Contrast · Jing'an
A gilded temple inside a glass-and-steel district, then ten minutes into lanes where the 1930s are still doing business.
Jing'an Temple is one of the oddest buildings in Shanghai: a working Buddhist temple, rebuilt in gilded concrete, standing in the middle of the most expensive commercial district in the city. Photograph it, then leave it.
The reason to come is Yuyuan Road, ten minutes north — a lane district with a surprising density of 1930s houses, small shops and actual neighbourhood life, and far fewer visitors than Wukang Road thirty minutes away.
The temple from the plaza and from the footbridge over the road. The gold is real gold leaf on the upper structure.
The best view is from the pedestrian bridge to the south, not from the plaza. Interior entry has a separate fee.
The commercial layer. Good for a supermarket basement, a restroom, and air conditioning.
Supermarket basements in Shanghai department stores are genuinely useful: cheap water, snacks, and clean toilets.
Turn north. A long lane street with plane trees, 1930s villas, and a wall of historical plaques.
Read the plaques. This street has more documented former residents per metre than almost anywhere in the city.
Duck into any lane on the north side. Washing, bicycles, and the ordinary business of a Shanghai neighbourhood.
These are homes. Smile, do not photograph doors, and you will be fine.
Finish at the 1930s ballroom on the corner of Yuyuan and Wanhangdu Road. Restored, and still a dance hall.
Worth a look from the street; go in for the afternoon tea dance if you want the interior.
Start at Jing'an Temple (Line 2 / 7 / 14), Exit 2. Finish: Yuyuan Road, then Jiangsu Road station (Line 2 / 11).
Keep walking
The largest shikumen compound in the city, restored and reopened, sitting on top of the busiest shopping street in Shanghai.
Plane trees, low balconies and a street that bends eleven times. The Shanghai most visitors picture, walked slowly.
Follow the creek west through warehouses, a 1930s post office and a battle-scarred warehouse, ending in the city's best cluster of galleries.
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FAQ
Everything on this site is written and re-checked on the ground. When something changes, this page changes.
Yes, with an admission fee. It is an active place of worship, so dress modestly and no flash photography in the halls.
No — completely different places, similar pinyin. Yu Garden (Yuyuan) is in the Old City; Yuyuan Road is in Jing'an, several kilometres away.
The temple plaza is busy. Yuyuan Road is not. That contrast is the reason the route works.
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