M50 Art Quarter in Shanghai

M50, short for the address, 50 Monganshan Road, is a contemporary art district in Shanghai that houses over a hundred and twenty artists and studios open to the public.  The art district was started in an abandoned mill in 2000, fueled by the cheap rent of the unused industrial space.  M50 has spread to take over several factories and warehouses, converted into studios, galleries, and other art-related businesses.

 Entrance with M50 map

Scattered around outside are numerous sculptures, some whimsical, some serious.

Sculpture scattered around

The complex is a maze of passageways, alleyways, and studios.

 Alleyway with studios and galleries on both sides

Wandering through the complex, I stick my head into several galleries and see the expansive and varied collection of art.

 Wandering through the studios and galleries

 Outside, artists have painted the walls along the street and on the construction wall a few blocks away.

 Decorating the neighborhood

 And, not all neighbors are pleased!

After wandering through the studios and galleries, I head along Suzhou Creek back to People's Square, enjoying the beauty and calm of the path and gardens in the middle of this large city.

Saturday Morning in Zhongshan Park, Shanghai

 I really enjoy walking through Shanghai parks just to see everyone out and about enjoying themselves.  People are walking, exercising, playing games, or just talking to friends.  The parks are full every day of the week, but the activity picks up on weekends.

One of my favorite parks for these walks is Zhongshan park, about 6.5km (4 miles) from People's Square.  The walk to the park passes through a lot of scenic Shanghai neighborhoods and takes me an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half to get there from People's Square.

Zhongshan Park, created in 1914,  is spread over a city block, a great oasis in the city.  The park is named for Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, who served as the first president of the Republic of China in 1912.

 Map of Zhongshan Park

As soon as I arrive at the park I see people playing badminton outside, next to a group practicing ballroom dancing.

 Playing badminton on the sidewalk outside the park

 Ballroom dancing outside and inside the park

Inside the park are more great Shanghai gardens and sculpttures.

More sculpture and gardens

But, I'm here to walk through the park and see what people are up to.  First, I come upon a group exercising together to music.

 Exercising group

Then, another group singing.

Singing group

Then some practice of all sorts of things with all age groups.

 Group practice

Leaving the park, I come across people writing on the sidewalk in water as others stand by and read what they write.

 Writing with water (near the badminton players)

An, of course, outside the park there more great plantings and sculpture.

 More gardens and sculpture just outside Zhongshan Park

It's a great weekend day of exploring and people watching in the parks and on the city streets.

Jing'an Sculpture Park in Shanghai

I love this park and try to wander through every trip!  There are great sculpture, with the Museum of Natural History in the middle.  Located on Beijing Road West, between Shimen Road No. 2 and Chengdu Road North, Jing'an Sculpture Park is a 15-20 minute walk from People's Square.

Here are some of the great views.

Park entrance at the corner of Beijing Road and Shimen Road No. 2

Art in the park

 New Shanghai Natural History Museum in the middle of the park

Strolling up the Shanghai Bund

The Bund is the waterfront district of Shanghai on the Huangpu River with numerous historic buildings that once housed the great banks and trading houses of the countries that did business with China in the late 19th century, including the US, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, and Japan.  In the early 1900s, this area was a major financial center of Asia.

Over the last 20-30 years, the Bund has been developed as a tourist center for Shanghai, particularly in conjunction with the 2010 Shanghai Expo, for which the elevated roadway along the Bund was relocated underground and a new landscaped promenade was constructed along much of the riverfront.  

I start my stroll on a new section of the embankment south of the Bund.

 New section of embankment promenade

This section has apparently not yet been discovered by tourists and I have much of it to myself.  As I walk, I watch the boats moving up and down the river against the backdrop of the modern skyscrapers in Pudong on the other side of the river.

 River craft

Approaching the older historic buildings of the Bund, the promenade grows larger and more populated.  Moored alongside the promenade are pleasure craft to take parties out on river cruises.

 Approaching the historic section

 Party boats at the wharf

Across the river is the famous Shanghai Pudong skyline, featuring skyscrapers and some of the more recognizable buildings of modern Shanghai.

Pudong across the river

The modern buildings of Pudong face the historic colonial buildings of the Bund, a great comparison of old and new China.

 Historic buildings of the Bund

There are small parks, fountains, and statues all along the esplanade, helping make this a great spot for tourists and locals alike.

 Gardens and fountains

The stroll up the Bund starts a new Shanghai adventure with something old and something new, contrasts of colonial and modern China, all combining for one great experience

Morning Walk in Shanghai

After revisiting many of our favorite places in Europe, it's time to move to the other side of the world for a while and view some of our favorite places in Asia.  Right at the top of the list is Shanghai, initially for business trips, later for pleasure.  Shanghai is a city of about 25 million people that is constantly reinventing itself.  

Every time I return, there is something new and something old and familiar is gone.  I try to explore a new area of Shanghai each trip and also revisit some of the areas I’ve enjoyed wandering through before just to see what has changed in the months since I’ve been here. 

I walk in a big circle to the lower part of the Bund, near the elegant Nanpu Bridge, wandering through areas where I am clearly the only foreigner and I get a few curious looks from people wondering why I’m marching through their neighborhood.  But, mostly, they are rushing off to work themselves.

As I walk through Shanghai, I dodge the scooters and bicycles on the streets and on the sidewalks.  It's a great way to get around, but parking does take up space and when a scooter comes down the sidewalk toward you, getting out of the way is the safest approach.

 Bicycle and scooter parking on the sidewalk

Propane delivery by scooter

Metro stations are everywhere, the Shanghai system [seemingly always under construction] will get me (and about 8-10 million other people) just about anywhere in the city.  The Shanghai Metro is the longest metro system in the world, with 14 lines and 337 stations.

Metro Station on Line 9

I wander down a side street along Lujiabang Road and find tranquility in the busy city.

 Quiet side street off Lujiabang Road

Getting to the end of Lujiabang Road, I approach the Nanpu Bridge and the Huangpu River.  In the park just before the bridge, people are at their morning activities, playing badminton, exercising, and just enjoying the day.

 Planting and sculpture in the park at the ramp to the Nanpu bridge

Playing badminton, with and without net, in the park near the Nanpu bridge

Walking up toward the Bund, along the Huangpu River bank, I look back at the Nanpu Bridge.  It is impressive, but too big to get in one picture.

Nanpu Bridge

All along the road are parks, tiny oases of calm scattered around the city.  In the morning people are walking, exercising and just meeting with friends.

Shanghai city parks

At the Nanpu Bridge, I turn left along the Huangpu River and walk up to the Bund.  As I walk along the Bund, I get differing views of the Shanghai Tower, the tallest building in China.  From all perspectives, it truly stands out.

 Views from the Bund

Along the Bund, I also view the ship traffic passing through Shanghai.  Vessels and barges of every type and full of everything imaginable flow past in a continuous stream on the river.

Barges on the Huangpu River

As I get to the top of the Bund and head over to my favorite Shanghai garden display, I see a wedding photographer (and, there are a lot of them taking pictures of the bride and groom on the Bund with backdrops of the famous sites) waiting for a lull in traffic on the Waibaidu Bridge.  When the traffic pauses, the photographer gets in the street, the bride-to-be takes off her shoes, and the couple runs down the middle of the bridge, then they all jump onto the curb before they get flattened by the next bus.  I had to take a picture of them taking a picture.

Taking the wedding picture

Crossing the street to the garden, I see that the bushes have been sculpted into dolphins as with the addition of a few snails to keep them company.

Topiary in the garden near Waibaidu Bridge

Walking away from the Bund, I return to People's Square and head down Nanjing Road, the main shopping street in Shanghai, packed with world-famous high-end shops.  But, in addition to the shops, the street and neighborhoods have great sculptures and small gardens, randomly scattered along the way.  Walking from People’s Square to the Jing’an Temple at the corner of Nanjing Road and Changchu Road takes about 45 minutes, at 6:30 in the morning, before the crowds come out and pack the street.

Here are some of the sights I come across in my morning walk, random discoveries as along the way.  This is why I walk through cities!

 

 

Art on Nanjing Road