Nanjing Road - from Jing'an-Tempel to People's Square

Shanghai has a superlative consumer street - Nanjing Road. It is divided into Nanjing Road West and East. In the middle is People's Square with an important metro station, there you are in the center of Shanghai. Nanjing Road is the right address for those who want to buy the usual luxury brands in the world. Everything in fashion, watches, cars, etc. is represented here (Cartier, Bulgari, Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Rolex, Breitling, Maserati, Porsche, Gucci, etc., etc.) You know it , but the order of magnitude in Shanghai is different than, for example, on Königsallee, which is short in size compared to Nanjing Road. The size of the buildings and the length of the street are beyond the dimensions in Düsseldorf. If you want to walk Nanjing Road from Jing'an Temple to the Bund, you have five kilometers to go. If you add the distances that you cover e.g. within metro stations, which are also large in size or add one or two detours, you can add quite a few kilometers to the run. So you have to have good condition. Even so, this street is worth seeing, not just for the shops, but because there are interesting historical things and pretty districts to the left and right. It seems contradicting that the Buddhist temple Jing'an is on this street. Renunciation and mega-consumption meet here, because the Jing'an temple complex is inhabited by monks who live ascetically and have an obligation to poverty; no worldly things should distract from the pursuit of enlightenment.

The temple stands in the midst of high-rise buildings, which seems inappropriate, but at the same time it holds the position there, impregnable like a bastion of renunciation in the middle of the world of commerce. You can go to Burger King, Lavazza, Starbucks and Ikea right next to it. Everything is completely interchangeable, the main thing is international, actually you don't know here anymore whether you are in Vancouver, Brisbane or Shanghai. In any case, the old Shanghai can no longer be found here. Nevertheless, the environment is quite nice. For some westerners or expads, it is probably the only area they know or can stand in Shanghai.

In front of the Jing'an Temple, lions stand on either side of the entrance portals. They are supposed to keep evil spirits away. These lions always look threatening, but they are guardians and protectors of the house and its inhabitants. The temple complex is one of the most important sacred buildings in China. Its first building was erected in AD 247 on the Suzhou River, which comes from the city of the same name and flows into the Huangpu River in Shanghai on the Bund. Due to various floods, the situation was abandoned and they moved to Jing'an District. The temple you visit today is relatively new because the previous building burned down in 1972. Traditional Chinese architecture was built from wood. That makes these precious buildings extremely fire-prone, but on the other hand earthquake-proof. Shanghai is not an earthquake region, which would be bad with the skyscrapers, but if there should be an earthquake, the temple is at least safe from it.

Directly opposite the entrance hall, stairs lead up to the Mahavira Hall with a huge statue of Gautama, who sits meditating in a lotus flower. It consists of 15 tons of silver and is almost nine meters high.

In the temple precinct you see once again many people who come here to pray with great seriousness. The monks celebrate something like devotion, during which drums and wind instruments can be heard in the system. Across from the temple on the other side of the street there is a very nicely laid out and well-kept park with a lake and a café on the shore. The parks in Shanghai are real oases. Many people do relaxing things there, e.g. painting outdoors, playing music on traditional instruments, tai chi in groups or just going for a walk or sitting in a restaurant.

From Jing'an Park, you can continue walking on Nanjing Road towards People's Square. You pass many luxury shops and shopping opportunities. Green areas with flowering beds stretch between the street and the buildings and you still feel like you are in a park.

The China flags that you can see in the photo are not hanging on the lanterns all the time. It was just the golden week around the national holiday.

To the south of Nanjing Road, between Shaanxi Road and Shimen Road, small streets lead off into old residential areas, where you can once again find a large piece of old Shanghai. Notice boards that highlight their historical value draw your attention to this quarter. So there is also monument protection in Shanghai that you recognize, because you often come across these information boards. It is said in the western media that China is tearing down all old substance and replacing it with new, faceless cities. I can't share that impression in Shanghai. The district south of Nanjing Road was built in the 1920s and because of its prime location close to the center, it was home to the better-off Chinese, most of the Cantonese, who had higher incomes.

The listed old quarters extend roughly as far as Shimen Road, where you come across one of many large shopping malls. Before you come to this mall on Shimen Road Number One, you can leave Nanjing Road for a short distance and follow the pedestrian zone over Wujiang Road until you come to Shimen Road.

Anyone who likes to see expensive cars and shops and would like to see luxury and wealth can linger, stroll and look here around.

Also south of Nanjing Road you can find a lot that corresponds to western luxury standards, you can follow Weihai Road or go to Dagu Road, where you will find many well-designed and high-quality restaurants from many different nations, in which you can get along very well with English. You can get European cutlery in quite a few restaurants there. Almost strange, because outside of this district there are of course only chopsticks.

The crossing Shimen Road/Nanjing Road/Wujiang Road/Fengyang Road

Shimen Road Number One

The entire district south of Nanjing Road is expensive, but also in parts very pretty. At the beginning of Wujiang Road, Maoming Road goes south and leads to Huaihai Road, another luxury mile. You pass the Garden Hotel and the old Cathay cinema in Art Deco style, if you follow Huaihai Road to the right from the cinema, after a few hundred meters you can turn diagonally into Dongho Road, where there are also some unusual restaurants. Xinle Road leads east back to Maoming Road and you will pass numerous small shops and boutiques. It is very worthwhile to explore this area, you walk under plane trees, see old buildings and creatively designed shops. It's cozy, small, manageable and yet you can feel the spirit of a cosmopolitan city.

Garden Hotel in Maoming Road

Cathay Kino at Maoming Road/ Huaihai Road

The way continues on Nanjing Road until one reaches People's Park. It was laid out in 1952 on the site of the old Shanghai racecourse. There is an artificial waterfall, a small amusement park with children's carousels, a lake with a restaurant and a tea house, the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art and much more. South of the park is the Shanghai Museum, which shows ancient Chinese art.

On the edge of the park on Nanjing Road is the building of the Shanghai Race Club, which the British founded in 1862. The British flag was flying on top of the building, the flagpole comes from a Chinese warship that was captured by the British and the Americans. When the People's Republic was proclaimed on October 1, 1949, the flag of the People's Republic of China was immediately raised there. the new government banned horse racing and turned the racetrack into today's park.

The clubhouse of the former Shanghai Race Club. You go from People's Square to the Bund via Nanjing Road East, which is a long pedestrian zone for this part. The expensive shops continue and at some point you reach the Bund, where Nanjing Road ends after many kilometers. When you've walked this street, you've worked out an important axis that runs through Shanghai, and you have a certain orientation that, unfortunately, you don't get at all if you limit yourself to the subway. You can also explore Shanghai by bike, but more on that later.

Nanjing Road East, a lively pedestrian zone