Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Taikang Lu Art Sheet
Continuing further south along Sinan Lu from the Former Residences, the
area begins to feel earthier. Head right to the end of the road and a right turn
onto Taikang Lu will bring you to what no inner Shanghai working-class
district can these days be without - an artsy quarter. Its entrance marked by an
arch,
Taikang Lu Art Street
is an unassuming alleyway stretching north off
Taikang Lu, It winds all the way to Jianguo Zhong Lu but forget trying to find
it from there - the entrance is hidden.
The
shikumen
houses and 1950s factories along this narrow
longtang
have
been turned into boutiques, cafés and galleries. It's quainter and artsier than
Xintiandi with a little more charm. There are still plenty of local families
around, who continue, boutiques or no boutiques, to hang their woolly
underwear out to dry, and old folk shuffle around in their pyjamas. The art on
sale tends towards the commercial, “something for the guestroom” variety, and
some stores are cutesy, but others contain quirky items you won't find
elsewhere; on the whole, this is the place to come for accessories such as
handmade jewellery, belts, shoes and scarves, and for unique one-off pieces
rather than name-brand designer labels (see Shopping, p.142).
Ruijin Er Lu and Maoming Nan Lu
Heading west, the south section of
Ruijin Er Lu
is busy and cramped but
there's a wonderful escape in the form of the stately
Ruijin Hotel
, just south
of Fuxing Zhong Lu. This Tudor-style country manor was home in the early
twentieth century to the Morris family, owners of the
North China Daily News
;
Mr Morris raised greyhounds for the Shanghai Race Club and the former
Canidrome dog track across the street. The house, having miraculously escaped
severe damage during the Cultural Revolution because certain high-ranking
officials used it as their private residence, has now been turned into a pleasant
inn (see p.109). Even if you're not a guest, you're free to walk around the
spacious, quiet grounds, where it's hard to believe you're in the middle of one
of the world's most hectic cities. Check out the sumptuous
Face Bar
(see
p.125)
and the
Art Deco Garden Café
(se
é
p.114).
For a complete change of tone, you can exit the guesthouse onto the south
end of
Maoming Nan Lu
, a raucous bar strip, though it's pretty tame during
the day. Point yourself north and the street grows more salubrious with every
step, until by the time you cross Fuxing Zhong Lu it's positively la-di-da, with
plenty of boutiques to poke around. Keep going over Huaihai Zhong Lu and
past the old
Cathay Theatre
, now a cinema (see p.133), and you'll come to
one of the city's most discreetly prestigious districts.
The two plush hotels, the
Okura Garden
(see p.109) and the
Jinjiang
(see
p.108), are both worth a visit for glimpses of past luxuries. The
Okura
, origi-
nally the French Club, or Cercle Sportif Français, was taken over by the
Americans during World War II and converted by the egalitarian Communists
into the People's Cultural Palace. Anyone can wander round the lovely
gardens and go in to look at the sumptuous ceiling design of stained glass in
the ballroom.
The
Jinjiang
compound opposite includes the former
g
Grosvenor Residence
complex, the most fashionable and pricey address in pre-World War II Shanghai.
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