Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The riverside promenade
Creaky
Waibadu Bridge
, built by the British in 1907, is the obvious place
to start an exploration of the Bund. At the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese
War in 1937 it represented the frontier between the Japanese-occupied areas
north of Suzhou Creek and the
International Settlement
to the south -
itself a no-man's-land, it was guarded at each end by Japanese and British
sentries.
The first building south of the bridge was one of the cornerstones of
British interests in old Shanghai, the
former British Consulate
, once
ostentatiously guarded by magnificently dressed Sikh soldiers. Right on the
corner of the two waterways, on the east side of the road,
Huangpu Park
was another British creation, then the British Public Gardens, established in
1886 on a patch of land formed when mud and silt gathered around a
wrecked ship. Here, too, there were Sikh troops, ready to enforce the rules
which forbade Chinese from entering unless they were servants accompa-
nying their employer. After protests the regulations were relaxed in 1928 to
admit “well-dressed” Chinese, who had to apply for a special entry permit.
Though it's firmly established in the Chinese popular imagination as a
symbol of Western racism, there's no evidence that there ever was a sign
here reading “No dogs or Chinese allowed”. These days the park contains a
rather unattractive stone obelisk commemorating the “
Heroes of the
People
”, and is also a popular spot for citizens practising
tai ji
early in the
morning. Underneath the monument lurks a small
historical museum
(daily 9am-4pm; free), with a display of photographs of Shanghai past that is
worth a few minutes of your time.
In contrast to the pretensions of the buildings over the road, the riverside
promenade
remains stoutly proletarian, full of out-of-towners taking the
obligatory Shanghai shot of the Oriental Pearl Tower (see p.89) - and there
are plenty of vendors who will take the picture for you, or sell you a plastic
50
Tai ji in Huangpu Park
