

    The Bund & People's Square

    Built in 1914, this French Baroque–style building was originally the Banque de l'Indochine Building. Today it's a Chinese bank with a lavish lobby you can…

  • Art + Shanghai

    The Bund & People's Square

    This riverside gallery shows mainly local artists and is a good place to get a feel for the contemporary Chinese art scene.

  • Levant Art

    The Bund & People's Square

    In the Rockbund district, this commercial gallery is devoted to contemporary sculpture by Chinese and overseas artists.

  • Bund Sightseeing Tunnel

    The Bund & People's Square

    A 647m voyage with entertainment including budget effects, garish lighting and dreadful props, the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel is a transport mode guaranteed…

  • Great World

    The Bund & People's Square

    At the corner of East Yan’an Rd and Middle Xizang Rd stands the building of the former Great World, a place for acrobats and nightlife stars that was…

  • Good Eighth Company Mural

    The Bund & People's Square

    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…

  • Tomorrow Square

    The Bund & People's Square

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