Following the Wusong River — the port that came first

The Wusong River is the other river. In Shanghai it is called Suzhou Creek, and most visitors know it as the dirty-looking water behind the Bund. Upstream, it is the reason the city is where it is.

A thousand years ago the port on this river was Qinglong, in what is now Qingpu — the "little Hangzhou" of the Tang and Song. It silted up, the port moved downstream, and that downstream port became Shanghai.

The route follows that move. It is the best single explanation of why Shanghai exists where it does.

Qinglong, before Shanghai

The Qinglong town site sits beside the Jihe highway, with a thousand-year-old pagoda still standing beside it. There is an excavated pagoda crypt at Longping temple, a riverside park, and the water-lane bridges of Shuguang village.

The local saying is "first there was Qinglong town, then there was Shanghai beach" — and unlike most local sayings, this one is archaeologically supported.

Downstream, into the city

The route runs from Anting old town in Jiading through the Qinglong stretch and finishes at the Banma Suhe park on Suzhou Creek in Putuo — the same water, now inside the city and cleaned up.

Walking it in that direction is walking the history forwards. The published figure is about 40 km, with a 25 km, four-hour version that covers the Qinglong section on its own.

Which section to pick

The Qinglong section is the one with the story, and it is the one worth the trip. The Putuo end is pleasant riverside walking but you are in the city by then.

Line 11 will get you to Anting; the Qinglong stretch is better approached from the Line 17 side.

Getting there without a car

Line 11 to Anting; Line 17 for the Qinglong stretch; Lines 11/13 for the Suzhou Creek end.

The honest part

This is one of the city’s official countryside routes, not a ShanghaiWalk route. Distances are as published.

✓ Tick off what you have walked

All countryside routes →