Former French Concession and Wukang Road (Shanghai)

Hengshan Road Fuxing Road Historic And Cultural Area · Shanghai, Shanghai

The leafy, low-rise heart of old Shanghai: a district of plane-tree-lined streets, garden villas, Art Deco apartment blocks and lane houses that was governed by France from 1849 until 1943, when the city's foreign concessions ended. Walking its quiet roads - now protected as the Hengshan Road-Fuxing Road historic area - is one of the great pleasures of the city. The most famous is Wukang Road, lined with mansions once home to writers, politicians and film stars, which ends at Wukang Mansion, a 1924 flatiron apartment block designed by the Hungarian-Slovak architect László Hudec that has become one of Shanghai's most photographed buildings. Nearby are the former residences of the novelist Ba Jin, of Soong Ching-ling and of Sun Yat-sen, the French-style Fuxing Park where locals dance and play cards, the café streets of Anfu Road and Yongkang Road, and the stylish shikumen lanes of Xintiandi and Tianzifang. The area's mix of European architecture, Chinese street life and new cafés made it the centre of Shanghai's citywalk boom, when strolling these streets became a national craze.

Wukang Mansion, Huaihai Middle Road and Wukang Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, Shanghai, China

Streets and parks open at all hours; former residences and museums keep daytime hours (typically about 9:00-16:30) and may require reservations or close on Mondays (check).

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