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Orientation
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Shanghai is a surprisingly compact place, considering its enormous population, and although its layout is less obviously geometrical than that of Beijing, it's not hard to find your way around the various quarters on foot - though you'll certainly need buses or taxis for crossing from one quarter to the next. The area of most interest to visitors is bordered to the east by the
Huangpu River
(which flows from south to north), and to the north by the
Suzhou Creek
(which flows from west to east). A good place to get your bearings is at the southwestern corner of the junction of these two rivers, at the entrance of the small Huangpu Park. To the north, across the iron Waibaidu Bridge over Suzhou Creek, is the area of the old Japanese Concession. South from Huangpu Park, along the western bank of the Huangpu River, runs
the Bund
- in Chinese, officially Zhongshan Lu, unofficially
Wai Tan.
The Bund is in turn overlooked from the east bank by the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the city's most conspicuous landmark. A lot of hotels, including some of the only dormitory accommodation, are in the Bund area. A hundred metres south from Huangpu Park, the Bund is met by
Nanjing Lu
, one of the city's premier shopping streets, which runs west, past the northern edge of Renmin Park in the centre of the city. Like all east-west routes, Nanjing Lu takes its name from that of a city; north-south roads are named after provinces. A few blocks to the south of Nanjing Lu is another major east-west thoroughfare, Yan'an Lu, which, to the east, leads into a tunnel under the Huangpu River. South of here, just west of the Bund, is the oval-shaped area corresponding to the
Old City
. The most important of the north-south axes is Xizang Lu, cutting through the downtown area just west of
Renmin Park
. Heading south, Xizang Lu runs down to an intersection with
Huaihai Lu
, Shanghai's other main shopping boulevard, which heads west into the heart of the
old French Concession
. In Shanghai, as in many other Chinese cities, long streets are divided into sections for the purpose of naming. For example Yan'an "East" Street (Yan'an Dong Lu), Yan'an "Middle" Street (Yan'an Zhong Lu) and Yan'an "West" Street (Yan'an Xi Lu). This convention is very useful when looking for an address. North and south are
bei
and
nan
respectively. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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China,
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