Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Shikumen
The shikumen, or stone-gated house, was developed in the late nineteenth century
as an adaption of Western-style terrace housing to Chinese conditions. By the 1930s,
such houses were ubiquitous across Shanghai, and housed eighty percent of the
population. Crammed together in south-facing rows, with a narrow alley or longtang
in between, they were all built to a similar design, with a stone gate at the front
leading into a small walled yard. Some were very salubrious, others little more than
slum dwellings. Those aimed at the middle classes had five rooms upstairs, five
down. The least desirable room was the north-facing tingzijian, at the bend in the
staircase; these were generally let to poor lodgers such as students and writers.
Many classics of Chinese literature were composed in these pokey spaces.
As the city's population mushroomed in the twentieth century, shikumen were
partitioned into four or five houses. In the rush to develop, most shikumen neighbour
hoods have been demolished; those that remain are cramped and badly maintained,
with archaic plumbing. Xintiandi is the single example of stylish renovation, though
perhaps pastiche would be a more accurate word, as there's not much left in the area
of the original houses. The longtangs at Taikang Lu (see opposite) and Duolun Lu (see
p.94) have, however, been well preserved.
money and a British policeman's uniform and truncheon, are more interesting
than the comically outdated propaganda rants. The last room has a waxwork
diorama of Mao and his fellow delegates.
Fuxing Park and the Former Residences
Fuxing Park
is a pleasant venue for a stroll. Locals play mahjong or perform
tai ji
under the shade of tall, fragrant plane trees and the gaze of busts of Marx
i
and Engels. The complex at the northwestern exit is popular club
California
so
at night the fountain here sees its share of frolicking.
Just outside the western exit stands the
Former Residence of Sun
Yatsen
, the first president of the Chinese Republic, and his wife, Song Qing
Ling (daily 9am-4.30pm; ¥8). The dry exhibition of the man's topics and
artefacts is nothing special, but just as an example of an elegantly furnished
period house it is worth a wander round. Just north of here on Gaolan Lu,
the Russian Orthodox
St Nicholas Church
, built in 1933, was turned into
a factory by the Communists, then became a fancy nightclub until the
Russians complained. No doubt it will be reinvented again soon, but at
present it's closed.
Head south down Sinan Lu and you enter a smart neighbourhood of old
houses. Five minutes' walk brings you to one you can get into,
Zhou Enlai's
Former Residence
, at no. 73 (daily 9am-4pm; ¥2). Zhou was Mao's right-
hand man, but - rather less harsh, a n d not so barmy - he has always been
looked on with rather more affection than the Chairman. When he lived here
he was head of the Shanghai Communist Party, and as such was kept under
surveillance from a secret outpost over the road. T There's not, in truth, a great
deal to see, beyond a lot of hard beds on a nice wooden floor. The house has
a terrace at the back with rattan chairs and polished wooden floors, and its
garden, with hedges and ivy-covered walls, could easily be a part of 1930s
suburban London.
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