Offline map Google map

(Shengnigulasi Jiaotang; 16 Gaolan Rd; 16 South Shaanxi Rd) A short walk west along Gaolan Rd from Fuxing Park is rewarded by the distinctive shape of the vacant, and now derelict, St Nicholas Church, one of Shanghai’s small band of Russian Orthodox houses of worship, built to service the huge influx of Russians who arrived in Shanghai in the 1930s.

The church, dating from 1934, has a typically varied CV, ranging from shrine to washing-machine factory and French restaurant (the latter recalled by the inscription ‘Ashanti Dome’ on the plaque embedded above the door). It was spared destruction during the Cultural Revolution by a portrait of Mao Zedong, hung strategically from its dome. It was not open to the public at the time of writing.

Zhou Enlai’s Former Residence Historic Building

(Zhou Ēnlai Guju; 73 Sinan Rd; 73 9am-4pm; South Shaanxi Rd, Xintiandi) In 1946 Zhou Enlai, the urbane and much-loved (although some swear he was even more sly than Mao) first premier of the People’s Republic of China, lived briefly in this former French Concession Spanish villa. Zhou was then head of the Communist Party’s Shanghai office and spent much of his time giving press conferences and dodging Kuomintang agents who spied on him from across the road.

There’s not much to see these days except spartan beds and stern-looking desks, but the charming neighbourhood, with its lovely old houses, is a great place to stroll.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14