Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Botanical Gardens
Taking bus #56 south down the main road, Longwu Lu, just to the west of the
Longhua Temple site, will bring you to the
Botanical Gardens
(daily 7am-4pm;
¥15). More than nine thousand plants are on view in the gardens, including two
pomegranate trees which are said to date from the reign of Emperor Qianlong in
the eighteenth century; despite their antiquity they still bear fruit. Look out too for
the orchid chamber, where more than a hundred different varieties are on show.
The western outskirts
Most visitors only head west of Xujiahui to get to Hongqiao airport but if you
have time it's worth a trip out to Hongqiao Lu subway stop and nosing around
the
Wanguo Cemetery
,
zoo
and the nearby
Cypress Hotel
, particularly if
you have kids in tow - though pick a fine day.
Wanguo Cemetery
The pleasant and well-tended
Wanguo Cemetery
is a ten-minute walk west
of Hongqiao Lu subway stop. There were once ten cemeteries for foreigners
in Shanghai, but most of the tombstones of those interred in the city suffered
ignoble fates - destroyed, used as foundation stones for buildings or sold in
antique stores - and those that remain have been collected here, the only
foreigners' cemetery left. The great Jewish families, the Kadoories and the
Sassoons, are memorialized, as is “Friend of China” Talitha Gerlach, whose
tomb stands out as it bears her photograph. Gerlach worked to improve the
conditions of Chinese labourers and set up a night school for women. In
1987, she was awarded the first green card given by the communists to a
foreigner in Shanghai. The cemetery's most celebrated occupant is Song
Qingling (see p.78), who has her own mausoleum and, next to it, a small
exhibition on her life.
Shanghai Zoo and Cypress Hotel
A couple of kilometres west of Wanguo Cemetery along Hongqiao Lu, shortly
before the airport, is
Shanghai Zoo
(daily 6.30am-4.30pm; ¥20), the grounds
of which until 1949 were one of Shanghai's most exclusive golf courses. The
zoo is a massive affair with more than two thousand animals and birds caged in
conditions which, while not entirely wholesome, are better than in most
Chinese zoos. The stars, inevitably, are the giant pandas, though check out the
animal-shaped topiary too.
Next door, at 2409 Hongqiao Lu, stands the
Cypress Hotel
, a mansion that
once served as home to the Sassoons. Though it's too far out to recommend
staying in, it's worth a look around, as the grounds are tranquil and some of the
buildings rather grand. T The living room originally boasted a fireplace large
enough to roast an ox, but Victor Sassoon (see p.52), who used this mansion as a
weekend residence, only allowed for the design of two small bedrooms because
he wanted to avoid potential overnight guests. The house has since served as a
Japanese naval HQ, a casino and as the private villa of the Gang of Four.
The easiest way to get the zoo and hotel is to take the subway to Hongqiao
Lu, then grab a taxi.
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