Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Number 635 was once the glorious Wing On emporium, and diagonally
opposite was the Sincere . These were not just stores: inside there were restau-
rants, rooftop gardens, cabarets and even hotels. Off the circular overhead
walkway at the junction between Nanjing and Xizang Zhong Lu is the grandest
of the district's department stores, the venerable Shanghai No. 1 Department
Store ; it's still a place of pilgrimage for out-of-towners, but is nothing like as
spectacular as it was.
If you're looking for cheap clothes, you'll be spoilt for choice, but for
something distinctly Chinese you'll have to look a bit harder. Your best bet for
curiosities is to head to the Shanghai First Food Store , at no. 720. The
Chinese often buy food as a souvenir, and this busy store sells all kinds of locally
made gift-wrapped sweets, cakes and preserves, as well as tea and tasty pastries.
Nearby Taikang Foods at no. 768 is another example, with a dried meat
section at the back selling rather macabre flattened pig heads.
Fuzhou Lu
Heading west from the Bund along Fuzhou Lu , you'll first come to the
nautically themed Captain Hostel , w here taking the creaky lift to the sixth-
floor bar will reward you with excellent views of Pudong (see p.124).
Continue west until you reach Jiangxi Lu, and you'll see Shanghai at its most
gloomily Gothamesque, thanks to twin Art Deco edifices, the Metropole
Hotel (see p.107) and Hamilton House , once an apartment complex, on the
south corner; both were built by British architects Palmer and Turner. In the
building at the northwest corner lodged the Shanghai Municipal Council, the
governing body of the International Settlement.
Fifty metres further west, the court building at no. 209 used to be the
American Club . Georgian-style, with marble columns, it was built in 1924
with bricks shipped in from the States. After you cross Henan Zhong Lu you
enter a brighter commercial area, with a medley of small stores selling art
supplies, stationery, trophies, medical equipment and books, including the
Foreign Language Bookstore at no. 390 (see p.146). Finally, at the end of the
road, Raffles Mall is one of Shanghai's best (and busiest), with a juice bar and
plenty of cheap, clean eateries in the basement, and a good mix of clothes
stores above.
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