In the centuries prior to its opening as a “treaty port” in the 1840s, Shanghai was just a fishing village and later a cotton producer. After the First Opium War, the Treaty of Nanking allowed the British to trade with certain ports in China. That was the beginning of Shanghai’s rise in prominence as a city of glamor and decadence.
The British and the French, among several other nationalities, divided Shanghai into “concessions.” These foreign-run territories allowed these early expatriates to pursue their own lifestyles, build homes and offices following the architecture of their home countries, and conduct their affairs independent of their host. Today these former concessions still hold remnants of Shanghai’s heady past.
Start your tour of Old Shanghai along the Huangpu River. The Bund (or embankment) continues to be a symbol of Shanghai, along with the modern face of the city in Pudong just across the river. The long row of colonial buildings are as beautiful as ever, if not even more beautiful after a cleanup sometime before the 2010 World Expo. Some of the buildings have been redeveloped as luxury hotels, upscale restaurants, and name brand retail outlets. The best views are at sunrise as the buildings face east, and at night when flood lights illuminate. A wide riverside promenade across the street from the Bund is the preferred viewing point for both the Bund and the Pudong skyline.
In Xintiandi, it is a pleasure to stroll among shikumen (stone gate) buildings now housing trendy restaurants, cafes, and shops. Nanjing Road is a pedestrian-only shopping street that blazes with neon lights at night, and is packed with people at the end of the work day and on weekends. Dongtai Road is a residential street where shopkeepers have set up kiosks selling old-looking items: Mao Zedong figurines and other souvenirs of the Cultural Revolution, miniature terracotta warriors, calligraphy brushes, teapots, red lacquer boxes, and many other interesting knick-knacks.
Also in the old part of Shanghai: a Confucian temple and school right smack in the middle of a typical Shanghai neighborhood of narrow streets and cramped living quarters. The wide open spaces of the temple complex are in stark contrast to the tightly packed housing of the vicinity. It’s a rather sobering reminder that Shanghai is not all glitter and glam.
Gallivanting Girl 