Shanghai/Nanjing Road
From World travel guide
Nanjing Road (南京路 Nánjīnglù) is Shanghai's main shopping street, famously named one of the World's Seven Great Roads in the 1930s and now making a rapid comeback after decades of Maoist austerity. The road stretches from The Bund east towards Hongqiao, with Shanghai's centerpoint People's Square (人民广场) in the middle.
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Get in
Metro Line 2 runs under Nanjing Road for much of the way, intersecting with Line 1 at People's Square.
At time of writing, the new Shanghai City Air Terminal (near Metro Jing'an Temple) remains under construction, but express buses shuttle regularly to and from here to both Pudong (45 min; Y19) and Hongqiao airports.
See
- People's Square (人民广场 Rénmín Guǎngchǎng) - located at the heart of the city, it is the political and cultural center of this city. A racecourse in the colonial era and the place where one million Red Guards gathered in 1966, today's park is a comfortable place to spend an afternoon with many pigeons and lots of fresh air. Entry into People's Park on the north half of the square costs Y2, but all attractions listed below are on the edges of the park, not inside. People's Square can be easily reached with metro lines no. 1 and 2.
- Shanghai Museum - Located south of the People's Square directly opposite the Municipal Government Building, Shanghai Museum is one of the largest museums in China, with thousands of old Chinese artifacts. It was build only a few years ago for USD 700 million.
- Shanghai Art Gallery - Bordering the People's Square on the north-west corner, this is a large international gallery with frequently changing program.
- Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall (100 Renmin Dadao, on the road across People's Park) – more interesting than you'd expect given its name, this museum documents the history of Shanghai and attempts to chart its future, with changing exhibits on the first two floors and a permanent exhibition on the rest. Particularly worthwhile is the massive scale model of what Shanghai should look like in 2020. Entry Y25.
- Jing'an Temple (静安寺, near Metro Jing'an Temple) - Also known as the "Temple of the Jade Buddha", this 750-year-old temple was refurbished and re-opened in Spring 2004.
Do
- Shanghai Grand Opera Palace - Situated on the west side of People's Park, the Opera Palace is often listed as one of the ten best opera houses in the world.
Buy
Nanjing Road is the most important commercial street in Shanghai, with hundreds of shops, many with a rich history. As a rough generalization, Nanjing East Road (南京东路 Nanjing Donglu) is more historical but these days a little downmarket, while Nanjing West Road (南京西路 Nanjing Xilu) is brash, modern and caters more to the status-conscious luxury shopper.
- Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, the car-free central section between People's Park and Henan Zhonglu, is known for its stationery and book stores. One of the largest is the Shanghai Book City which is all Chinese language, or the the Foreign Book Store just down the street which caters to Western tastes.
- Foreign Language Bookstore - South of Nanjing East Road, located in Fuzhou Road, between the intersection with Fujian Road and Henan Road on the northern side. Offers the largest variety of language learning books in Shanghai and is the best place to shop for Chinese learning books. Its also popular with foreign language students.
Eat
Budget
Wujiang Road (吴江路 Wujianglu, near Metro Xiamen No.1 Rd) is a short, twisty alleyway packed with fiercely competitive shops selling snacks and small meals. Very cheap (most everything less than Y10) but very Chinese, with English menus basically unknown.
- Xiaolong Shengjian (小杨生煎), 60 Wujiang Rd. Shanghai's most famous purveyor of shengjian (生煎), basically fried xiao long bao, and easily spotted thanks to the yellow signs and never-ending (but fast-moving) queue outside, with over 10,000 served daily. Pay at the cashier (a steal at ¥2.50 for 4), then join the queue, get your buns either on a plate to eat in, or packed in a box for take away. For those eating indoors, three types of soup are also available.
Mid-range
- Bali Laguana (巴厘岛), No.3 Jinan Park, 189 Huashan Road (near West Nanjing Road, 静安区华山路189号静安公园3号门 近南京西路), tel. 62486970. Indonesian food.
Splurge
- Huanghe Rd (黄河路, next to Park Hotel) has an assembly of good but fairly expensive seafood restaurants in the Chinese style, geared more for larger groups and featuring fish tanks, meters of red plush and golden dragons encrusted on all available surfaces.
Sleep
Budget
- Shanghai YMCA, near People's Park, [1]. Comfortable rooms. Prices start at US$15 for a dormitory and US$55 for a single room.
Mid-range
Splurge
- Park Hotel (国际饭店 Guoji Fandian), 170 Nanjing West Rd (Metro People's Park), tel. 6327 5225. Another Art Deco masterpiece, was once the tallest building in the Far East with 22 soaring stories, but in today's Shanghai it looks like a refugee from Gotham City among the surrounding glass and steel skyscrapers. Convenient location, but the rooms with good views facing Nanjing Xilu and the Park also have to deal with the road's traffic noise. Doubles around US$100.
