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Immersed in Shanghai

Name: Immersed in Shanghai
Address: Shanghai, 200020, CN
Telephone: +86 138 1781 7432

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Immersed in Shanghai

We organize themed and guided walking tours in Shanghai, particularly of historic Shanghai, aiming to create a cultural immersion experience for visitors.

Our guided walking tours are fun, interactive, and much more in-depth than many other tours you can find in Shanghai. We focus on the historic Shanghai, including older quarters, historic architectures, hidden treasures behind the metropolitan facade, local delicacies, and many more.

29/09/2018

After about three years of rebuilding/renovation, the former Shanghai municipal library (上海市立图书馆), part of the grand Great Shanghai Plan (大上海计划) of 1930's, is to resume her original identity as a library and reopen to public on October 1, 2018. This is now the site of the Library of Yangpu District (杨浦图书馆). Two new wings are added to the original structure - it is said to realize the original architectural design. In fact, the whole Great Shanghai Plan had to be aborted because of the Japanese invasion in the 1930's. Photos 5-7 show the construction site in September 2015.

Address is 128 Hengren Road (恒仁路), at the intersection of Changhai Road (长海路). The closest subway station is Xiangyin Road stop (翔殷路站) on metro line 8, exit 1. Allow 20 minutes of walk after exit.

27/05/2018

How many differences can you detect between photo 1 and 2, taken last week and three years ago, respectively? Photo 3 is the back of the gate three years ago. This is the site of the former Chamber of Commerce (上海总商会) built in 1931, now home of the Shanghai Bvlgari hotel and residences located on the northern bank of the Suzhou Creek (苏州河). Workers there told me that only the gate and walls along Henan Road (河南路) on photo 5 are original. It's striking to see words painted on the wall on the last photo are not yet erased - it has to be at least from 40 years ago!

To go there, take exit 3 of the Tiantong Road stop (天潼路站) on metro line 10/12.

05/05/2018

I managed to enter the Shanghai Meteorological Museum (上海气象博物馆) today, which is located to the west of the St. Ignatius Cathedral in Xu-jia-hui (徐家汇, photo 2). First built here by the Jesus missionaries in 1900, Shanghai meteorological records have been taken non-stop since 1872 (photo 3), even during the war periods. The building is well maintained and inside walls are original (photo 6). Xu-jia-hui was closely connected to Xu Guangqi (徐光启, 1562-1633) and his family. The English caption of photo 9 has a mistake - Xu Binwen (徐彬文) was Xu Guangqi's tenth generation offspring who once worked at the meteorological station. Be sure to go to the fourth floor/attic where you will get a different view of the surroundings (photo 10).

Visit to the Shanghai Meteorological Museum is by reservation only and guided by a staff member. To make reservations, follow their Wechat public account, 上海气象博物馆 and make your reservation there (photo 11). The interface is all in Chinese but the museum is certainly worth the pain 😀

The visit takes about one hour and expect half of your company to be pre-schoolers. The guided visit seems to be partially oriented at children, which makes the museum a good idea for school outings.

25/12/2017

So it is real - Lao-xi-men ( 老西门) area is going to be wiped off, at least the Jin-jia-fang lane (金家坊). This is one of the few left areas where history of Shanghai can be seen, touched, and felt. How sad! Our walking groups loved this area, so vivid and full of life.

If you have a chance, walk in the area now before it's gone. The closest metro stop is Lao-xi-men stop (老西门站) on metro line 10, exit 6. 😥

15/11/2017

After several failed attempts, I finally got into the "mysterious" Shanghai Waterworks Museum (上海自来水科技馆) last Tuesday. Its mystery is due to the shortest opening hours for a museum: 9-11am, and 1:30-3:30pm on Tuesdays only. I asked the guard why the museum is not opened on weekends and the response is "people here don't want to work on weekends." 😂

The lower-level of the museum displays some historic documents regarding the establishment of this waterworks by British in the 1880's (photo 4 and 5). Amazingly this plant still functions today under the name of Yang-shu-pu Waterworks (杨树浦水厂).

The museum is housed inside the compound of the waterworks. Address is 830 Yang-shu-pu Road (杨树浦路), walking distance (or one bus stop on Bus 135 or 28) from exit 2 of Yang-shu-pu Lu stop (杨树浦路站) on metro line 4, close to the intersection of Yang-shu-pu Road and Xu-chang Road (许昌路).

12/11/2017

Prada Rong Zhai (荣宅 in Chinese, meaning the mansion of Rong family) has been a hit since its opening to public starting mid October 2017. Now the free access is extended to December 17, 2017. Since online reservation is said to be already full, you can use this tip if you want to see what Prada has spend six out of its ten-year tenancy in repairing and restoring: go after 7pm on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. That's what our group did on a Saturday evening and we got in without any trouble even without a reservation.

Here gives more information on the painstaking restoration (in Chinese)
http://www.prada.com/zh_cn/a-future-archive/projects/rong-zhai.html

The second photo shows the layout of the original mansion. Now only about half of the mansion remains. The last photo is one of Mr. Rong's Foo Sing flour mills (福新面粉厂) located at 423 Guangfu Road (光复路), on the northern bank of the Suzhou Creek (苏州河), where our tours also paid a visit. Rong's family, at its peek of success, owned one third of the country's flour production in the 1910's-1930's.

Address of the mansion is 186 North Shaanxi Road (陕西北路), walking distance from exit 1 of West Nanjing Road stop (南京西路站) on metro line 2.

18/06/2017

From time to time I go to check on a few places just to find out how the repair or restoration goes. Today the disappointment comes from the museum affiliated to the Yang-shu-pu Waterworks (杨树浦水厂), the Shanghai Waterworks Science & Technology Museum (上海自来水科技馆). As one of the earliest waterworks in China, the castle-like factory dates back to 1880's. But the museum has been closed for a while now.

The good news is that just yards from the waterworks, the Yangpu riverside promenade (杨浦滨江) is now open. The area used to be occupied by textile mills, shipyard, and docks for fishing boats. Now it's part of a municipal project to build a pedestrian friendly promenade along the Huangpu River (黄浦江). So take advantage and enjoy! 😀

The closest metro station is Yang-shu-pu Road stop (杨树浦路站) on metro line 4, exit 2. Walk eastward on Yang-shu-pu Road for about 15 minutes.

01/06/2017

Today is the Children's Day, but I met this group of primary school students yesterday at the Shanghai Railway Museum. Didn't they start to celebrate their holiday too early? :-)

The first railway in China, Woo Sung railway (吴淞铁路), was built in Shanghai in 1876, though it only lasted for one year or so. The 4th and 5th photo shows the rail location and the fare back then, respectively.

The museum is housed in a renovated building which was a train station destroyed in the 1930's bombing during the war. The museum now opens on everyday except on Mondays, 9-11:30 am, and 2-4:30pm. Admission is RMB 10 per person. Address is 200 East Tianmu Road (天目东路), close to exit 3 of Baoshan Road station (宝山路站) on metro line 3 or 4.

25/05/2017

Our walking tour last Saturday made a stop at this art gallery which was featuring the Chinese artist Bolin Liu (刘勃麟) and his "Hacker Art". While originally scheduled to end on May 20th, this show is now extended to June 28th. An even better news is that the show curator will give two guided tours at 11 am and 3pm this coming Saturday, May 27th. Don't forget to take a look at and enjoy their cute garden at the back of the gallery.

The address of Magda Danysz Gallery is at 256 Beijing Road (北京东路), near the intersection with Jiangxi Road (江西中路). The closest metro stop is Tiantong Road station (天潼路站) on metro line 10 and 12, exit 3.

11/04/2017

I'm sure the Sihang (meaning "four banks") warehouse war memorial (四行仓库抗战纪念馆) will regain its popularity this year as 2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the 1937 battlefield in Shanghai. This past Saturday our walking tour visited this museum on our itinerary. Eva, a young Korean woman working in Shanghai, later wrote on her Wechat (微信, an App very popular in China, similar to Facebook) moments in Chinese (I didn't know her Chinese was this good). Let me translate what she wrote: "(The museum) showed the image of more than 420 Chinese soldiers, the representative of whom was Xie Jinyuan, during the 1937 anti-Japanese war. Although they knew they might all die, they fought bravely. Because of their sacrifice, 60 years after the war, we can peacefully look at what they once did." I am deeply touched by her beautifully written Chinese. The photos below are from the tour participants. Thank you all for making this tour special.

28/03/2017

Today's post has two parts. The second part shows photos of the same area taken two years ago, in April 2015.

I revisited East Si-wen-li lane houses (东斯文里) today, with a chilly and surreal feeling all over me. It's hard to image that four years after the residents were asked to vacant, it is still there, a true ghost town right in the center of the city, only a few hundred meters away from West Nanjing Road (南京西路). If it were not the time that (grand)parents came to pick up their kids from a nearby kindergarten, the alleys would be even more empty and deserted. East Si-wen-li lane house community, covering an area of 10,000 square meters and built in 1918, together with West Si-wen-li (西斯文里) that was already demolished before 2000, comprised the largest lane house quarters in the city of Shanghai. Till today no actual demolition has been executed, except for "拆" (meaning demolish) or "空" (meaning empty) scribbled on the gates, or plastered bricks simply blocking the entrances. What's new compared with two years ago? More stray cats wandering around; more art work silently sending their message.

28/03/2017

These photos were taken in the East Si-wen-li (东斯文里) in April 2015.

26/03/2017

Guangfu Road (光复路) may have a slightly "political" name (光复means liberation) as it starts from the former Sihang Warehouse (四行仓库, warehouse of four banks) that turned into a bitter battlefield in 1937. Intersecting with North Xizang Road (西藏北路), the street is just north of the Suzhou Creek (苏州河) and goes west. When you are in the People's Square area, take some time and walk along Guangfu Road. You will pass this former factory of Foo Sing Flour Mills (福新面粉厂), one of the largest flour mills in China in the 1920's and 1930's. Luckily an art gallery is now housed in the building, which gave me the opportunity to see the interior of the former workshop. The gallery is called ArtCN, owned by a French. The current exhibition is called Wander Land featuring André Cervera and closes on March 31st. Address is 423 Guangfu Road.

20/03/2017

Our group visited the Jewish Refugee Museum this past Saturday and also walked in the neighborhood. Besides the permanent exhibits, an exhibition dedicated to Anne Frank is also on which will run throughout 2017. In addition to Zhoushan Road (舟山路), which is east to the Museum, remember to walk to Huoshan Road (霍山路) and Huimin Road (惠民路), two streets to the south of the Museum, where you will see some beautiful old houses. The Huoshan Park (霍山公园) is now reopened after closing down for several months last year. I'm anxious to see how this "Café Central" will turn out, where "Vienna meets Shanghai" is certainly eye-catching, but ambitious as well :-)

05/03/2017

Spring is finally in town and weekend markets are back to Shanghai. There are 3 markets that I visit regularly: the Jiashan market (嘉善老市) near Jiashan Road metro stop (近嘉善路站), the SEE (social enterprises and entrepreneurs) market near Zhongshan Park metro stop (近中山公园站), and the Commune market (康民市集) near Xin-tian-di metro stop (新天地站). You will usually find handcrafts, bakery, and accessories in the market. Visit one in March and pamper yourself with some sweetness.

March 11th: SEE market
March 18th: Jiashan market; Commune market
March 19th: Commune market

04/12/2016

I was asked today, "Is it normal to have 17 degrees (Celsius)" in December in Shanghai?" Well, why bother if you enjoyed the walk near the Bund with a bunch of friends, eh, with some pollution? :-)

Each time I walk in the area, there is always something new, like today's Jazz performance near the New Union Church, the golden leaves on Yuan-ming-yuan Road, and the Christmas tree inside the Fairmont Peace Hotel ... And the biggest surprise came from Alessandro, an Italian guy visiting Shanghai for 3 days, who just popped up in our tour :-o

All the pictures posted today are from the tour participants. Thank you for sharing with me.

18/11/2016

The air is polluted but the view is magnificent. This is Ling Kong (凌空) SOHO, the only work of Zaha Hadid in Shanghai. It's near Exit 5 of Songhong Road (淞虹路) on metro line 2.

14/11/2016

I was very pleased to show a bit of Shanghai off the beaten route to a group of 15 people on Sunday, organized via Meetup (www.meetup.com/Historic-Shanghai-Meetup). The group, coming from Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, India, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and of course local Shanghai, are interested in exploring the city by foot, and especially in the historic quarters. The pictures posted here were taken by them. Yeah, that's me on the last photo :-)

16/07/2016

Please be kindly informed that there will be no update on this page before mid September 2016 as I will be working at an archaeological site in France during the summer.

I wish you all a very joyful summer! See you back soon!

24/05/2016

This is a belated writeup for our Saturday walk to the Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Museum (上海中医药博物馆), located inside the Shanghai TCM University (上海中医药大学) in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park (张江高科技园区) in Pudong. The Museum has just been reopened since May 18th (the Museum Day) after having closed for 8 months for revamping. Now the enriched displays on the ground and 2nd floor focus on the history of TCM development in China in the past centuries while the 3rd floor is dedicated to raw materials, readily made medicines, and testing equipment.

The Museum also has a green house and a fairly large herbal plant garden, with plagues to each species explaining its medical function. A common comment I kept hearing from the visitors is that "Wow, I can really learn a lot here." :-)

Admission is free of charge until June 18th. Normal admission of RMB 15 per person will resume afterwards.

Address of the Museum is 1200 Cailun Road (蔡伦路). To get there, take exit 5 at Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park station (张江高科站) on metro line 2. Then take Zhangjiang Tram line 1 (张江有轨电车1路) and get off at the 4th stop, Cailun Road - Jinke Road (蔡伦路金科路). Museum is closed on Mondays.

Some of the photos posted are from our tour participants.

15/05/2016

This coming Thursday, May 19th, is the China Tourism Day (中国旅游日), on which some of the museums and parks in Shanghai will have 50% discount on their admission tickets. If you have time (I know, it's a working day!) and want to benefit from that, you may want to check on the posted images. It's all in Chinese but you can leave a message if you want me to check if any of your interested destinations are included :) The observatory decks in Jinmao Tower (金茂大厦88层观光厅) and in Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC, 上海环球金融中心100层观光厅) will have discounted tickets.

08/05/2016

It was the second time that I visited the Nei-shi-di (内史第) in Chuan-sha town (川沙镇) in Pudong, Shanghai. Nei-shi (内史) is the name of a governmental position in ancient China, and Di (第) suggests a big mansion. The mansion was built somewhat 170 years ago but what we can see today is said to be only one third of its original size. It is surely a beautiful house, but what's intriguing is that a number of influential families once resided here, including the Soong sisters (宋氏姐妹) during their childhood, and Mr. Yanpei Huang (黄炎培, 1878 - 1965, not to be confused with Mr. Yuanpei Cai 蔡元培), an educator and a leader in Chairman Mao's government. Today the place is a memorial of Huang. Free admission, but a photoed ID is required.

Just meters away from the house are the old streets of Chuan-sha, eg. Nan-shi-jie (南市街) and Bei-shi-jie (北市街), where facades of some "revolutionary" shops are kept but business doesn't seem doing that well.

To get there, get off at Chuan-sha station (川沙站) on metro line 2, exit 1, followed by a 15-minute walk.

17/04/2016

It was a fabulous day out today. Four of us walked on one of my favorite routes - the Greater Shanghai Plan of the 1930's (大上海计划) - in today's Yangpu District (杨浦区). It's interesting to see the first four sites are all on the property of the Changhai Hospital (长海医院) today.

: the lollipop was indeed good when walking. Thank you! :)

Photo 1-2: the former hygienic testing center
Photo 3-4: the former hospital
Photo 5-7: the former museum
Photo 8-9: the former Aviation Association
Photo 10: beautiful lawn and trees in the hospital

11/04/2016

12 of us ended our walking tour in Songjiang (松江) yesterday at the Thames town (泰晤士小镇), contributing a small portion to the so-called 1.8 million yearly visitors to this 1-square-kilometer community built 10 years ago. The figure, equivalent to 34,000 visitors per week, was just released last month in the Shanghai media, together with complaints from local residents of the deprivation of a tranquil life in their community on weekends. From our experience yesterday, which was a warm Sunday, this number of visitors is no exaggeration. Rowan is from London and her comment walking in her Chinese hometown is "surreal". Well, the last time I heard this word is from "Notting Hill", where Hugh Grant said to Julia Roberts "It's nice and surreal." :-0

10/04/2016

A river runs through the center of the Songjiang (松江) old town. On each side of the river lie West Zhongshan Road (中山西路) and Xiu-nan Street (秀南街). Dozens of houses bear the identification plate of "historic buildings", but their fate seems no different from those who don't have the plate. Local residents told me that these houses were vacated a couple of years ago, and then the dismantling project seemed suspended. Now no one knows what's going to happen next.

I walked up and down the streets a few times, feeling hopeless seeing old doors now sealed with cement. Tomorrow where can we see our history, except for buying a ticket visiting a museum?!

08/04/2016

It's said that every beautiful city has a river running through and in Shanghai, it would definitely be the Suzhou Creek (苏州河). To understand the importance of this river to shaping Shanghai into an industrial pioneer in the contemporary Chinese history, my recommended visits now have a 4th museum, Suzhou Creek Industrial Civilization Museum (苏州河工业文明展示馆), located at 2690 West Guang-fu Road (光复西路). Too obvious, isn't it? :-)

You will notice that the address also houses a pier for Suzhou Creek sight-seeing boats (苏州河游览码头). However, the service has been discontinued for a while and there is no information when it will be renewed. Enter the courtyard and you will see the 2-story building on your right which is the Museum.

I find the displays interesting, especially an advertisement for Tianchu brand MSG (天厨牌味精, 3rd photo). The woman was putting the MSG into a bowl of soup because it would add appetite of a patient helping him to recover soon. What a change to people's thoughts!

The Museum is open everyday except on Mondays, 9 am - 4pm. To get there, get off at Weining Road station (威宁路站) on metro line 2, followed by a short bus or taxi ride.

The other three good museums to learn about the history of the Suzhou Creek and the industrial birth and development of Shanghai are: Meng-qing Yuan (梦清园, 66 Yichang Road 宜昌路); Textile museum (纺织博物馆), my post dated August 9, 2015; and Yimin food factory museum (益民食品厂博物馆), my post dated August 2, 2015.

06/04/2016

The government data indicates that among those who have their "hukou" (permanent residence) of Shanghai, 85,000 are Muslims, which is roughly 3 out of every 1,000 Shanghai permanent residents. For reference, the average in China is 16 Muslims out of every 1,000 Chinese. This sheds light when I was at Song-jiang Mosque (松江清真寺), the oldest Mosque built in Shanghai, as it probably explains why this Mosque has so many architectural elements similar to a Buddhist temple. The Mosque was first built in the 14th Century during the Yuan Dynasty (元代). What we see today is based on a large-scaled revamping completed in 1985.

What fascinates me is the meandering wall (4th photo), which can be found in other Chinese gardens as well. To Chinese, the first impression after seeing this is probably a dragon. But seeing this image of "dragon" in a Mosque is the first time for me.

The Mosque is located at 75 Gang-beng Lane (缸甏巷), near Renmin Road (人民路), within walking distance from Zui-bai-chi Park station (醉白池站) on metro line 9.

04/04/2016

In Shanghai where descriptions such as New, High, or Grand are commonplace, a train station that looks like from the early 1990's is a jewel, and that is Song-jiang train station (松江站). Passengers didn't seem in a hurry; they sat outside in the small garden waiting, some dozing. The ticket office only had two counters and barely could a queue form. In the waiting hall where there were more empty seats than occupied, what looked like red balloons hung from the ceiling were in fact electric fans wrapped in red plastic bags, to be unwrapped when summer comes :-) The train station appeared in Director Jia Zhang-ke's (贾樟柯) 2000 movie Platform (《站台》) which had settings in the 1980's, and now it's called a most nostalgic train station in Shanghai.

To get there, take metro line 9 and get off at Zui-bai-chi park station (醉白池站), exit 2. Look at the metro station; it's more grand than the train station (last photo)!

02/04/2016

This park is near the Wu-song-kou port (吴淞口码头), where cruise ships are anchored today. The park is called Pao-tai-wan (炮台湾 in Chinese), literally meaning "canon platform bay", taken from the fact that canons were made here in the Qing Dynasty. The canon on display was actually excavated in the neighborhood. The park is rather big and I probably only covered one tenth of it. It's a good place to be away from traffic and crowd, looking at the sea, ships, grass, birds ... good for picnics and even team-building :-0

To get there, take metro line 3 and get off at You-yi Road (友谊路站). Then take Bao-shan bus No. 23 (宝山23路) at the intersection of Pan-gu Road (盘古路) & Zhang-ling Road (樟岭路). Get off at Tang-hou Road (塘后路) & Shuang-cheng Road (双城路).

31/03/2016

Right outside the Mei-lan-hu station (美兰湖站, ie. Mei-lan Lake) on metro line 7 in the Bao-shan District (宝山区) in northern Shanghai is the residential town built in the Swedish style in 2009, one of the 9 foreign-style towns built in the suburbs of Shanghai (You can scroll down and refer to my October 30th, 2015 post on the Holland town, 荷兰新城). Compared to Luo-dian old town (罗店老镇), the Mei-lan Lake residential area is much more easily accessible by subway and sits right on the side of a highway. It's said that there is a golf course in the area, but I didn't go and it's probably not within walkable distance anyway.

So what's new there, compared to the last time when I was there, which is about 5 years ago?

- The traffic in the new town is certainly busier, tens of thousands of electric bikes parked around (literally around :)) the subway station. Going-through vehicles on the main streets are noticeable.
- The apartment buildings right outside the metro station look pretty occupied, seen from the laundry hung in the balconies and number of small stores open on the ground level.
- But in the “town center" where commerce was supposed to flourish in those Swedish styled buildings, the situation is not quite optimistic: at most only 1/3 of the shops are open, probably more shop assistants than customers, and the "rose garden" looks having been deserted for a while.
- I don't know the occupancy rate of those villas in the area, but obviously more are under construction...

29/03/2016

Luo-dian old town (罗店老镇) is probably not worth a one-hour commute from the center of the city, but if you happen to be in the neighborhood, why not? The old street is not long and is certainly tailored to the local residents instead of tourists. I felt lucky to catch the moment when the white-coat barber saw off his customers, an old couple, at the door of his shop, which is called "Generations barber's shop".

-- to be continued with photos and some thoughts on the nearby Luo-dian new town (罗店新镇), ie. Mei-lan Lake residential area (美兰湖周边住宅区)

To get there, take metro line 7 till the end, Mei-lan Lake stop (美兰湖站). The old town is about 1.5km from there.

27/03/2016

Somehow my friend Annclothilde and I picked the coldest day of the week to go to see the photo show at the Shanghai Center of Photography (SCoP, 上海摄影艺术中心). The show features works of two Magnum (玛格南) masters, Bruno Barbey and Ian Berry. I read that both gentlemen were actually in Shanghai attending the opening ceremony on the 12th of March.

I always believe that photos are one of the most powerful tools in the world. Good photos make people speechless. Luckily I experienced that speechless moments at the show.

Another unexpected treat is that we were invited into a compound near SCoP which is the office of an urban designing firm. The window frames and doors collected from dismantled houses are beautiful together refilled with life again (last two photos).

The show runs till May 29th. Admission ticket is RMB 40 per person. SCoP is located at 2555 Longteng Avenue (龙腾大道), close to exit 1, Yun-jin Road station (云锦路站) on metro line 11.

25/03/2016

It's said that this is the most beautiful library in Shanghai, Jiading Library (嘉定图书馆), in the northwestern Jiading District (嘉定区). The 2-story complex is surrounded by water and looks compatible with its more famous neighbor, Poly Grand Theater (保利大剧院, last photo). The library is much better equipped inside than the Shanghai Library, but don't expect to find a large inventory here.

If you happen to come to the Poly Grand Theater, you may want to check out the library too, located at 1288 South Yu-min Road (裕民南路), near Bai-yin Road (白银路). The closest metro station is Bai-yin Road stop (白银路站) on metro line 11, to be followed by a short taxi ride afterwards.

22/03/2016

I was expecting to see more tulips in Da-ning Park (大宁灵石公园) but rather encountered a crowd - old, young, and little ones - who were there enjoying flowers, grass (yes people were allowed to sit on the grass :)), and a man-made beach. A foreign friend who has left Shanghai once said that what he had missed most while in China was the green space in the city. This high density of people in the park on a weekday seems to echo his regret.

I wonder if Shanghai really needs another tallest building in the country, another 6-star luxury hotel, another largest exhibition hall in the world, or even another amusement park (no offense Disney). Instead let the people have more space to sit down, to lie down, to stretch, to breathe, to run ...

The tulip show ends on April 10th. The Park opens everyday from 8am to 6pm, near exit 2, Shanghai Circus City stop (上海马戏城站) on metro line 1. Don't go on weekends :-)

21/03/2016

After a long break, we're resuming our walking tours this week by revisiting some of the places in Xu-jia-hui (徐家汇) that we visited before but have now taken a new look, in particular the former Seminary (大修院 in Chinese), where Catholic priests underwent training with the Jesuit Society in the early 1900s. Revamping on this building continued for a couple of years (the last photo was taken last year). Now the 2nd-4th floors still house a variety of administration offices of Xuhui District (徐汇区), with the ground floor used as an exhibition space open to the public now only on the weekends.

Currently on display are copies of some old photos and videos showcasing the evolution of the Xu-jia-hui area. What's more appealing to me are some of the original construction materials used about 100 years ago that were discovered this time in the revamping project that had been forgotten in some closet or hidden behind plasters. History often repeats itself, doesn't it? Beauty always shines, no matter after how many years left in dust.

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Videos

A　video clip of martial arts (kung fu) performance of Peking Opera

TV news on the Cultural Heritage Day in Shanghai, June 13th, 2015. In the near future, visitors will be able to find out more about a historic building by scanning the QR code posted outside the building including the history, architectural details, restoration information, etc. Let's hope it will come true sooner.

Today's Peking Opera stage performance at Tian Chan Grand Stage (天蟾逸夫大舞台) was excellent. This is the theatre in Shanghai dedicated to Peking Opera and other local operas such as Yue Ju (越剧) and Hu Ju (沪剧). Seats are comfortable, artists are professional, and price is so reasonable (afternoon ticket is RMB 30). Address is 701 Fuzhou Road, close to Raffles City shopping mall at People's Square. I highly recommend it! http://www.tianchan.com

Walking Tours with ICS

Our walking tours are fun, interactive, and much more in-depth than many other tours offered in Shanghai. Conducted in English, each walking tour lasts 2-3 hours on foot. We also provide tailored tours for a group larger than 10 people. Private tours and corporate tours are also available.