Nanjing Road
Nanjing Road, from People’s Park east to the Bund, is a good place to take in the contradictions of Shanghai. Its ornate architecture and procession of grand department stores are a reminder of the city’s colonial past, when Nanjing Road was the heart of the International Settlement, jointly controlled by Britain and the United States and one of the several foreign concessions in the city. Today, the eastern part of Nanjing Road has been eschewed by many upwardly mobile Shanghainese in favour sleeker shopping districts elsewhere in the city, and it has a somewhat tacky atmosphere that is at odds with its grandiosity, especially at night. Touts and hustlers follow foreign and domestic tourists, trying to lure them into brothels and karaoke bars, while electric trolleys taking shoppers from one end of the street to the other push their way through the crowds.
Tags: China, Shanghai, Shopping
siqi says:
Hope you didn’t get hit by that little tourist train.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 pm