Shanghai: Main Scenic Spots

.................................................................................................................................................................................... The Bund ....................................................................................................................................................................................

This park-like promenade, stretching along the Huangpu River between the narrow Wusong River and Old Town, was the former Wall Street of the foreign powers. Today the area bristles with activity and excitement virtually any time of the day or night. Crowds gather every morning to perform the slow, graceful exercises known as taichi. Street performers, photographers, peddlers, and young Chinese couples all congregate along this fashionable section of Zhongshan Road. Overlooking it all are the massiveEuropean-style buildings that held banks, trading houses, hotels, and trendy night spots in the early part of the century. At the northwest end of the Bund is Huangpu Park, fomerly the British Public Gardens.

.................................................................................................................................................................................... Huangpu River Cruise ....................................................................................................................................................................................

1-hour cruise tour is highly recommended. The Huangpu River divides Shanghai in 2 parts, east and west, past and future, serves as the city's shipping artery both to the East China Sea and the mouth of the Yangzi River, which the Huangpu joins 29km (18 miles) north of downtown Shanghai. The Bund and its promenade are landmarks of Shanghai's 19th-century struggle to reclaim a waterfront from the bogs of this river (which originates in nearby Tai Lake) and the streams that feed it. The Pudong New Area on the river's opposite shore (east) is evidence in glass and steel of the financial power of the river.

.................................................................................................................................................................................... Old Town - Cheng Huang Miao ....................................................................................................................................................................................

Walking back to the Bund and heading south on Zhongshan Road, you'll soon reach Shanghai's Old Town, a world of narrow winding alleys and dumpling shops where most of the local population squeezed together during colonial times. The famous Wuxing Ting Teahouse sits in the center of an ornamental pond. Visitors can cross the zigzag bridge to take tea in the teahouse - but evil spirits can't turn the corners.

.................................................................................................................................................................................... Yu Yuan Garden ....................................................................................................................................................................................

Very near the Wuxing Ting Teahouse is the Yu Yuan Garden, forever immortalized in the blue and white design of willow-pattern china. Yu Garden dates from 1577, when a well-to-do city official built it for his father's old age. Ironically, this peaceful haven once served as the headquarters of the Small Sword Society, a political group that led an uprising against the Qing Dynasty and the foreign powers in the mid-1800s. A small museum details the movement's rise and fall. Part of the park was sold about a century ago to the Yu Yuan Market, which still does a lively business today. Two notable attractions nearby are the Temple to the Town Gods, a rare example of a type of temple that once graced the center of every Chinese village (much like our town square), and a fine Ming Dynasty garden known as the Purple Clouds of Autumn.

.................................................................................................................................................................................... The Jade Buddha Temple ....................................................................................................................................................................................

Shanghai's most famous temple, located in the northern part of town near the Wusong River, was built to house the magnificent White Jade Buddha. Carved from a single piece of milky white jade brought all the way from Burma in 1882, the jewel-encrusted White Jade Buddha resides in the temple's innermost hall, still used for worship today (visitors must remove their shoes to enter). Even more marvelous is the Reclining Jade Buddha, splendid in repose, housed in a separate room but carved from that same piece of luminous jade.

................................................................................................................................................................................... Longhua Temple and Pagoda ...................................................................................................................................................................................

Shanghai's oldest pagoda has risen like the phoenix several times since the Three Kingdoms Period (10th century). The present structure stands in the southwest corner of the city, a short ride from the Huating Sheraton Hotel. This seven-story pagoda with its graceful, upturned eaves overlooks a lively street market and adjoins a working Buddhist temple. The temple's halls contain several magnificent Buddhas, including a white jade statue of Sakyamuni as he attains the moment of enlightenment.

................................................................................................................................................................................... Xujiahui Cathedral ...................................................................................................................................................................................

Near the Huating Hotel in the old French concession is another famous European landmark, the Cathedral of St. Ignatius, or Xujiahui Cathedral (located at 201 Caoxi Bei Lu). The Jesuits laid the church foundation in 1848 and completed the cathedral in 1906. Between those years, the site became the headquarters of the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion. The French designed this massive, Romanesque cathedral to seat 2,500 worshippers. Visitors are still welcome to attend Sunday mass or other scheduled services. << Back to Shanghai Info