Suburbs of Shanghai

(Fengxian beach)



As an industry city, Shanghai doesn’t have a lot of places to go for vocations. However, to meet the requirements of Shanghai people, government developed several Shanghai suburbs to vocation spots.


One of Shanghai’s suburbs is called Fengxian. It used to be farmlands but now it is developed as a “University city” and vocation spots. Fengxian is a area next the sea, so government made an artificial beach in Fengxian and purred the sea water in that area to make the costal of Fengxian a tourists’ beach. Besides, government also made same beaches in Jinshan and Nanhui which are both suburbs of Shanghai. See the picture of the beach in Fengxian. You can see, if you go there on weekends or public breaks, it will be crowded because people all like the “next-to-door” beaches.



(Chongming Forest Park)

Another Shanghai’s suburb is called Chongming which is an island. There is a big forest park there. If you are bored with urban life, you can go there for a “natural-break”. You can rent a house in the park or even bring your tent there. You can go fishing, ride a horse, barbecue and do whatever you want to do in a forest. Also you will see a lot of mild wildlife there such as rabbits, squirrels and deer.

(Zhouzhuang)

Shanghai also has a lot of tourists’ attractions in the suburbs such as “Zhujiajiao” and “Zhouzhuang”. Zhujiajiao and Zhouzhuang are both little towns built on water. They are much like a kind of Chinese-Venice. You can take a boat to travel around the whole town and have the special fish that can be only seen in that area.

Rail way transpotaions in Shanghai

In my mind, Shanghai can be called a developed city according to its transportation level.

What I’m proud of is the rail way transportations in Shanghai which includes subways, light rails, trains and maglev. Currently, there are 9 lines of subways and light rails in the city. You can take a rail way to almost anywhere you want to go in downtown. When we Shanghai people want to go out, the first choice is the rail way. It is fast, comfortable and convenient. Railways always come in time and unless you take a subway in rush hours, it won’t be too crowded inside the sub sections. Besides, most Shanghai people use transportations card. This card is designed to make transportation easier: you can use it in a rail way, a cab, a city bus, a coach and a ferry. You can deposit money in the card in advance and when you take a bus or whatever, you just need scan it when you get in the bus. It is really convenient and makes the people current during rush hours goes faster. The subways, light rails and train rails are connected to each other. There are a lot of “transfer-stations” in the “rail way net” and once you get in a train, no matter what line is it, you can go everywhere. Even if you are a tourist to Shanghai, once you go out your train, there are three subways and light rails connected to the train station; if you take a plane, there is a maglev line connects the airport to the city. Besides, the maps of the railways are always clear and understandable. You will never get lost.

See the curent Shanghai " rail way net"http://www.exploreshanghai.com/ditie/

There will be more than 12 lines of subways and light rails in Shanghai in before 2020. Those rail ways will lead to suburbs around Shanghai. Also, the subway between downtown and airport will be finished in the near future. Till then, you don’t need to pay a lot for travelling to the airport because the subway fee in Shanghai is pretty low. However, if you are rush, you can still take the maglev as it is so fast. (Maglev travels about 350km/hour) Besides, there will be a maglev between Shanghai hand the nearest city-Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a fantastic place for sightseeing so the maglev will provide great convenience to the tourists (It will take about 2 hours drive from Shanghai to Hangzhou but if you take a maglev, it will take around 30 minutes).

See the future Shanghai "rail way net"(it is too big to show up):http://hiphotos.baidu.com/fd08新闻/pic/item/0b3a916f672a8ac080cb4a9d.jpg

New Paradise

Xintiandi is a new land mark on Shanghai. It is said the greatest (also the most expensive I think) place for entertainment.

Xintiandi is different from other entertainment places because it is set in an old “Linong”. The old houses in Shanghai were called Shikumen and Xintiandi is exactly in such a Shikumen community. As I mentioned before, those old buildings are all beautiful and have an aroma of old Europe and Japan. Though those buildings are old, people fixed and redecorated it to make it new and more beautiful. They named this area “Xintiandi”. The Chinese word “Xintiandi” means “New Paradise” in English, which shows the deep meaning of this new area: a new place for modern life based on an old styled life environment. A lot of elegant restaurants, designers’ studios, designers’ shops and pubs opened in Xintiandi and then made it an upper-class place.

As a land mark of Shanghai, Xintiandi attracts a lot of foreigners. When you go to Xintiandi during the daytime, you will see tourists from different countries; you will also hear a lot of different languages here. If you go to Xintiandi during the night, you will find most of the people clubbing here have blond hair and white skin. I mean, it’s in Shanghai, you won’t have many chances to see so many Europeans and Americans in a same place.

Xintiandi is also a popular place among young people. You will see most fashionable youngsters and even local stars here. They eat at the upper-class restaurants and then go to the pubs; they speak English here in Shanghai. The cost in Xintiandi is not so affordable but they like it. This is Shanghai, you know, people spend more and more money on fashion, luxury and entertainment; more and more places appear as a “place for English”-there are much more foreigners than locals there.

The famous bars in Shanghai-Lan Shanghai

Lan Shanghai is located in a European style building behind the Bund. The club is extremely large and takes up all four floors of the building. Every floor of the building has is decorated differently, each with its own style and theme. Customers will never find it dull or boring no matter how many times they go. The interior decorations are designed by famous international designers. The designs are both luxurious and elegant. On the third floor of the building there is a 10 meter long oil painting. It is the work of is one of China’s most famous painters, Liu Hsiao Dong.

Lan Shanghai is not only a club, inside there is also a restaurant, bar, and lounge. Inside the restaurant there are also a variety of different rooms including traditional Chinese style rooms and European style rooms. Customers can pick which room they want to eat in according to their preferences. After the meal, customers can go to the bar to listen to music, dance, and have a drink or go to the lounge to smoke cigarettes and sip some wine. Of course, if you just want to go there to party and have some fun, after 10 would be the best time. The club DJ’s are always prepared with the best house music for those who love to dance.

Lan Shanghai is also the restaurant/club where you would probably see the most celebrities in the city. If you are a fan of chasing celebrities or want to make some money off of selling photos, Lan Shanghai would be the place to go.

Famous bars in Shanghai-Shelter

Shelter is the most creative pub in Shanghai.

To talk about Shelter, we can’t forget this person: DJ V-nutz, the owner of the pub. First of all, he was the first place of the World DMC (Disco Mix Club) Contest-China Region. DMC contest is the most famous and important event among the DJ community and every year numerous DJs from different countries of the world will attend this contest to show themselves. Besides, DJ V-nutz is not only the winner of this event, but also one of the organizers and administrators of this contest in China region now.

However, when he opened this pub, it was a big surprise to the public because it was so weird. Most people cannot understand what is going on here on earth. What kind of music is he playing on earth? What are these stuffs on earth? What do they mean on earth? What must be mentioned here is that this bar is totally different from all other bars in Shanghai. Shelter is just so thoughtful, experimental and creative and not suits all people. It is just like its owner, DJ V-nutz. No one knows how he thinks. Like when others began to listen to hip-hop, he started to play old school…… Shelter is only open to who can really understand music. Every time, each piece of music DJ V-nutz played is specially designed and only who really love music can tell how good it is and can really appreciate. For example, in Shelter’s series of theme parties “Back To The Roots”, there were not only excellent DJs, but also the best dancers, MCs (Microphone Controller) and artists of graffiti in Shanghai.

Famous Bars in Shanghai-Volar & Attica

Volar has the best liquor.

This bar is famous of its “member system” and its design-it is designed by famous French designer Philippe Starck. Besides, people find that the cocktail there is amazing, too. The liquor menu of Volar contains Martini, Long Cocktail, Short Cocktail, Champagne Cocktail, Shooter and Classic Cocktail. There are a lot of choices you can have and all the materials used to make liquor are extremely fresh. What must be mentioned here is that Volar has a lot of "Volar liquor" which means the compounding of the drink is specially designed by Volar. For example, it has a "Volar Martini" that is made of Martini and watermelon juice. Having a fantastic look and a fantastic taste, the Volar Martini is so popular among the customers that it became the most famous drink in Volar. Besides, Volar also has a kind of liquor called “Bonbon” which means candy in French containing the “vanilla sugar”. This kind of vanilla sugar is specially made by Volar itself and just serves in this bar. You will not have this liquor unless you are in Volar.

Here is another bar called Attica which has the best gazebo.

Attica is located in the Bund which is a place for business, sightseeing and government. Therefore the location is not so good for this bar in some extent but it also provides Attica an advantage: the view.

According to the size of the gazebo, the facilities on the gazebo and the view from the gazebo, Attica is no doubt the best one. It is the only place that has two gazebos in the Bund. Both of these two gazebos are very big. One is for the dance floor and the other is for the restaurant but when a party is being held, both gazebos are open for dance floor. Attica has excellent facilities on the gazebo: wood floor, comfortable sofas, beautiful benches and sands on the edges, which apply a feeling of beach to the gazebo. Also, located on the 11th floor, a fantastic view of the Bund can be seen thoroughly from Attica. See the picture you will understand why it is the best gazebo among so many pubs in Shanghai.

The road Hengshan Road

Shanghai is the city of night life. If you like to go clubbing, there is a place in Shanghai you can never miss: The Hengshan Road.

This is a road full of bars; this is a road full of the feeling of elegancy. The Hengshan Road used to be a part of the districts that belong to France, so there are a lot of French style buildings along Hengshan Road, which makes this road surrounded by an aroma of European.

On such an elegant road, there locate a lot of high-class restaurants of both Chinese and foreign cuisines. For example, along this road you can find Australia barbeque, Vietnamese cuisine, Music Thesis restaurant, Japanese Sushi, German restaurant, Thai cuisine, Italian restaurant, Shanghai cuisine, Cantonese restaurant, Sichuan food…… Here you can have the fantastic food in Shanghai in the best environment because in order to be matched the feeling of the road well, all the restaurants are well designed and decorated. See some pictures of Hengshan road so that you will understand how those restaurants look like.

There are also more than thirty bars around this road. Though I have never been to bars in Shanghai, I have heard of them a lot of times. They are so familiar in Shanghai and all of them are well designed and decorated as well. Each bar has its own characteristic. For instance, Bonbon is the most popular bar among youngsters. Even you go there during week days, it is full. The most attractive aspect of Bonbon is hat it has excellent DJs and it is the only club in Asia which affiliated to Godskitchen. Each weekend Bonbon will invite one of the top DJs in the world.

（Bonbon)

Where to play-Wujiang Road

A road full of Dim Sum stores, cafés and restaurants! You should never miss this！

Wujiang Road is so famous among Shanghai people that everybody considers going to Wujiang Road as one of the greatest enjoyments. Maybe among them I am one of the top lovers of Wujiang Road. I love eating so much and here is my paradise.

I wonder if there is someone else who takes eating as the greatest enjoyment just like me. I can spend my whole afternoon in Wujiang Road, eating from this snack bar to another.

You can taste all the Dim Sums I mentioned here in Wujiang Road and you can also have something that's extremely special. For example, you can have scalloped devilfish, Sichuan spicy and sour noodle, specially toasted chicken wings, toasted scallop, shaved ice, lobster and so on. Being surrounded with so many delicious foods always makes me crazy.

One thing I would like to talk about is the lobster bars in Wujiang Road. Shanghai people eat lobster as a kind of midnight snacks sometimes. Once I went to Wujiang Road at 0 o’clock AM, I was surprised to find the lobster bars full of people. People sat there, talking and continuously eating the lobster until 2 o’clock. It was an amazing experience to see so many people eat so late and for so long and I finally realized that Wujiang Road is crowded with all foods, smoke and people all the time. No matter how late into the night or how early in th e morning. Here is the place for foods lovers. Here is my paradise.

Where to play-People's Square

(People's Square)

People who have been to Shanghai must know the People’s Square. We can call it the center of Shanghai. Everyday People’s Square is full of tourists and local youngsters.

Adults may think there is nowhere worth going around People’s Square but to the teenagers, it’s totally different. It is the best place to hang out because you can find a lot of fun there. A mall named “Raffles City” is located next to People’s Square and I believe it is the most popular mall in Shanghai. Like Super Brand Mall, Raffles City is an entertainment center with stores, restaurants and cinemas too. If you go to Raffles City, you will find there are always a lot of people waiting at the gate of the mall. Please don’t feel it is weird. Because the People’s Square is a center of transportations in Shanghai-three subway lines stop at this station and a lot of bus lines stop here and people from every corner of Shanghai can get here easily, we like to set Raffles city as the place to meet and then go somewhere else. For us young people, we like to meet at the entrance of the mall and then go in together to eat something. Raffles City is famous of its Dim Sums by the way.

Underneath People’s Square, there is a “Dimei Mall”. This one is made for girls, especially school girls. There are a lot of fashion clothes and furnishings sold in the mall and all of them are extremely cheap. For example, you can buy a scarf or a hat for 20RMB(less than 3 dollars). When you go to Dimei, you will feel you are in a colorful fashion world-beautiful fashion clothes and beautiful fashionable girls are everywhere.

Where to play-Shopping in Super Brand Mall and Bingjiang Road

(Oriental Pearl Tower and Lujiazui)

Here is one of the landmarks in Shanghai-Oriental Pearl Tower. It is the fifth highest building in the world. The tower is located in a business district called Lujuazui. This is a golden area of Shanghai, even in China because Lujiazui will be built into a financial and trade center of China. In such a business district, across frpm the Oriental Pearl Tower, abet to Huangpu River, is the “Super Brand Mall”. It is the biggest shopping mall in mainland China and the 8th biggest shopping mall in Asia. It has 13 floors with 241,000 square meters of each floor and more than a thousand of big brands. In some floors, two hundred thousand square meters in the mall are the places for international famous brands and forty thousand square meters are the jewelry arcades. In the other floors, Super Brand Mall also has entertainment centers, fitness centers, bookstores, a lot of restaurants, tea houses, cafes, and cinemas. It is much more an entertainment center than just a mall.

(Bingjiang Road)

I like the restaurants in Super Brand Mall very much beacuse if you get a seat close to the window, you can have a great view of Huangpu River and the Bund. Enjoying a good view while you are eating is so fantastic. If you want to get closer to the Huangpu River, you can walk out of Super Brand Mall and go to Bingjiang Road which is just next to Super Brand Mall. Actually, Bingjiang Road is long river bank instead of a road. There are several cafés, restaurants, ice-cream stores and dessert stores on the bank. After a day of shopping in the mall, it will be a great enjoyment to sit on the bank, feeling the wind blow, see the great view of the Bund on the opposite of the river and have a cup of iced coffee or ice-cream.

What to play in Shanghai- Shopping in Huaihai Road and Nanjing Road

(Huaihai Road)

“Shopping” is always an inviting word to people living in a city. If you ask Shanghai people what he/she does most in his/her leisure time, probably 90 percent of them will answer “Shopping”. Fortunately, Shanghai is a good place for shopping. It has countless malls and streets for shopping.

The most popular place for shopping in Shanghai is Huaihai Road. There are a lot of malls and stores open along the street. Besides, there are also many cafés and restaurants on the street so if you are tired of walking, thirsty or hungry there is always a place to rest. The street is also well decorated and there are silver lights hanging on the trees along the road. If you go the Huaihai Road in night, you will feel like you are in paradise. However, the things sold in Huaihai Road are a little expensive. You can find all the famous brands there, but no discount. Here is the picture of Huaihai Road.

Another famous place for Shopping is the Nanjing Road. I believe every tourist in Shanghai has been to Nanjing road. However Nanjing road is divided into two parts: East Nanjing Road and West Nanjing Road. East Nanjing road is a pedestrian street and it is so famous to the tourists that even in late night, it is full with the travelers. They come here to see “Shanghai”-colorful lights, crowds, shopping arcades…This pedestrian street shows what Shanghai is: A sleepless city. Since there are too many tourists in East Nanjing Road, the locals don’t like to go there. Instead, Shanghai people like to go West Nanjing Road. West Nanjing Road is just a normal road, not a pedestrian with malls and stores on both sides. There are big malls selling famous brands at a high price, big malls selling famous brands with an incredible big discount, delicate stores selling expensive things and small stores selling cheap things. It depends on you what kind of malls or stores you like to go. West Nanjing Road is very long, even if you spend a whole day shopping in that street, you still cannot walk to the end.

(East Nanjing Road)

(West Nanjing Road)

What to play in Shanghai- Tea houses and Qi Pai Shi

We like to spend our time in a tea house, but this kind of tea houses are not the same as the tradition ones.

There is a tea house chain in Shanghai called Bi Feng Tang and they offer almost all kinds of beverages except real tea. You can have ice-cream, soda, bubble tea and a lot of drinks in this tea house and you don’t need to worry how much you have drink because it is a kind of “drink buffet”. If you go into a Bi Feng Tang, you only need to pay about 15-30 RMB and then you can sit in the tea house and drink whatever you like for however long you like. The tea house also hasa lot of snacks like nuts and melon seeds for free. You can do much more than chatting in a tea house.You can play cards, chess and a lot of games. The tea house can offer you cards, chess, I-go, Chinese checkers, game paddle, etc. Usually my friends and I spend a whole afternoon in a Bi Feng Tang near our high school, eating ice-cream and playing cards.

Another kind of place to play cards in is called “Qi Pai Shi”. If translated into English, it means a room for playing cards and mahjong. In some places, the “Qi Pai Shi” owners just have an extremely big room and put a lot of square tables in it for people to play. When you come in, tell the front desk clerk which table you will sit and then just sit there playing cards of mahjong with others. When you go out, the clerk will tell you how much you need to pay according to the time you have been in it. However, in most cases, the owner will divide the place into small rooms and equip each room with a mahjong table or a normal square table for cards. Since people usually come with friends, you only need to tell the clerk you want to play mahjong or cards and a waiter/waitress will appear to show you the way to your room. You play in your own room without the disturbance of others and pay when you get out of the Qi Pai Shi. The pay is also calculated by the time. It is very similar to KTV.

What to play in Shanghai-KTV!

KTV is the hottest entertainment in Shanghai currently and it is popular among people of all ages. The full name of KTV is “Karaoke Television”. Usually a KTV company rents a large place, like a whole floor of a shopping mall, and divides it into a lot of rooms in a range of big, medium and small. Each room is equipped with a big HDTV, a machine which you can use to choose the song, long sofas and microphones. The TV and song-choosing machine are controlled by a computer.

(a KTV room)


When a bunch of people go to a KTV, tell the front desk clerk how many rooms you want and how big you want the room to be. For example, if there are only two or three prople, you can choose a mini room; if there are three to five people, you can chose a small one; if there are five to ten people, you can choose a medium; ten to fifteen people would require a big one (a big room is often equipped with two televisions, sometimes even a bar and a stage); if there are more than fifteen people, asking for more than one room is a better choice.

Then a waiter/waitress will appear to show you the way to your room. The pathways into a KTV are always like a maze since there are too many rooms and they all look the same. When you arrive at your room the waiter will help to give you new microphones, turn on the song-choosing machine and from now on they begin to clock your time because the pay in a KTV is calculated by the amount of time you spend there.

Now you can begin your entertainment just by choosing whatever songs you like and then singing. A KTV company often has thousands of songs for you to choose in a variety of language, location and time. Besides, during the time you spend in a KTV, if you a hungry or thirsty, you can order some food and drink just by pressing the service button on the remote of the TV. A waiter/waitress will come to your room after you press the button and take your order. Several minutes later, he/she will bring your food and/or drink to your room. Recently, a kind of new KTV which is equipped with a buffet has appeared in Shanghai. In such KTVs you pay for a 2~3 hour with a meal per person. During your time, you can both sing in your room and pick out whatever you want to eat in the buffet and then bring them back to your room to eat.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Shaomai

This is Shanghai people’s typical breakfast-Shaomai. Don’t ask me if it tastes good because I am so familiar with it that I can’t judge it correctly.It is like someone is asking you if bacon and scrambled eggs taste good. How would you answer him? Isn’t it good? Yes, it’s not bad…umm…but I just don’t have so much feeling for it since I eat it so frequently.

We eat Shaomai so frequently that we lose our feelings about it, but to be fair, it tastes not too bad.

The stuffing of Shanghai Shaomai is made of sticky rice, pork and mushroom; the surface is made of flour. However, Shaomai in other places are totally different. I know people in Guangdong use shrimp, crab and pork to make the stuffing and use eggs to do the surface. We can see the pictures of Shanghai Shaomai and Guangdong Shaomai as a comparison.

If we want to make Shanghai Shaomai, firstly we should steam the sticky rice.
Then add green onion and salt to the pork and pan-fry all of it.


The mushrooms should be pan-fried too.

When the mushrooms are almost ready, put the cooked sticky rice and pork in the pot and pan-fry everything together. Remember to season it in the end.

Next, wait for everything to cool down and roll them into little balls.

Finally use the skin made of flour (I think it is same as dumpling's surface) to pack the rolls and steam it for 5 minutes.

Maybe you are confused why I call Shaomai “Dim Sum” since I already said it is a kind of breakfast. Actually in China, Dim Sum and breakfast can be the same thing in some extent. People like to eat soymilk, Xiaolong, Shengjian, Baojiaobu, Tofu pudding for breakfast but they will also eat them during daytime whenever they want. For me, I like to buy a Shaomai at noontime and eat it in afternoon when I am hungry.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Steamed Creamy Custard Bun

Steamed Creamy Custard Bun! When I saw this picture, I went crazy. You will never know how much I miss this.

I believe a lot of Americans know there is a kind of food called steamed stuffed bun in China but I’m not sure if they know that there are a variety of steamed stuffed buns in China as they have different stuffing. The steamed stuffed bun is called “Baozi” in China by the way.

We have both salty and sweet steamed stuffed buns and among the sweet ones, the bun with sweetened bean paste and the bun with cream custard are most common. Those with sweetened bean paste can be seen everywhere in China but the steamed creamy custard bun is more popular in Shanghai. I didn't know how this food was made before I searched the net. The taste is fantastic but it’s hard to tell such a taste comes from…The process of making steamed creamy custard bun is very complicated.

To make the stuffing, butter has to be stirred first and while we are stirring, we need to add sugar, egg, milk, wheat flour, and custard powder in it. Then steam the mix and during the process of steaming, keep stirring. When it begins to set, the stuffing is done. Now what we should do is put the stuffing in a “Chinese bun” and steam the whole bun.

This is a picture of steamed creamy custard buns which shows the stuffing.

Steamed creamy custard buns can be seen in many places other than Shanghai, but those from other places are different from those from Shanghai. They have different surfaces. Other steamed creamy custard buns have a translucent surface which tastes better than the regular surface but is more difficult to make.
This is a picture of steamed creamy custard buns with a trusculent surface. They are more delicate.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Paigu Niangao

Do you know what the most distinguished thing about Chinese food? This is a sentence that I just read from a Shanghai expat’s blog:

“Chinese can have thousands of ways to cook one kind of food. Thousands of pork cuisines, thousands of beef cuisines and the same goes with chicken, fish, shrimp and vegetables.”

That’s true. Here I want to introduce another cuisine of rice cake which is also a kind of street snack. This one is really really delicious and “Shanghai-featured”.

It is called “Paigu Niangao” and if translated to English, it should be called “Pork Chop and rice cake with sugar and soy sauce”.

People firstly apply a lot of seasoning on the pork chops like some green onions, cooking wine, soy sauce and flour and then fry it. When the pork chop is almost cooked, makers just move it out and then pan fry some other seasonings and spices like Chinese cinnamon, ginger, pepper and cloves. Then, they put them onto the pork chop and add water, salt and sugar to it to make it like a soup. When the soup is cooked, rice cake is added in and let it cook for a while. This step may take long because the soup will continue boiling until all the liquid become a kind of thick juice. Eventually, makers move out the rice cake and pork chop and then apply the thick juice on them. It seems like a dish, but actually it is a kind of traditional dim sum in Shanghai.

One thing that amazed me much was that this food is not available in other places in China. I don’t know why. Maybe this is the reason why the “Paogu Niangao” is considered very “Shanghai- featured”. I can’t describe what its flavor is really like but you will understand only when you actually try it. I can only say, “It’s really amazing! Everybody should try it. All Shanghai people like it, all Chinese people from other cities compliment it and all foreigners will definitely like it!”

Street Dimsums in Shanghai-Stuffued Rice-cake

When I asked my roommates who both have lived in Shanghai for a long time, none of them have eaten the stuffed rice cake. I was really confused then because the stuffed rice cake was one of Shanghai's most famous dim sum, too. How can they not know this food since they know all the foods that I wrote about?

I search the net; somebody is saying that the stuffed rice cake is one of the foods that are gradually disappearing. That is true, I guess, because I cannot even find a picture of the stuffed rice cake and I remembered there were really few stalls of the stuffed rice cake in Shanghai now. However, I just can’t imagine that how can such a delicious food disappear?

Have you ever tasted the food “rice cake” in China? It’s soft, made of rice and has a certain shape. The shape depends on the maker. Usually we cut the rice cake to piece to cook in our daily lift and when the Spring Festival comes, we make it in the shape like a big cake, a fish or anything you like. However, the stuffed rice cake is a little different. Because the makers need to use the rice cake to roll the stuffing up, it should be extremely soft, like a kind of eatable play dough. When you buy a stuffed rice cake, you can pick anything you like in the rice cake. Usually, if we want to eat sweet, we will ask for black sesame and sugar; if we want to eat salty, we might ask for Chinese styled twisted cruller, crushed dried pork and/or sausage.

When I go back to Shanghai, I will definitely buy some stuffed rice cakes for my roommates.

Street Dimsums in Shanghai-Mini Wonton

When I was still a child and still lived in Yonglefang, every weekend an old granny would push her little cart into the alley selling mini wontons. Eating mini wontons on weekends became my largest expectation every week.

There is a kind of food called wonton in China. It is a little bit to dumplings. People knead dough and roll them into thin square pieces for the wrapping. Unlike dumplings, the wrapping is round. A variety of foods can be used for the stuffing in the wonton. Usually one type of meat and one type of vegetable is used such as pork and celery or beef and corn. Of course there is also a type of wonton that has only a single such as cod fish and shrimp. Makers use a very complicated way to wrap the stuffing into the wrapping. The difference between mini wontons and wontons is the skin of mini wontons are about one-third thinner and the stuffing is usually consisted of only park. When making it a very small portion of pork is put in the hand. Then, the skin is wrapped around it. Lastly, it is squeezed into a ball. When cooked, dried shrimp and purple seawood is added into the soup (a little similar to tofu pudding).

When eating mini wontons, it should be eaten one at a time. It would be even better to sip a bit of soup while eating it. This dish is a very suitable a midnight snack or breakfast.

(This is a picture of ordinary Wonton)

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Congyou Pancake

I still remember during the winter days of my high school life, when school ended the sky was already dark. On my way home I always saw an aged woman making and selling ‘cong you’ pancakes. ‘Cong you’ means the taste and smell of green onions. Everytime I passed by, I always bought a piece and filled the surface with sweet sauce. On the way home I would walk and eat it at the same time feeling the surge of the aroma of green onions in my noise. This special dimsum drained the boringness out of the walk home.

The difference between ‘bao jiao bu’ and pancakes is the sellers always have a heated iron pan and sell the pancakes while making it. Makers mix flour, shredded green onions and vegetable oil to make into dough. When they are ready to pan fry it, a droplet of oil is added on the pan. Then, a small portion of dough is pressed flat and fried on both sides until the surface turn into a light golden brown color. If customers require it an egg can be added with the pancake. The egg is beaten , fried into a thin sheet and rolled over the pancake. Customers can also add the choice of sauce including sweet sauce, spicy sauce or spicy oil.

‘Cong you’ pancake may be one of the cheapest dimsums in Shanghai. One can cost even less than 1 RMB. However, it is a favorite dimsum of most local people of all age. Even those who hate to eat green onions like the taste of ‘cong you’ pancakes.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Tofu Pudding

Have you ever eaten salty pudding? In China, there is a kind of food called tofu pudding which is another kind of Shanghai street dimsum. It is one my favorite dimsum. People usually eat it for breakfast with shen jian, guo tie (Pot stickers), xiao long bao.

First, soak soybeans in water. Then, grind the soybeans into fine particulates and sift it into soybean drink. After adding plaster into the soybean drink it eventually becomes tofu. However, if too little plaster is added it will not turn into tofu but will turn into a mix of solid and liquid which is called tofu pudding.

When people want to eat tofu pudding, they will put it in a small bowl and add in a variety of condiments and vegetables, meat or seafood. Different regions of China have different ways of eating tofu pudding. In the northern part of China, people like to put in grinded meat, chopped scallion pieces etc. In Taiwan, people will mix in sugar water, fruit or dumplings. In the summer, they freeze the tofu pudding and consume it as a drink. In the winter, they heat it add in sugar water and consume it as a type of soup. Shanghai is located on the eastern coast of China so people like to add in seafood products such as kelp, purple seaweed and dried shrimp. It is also common to add parsley and soy sauce which makes it very delicious and has the unique taste of Shanghai.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Jiuniang Yuanzi

Sweet, sour, soft, glutinous and savory, this is Jiuniang Yuanzi which can be translated to English as Boiled Glutinous Rice Balls in Fermented Glutinous Rice soup.

The most important thing in making Jiuniang Yuanzi is “Jiuniang” which is the fermented glutinous rice. To make Jiuniang, the maker should have a thing called Jiuqu. Jiuqu is a traditional thing that Chinese use to make alcohol. According to the web:

Add some conidiophores of koji mold to the rice that is being strongly steamed and then keep the temperature. Mycelia will appear bushily on the rice. This is called Jiuqu. Therefore, people have used Jiuqu to make alcohol form of old.

Yuanzi, the rice ball, is much easier to make. Makers just add water to glutinous rice flour and then shape it to little balls.

To make Jiuniang Yuanzi, you just need boil them all and add a little starch. When the Jiuniang Yuanzi is finished, you can smell the bouquet from the soup and the Yuanzi is so soft.

Some years ago, Jiuniang Yuanzi stalls are everywhere in the street, but now there are fewer and fewer. Only in some old Linong can you see some grannies are selling the soup. In contrast, almost all the restaurants sell Jiuniang Yuanzi as a kind of snacks now. We can guess that Jiuniang Yuanzi is on its way of changing from street dim sum to a kind of official Chinese cuisine.

I like Jiuniang Yuanzi so much that I often can been seen sitting in the street, eating this soup. Have a bowl of Jiuniang Yuanzi make you warm all around your body in winter and its taste is just so joyful.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Fried Smelly Bean Curd

The smelly bean curd is one of the most debatable foods in China. However, it doesn’t influence it to be one of the most popular street dim sums in Shanghai. The only thing is：Some people will be wild with joy when they see a smelly bean curd stall while others will hide as far as they can as the terrible smell.

There is a proverb in China, describing the smelly bean curd, “Smells terrible, eats wonderful”, but only those who like the smelly bean curd can understand the proverb. Others may not believe how can such smelly thing tastes good! We even cannot bear the smell! It’s similar to durian-people always debate for it. Some people like it; some people hate it.

The process of making smelly bean curd is very weird. People let the bean curd go mold first and then put it in the brine for about half a month. When get the bean curd out of the brine after fifteen days, the smelly bean curd is ready cook. Usually people fry the smelly bean curd and eat it with chili sauce.

I can’t bear the smell of this food. It stinks! Besides, I don’t think such mucedinous can be eaten. The fried smelly bean curd is the only one street dim sum in Shanghai that I don’t like. However, both my parents and my friends like it so much. When they eat it, I always hide far away. The smelly bean curd makes people different.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Shuangdang Soup

I like soup so much. I can’t have a meal without soup; I will feel extremely satisfied if I have a soup as a snack on the street. Delicious soup not only satisfies one’s appetite, but also warms a person, both physically and mentally.

In my mind, Shuangdang Soup is only sold in Shanghai. This kind of soup is very easily made, but popular with all the people, from the kids to the aged. The word “Shuangdang” actually means two things: one is fried tofu and the other is bean curd leaf rolls with minced pork. They are both typical Chinese food. There are many different kinds of tofu in China, like the rough tofu, fine grinded Tofu, egg tofu, manual tofu and torfu. Usually, tofu in American is the rough tofu. People fry the manual tofu to make fried tofu which is the main material of Shuangdang Soup. Fried tofu in the soup is just like a sponge. It absorbs the soup and when you bite it, the soup comes out from the fried tofu to your mouth suddenly. It is fantastic. The bean curd leaf roll is another main material of the soup. People cut tofu to very thin and flat pieces, put flavored pork emulsion on them and then roll them to make the bean curd leaf roll with mince meat. The third main material of the soup is the bean vermicelli. Without the bean vermicelli, it’s just a soup for drink, but once bean vermicelli is added, it becomes a kind of snack. You can have it in your leisure time, wherever on the street, for hunger, for fun or for anything.

Street dim sums are usually simple, easy and fast to eat. However, the Shuangdang Soup was the beginning of slowly-eaten dim sums. It is suitable that you have a bowl of Shuangdang Soup the same time as you are talking to your friends somewhere in the street. Have a long discussion, have a nice soup.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Shengjianbao

When I was a little child, I didn’t like Shengjianbao at all because I thought it was too dry and the skin was too thick. In my mind, I used to think only things with meat fluid and thin skins like Xiaolongbao are delicious. (Actually Shanghai kids always like to compare Shengjianbao with Xiaolongbao. Is that because they are both small? ) However, now I love it so much. It is different from Xiaolongbao and it has its own style.

In old Shanghai, Shengjianbao stalls are everywhere, far more than today’s Starbucks on the street. Actually Shengjianbao is a kind of small stuffed bun with thick surface but different from traditional steamed stuffed bun, it is pan-fried. People use meat emulsion, scallion and ginger to make the stuffing and then put the stuffing in the half-fermented flour dough. Then the uncooked Shengjianbao is finished. When needed, makers put the Shengjianbao separately on an iron pan and then fry them. In the process of frying, they add water to them several times without turning over them. When the makers finish cooking the Shenjianbao, they will put some sesame on them.

One characteristic of Shengjianbao is its bottom. The bottom of Shengjianbao is hard, golden and toasty. To eat a Shenjianbao, I always like to begin with the bottom. The other part of its surface is very soft and has an aroma of sesame and scallion. The stuffing is delicious. I often like to have Shengjiaobao with a cup of soymilk, which is the best mate for a breakfast.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Xiaolongbao

Xiaolongbao is the most famous Shanghai food. Some people even come to Shanghai just to taste Xiaolongbao which is a kind of small streamed bun.

There is a pithy formula to eat Xiaolong properly: “Pick up it gently, move it slowly, bite a small hole on it and then taste the meat fluid in it.” That describes the feature of Xiaolongbao exactly. The skin of Xiaolong is extremely thin. The thinner is the better. Thick skin makes Xiaolongbao taste bad. Often, the skin of Xiaolongbao is translucent and you can see the meat and meat fluid inside through the skin. Another factor that effects the taste of Xiaolongbao is the meat fluid. Good Xiaolongbao should be full of the meat fluid. A dry Xiaolongbao is a bad one. The stuffing in a Xiaolongbao is made of pork in most times. However, in some upper-scale snack bar, people use the crab meat to make Xiaolongbao, which costs a lot.

Xiaolongbao can be seen everywhere in Shanghai, but two places are specially famous of Xiaolongbao. One is the Yu Garden. There are hundreds of Shanghai Dim Sums sold in the Yu Garden and the Xiaolongbao is one of the most popular foods. If you want to buy a box of Xiaolongbao in the Yu Garden on weekends, it may take you an hour in the queue. Both normal Xiaolongbao and crab-meat-made Xiaolongbao are sold in the Yu Garden. They are both expensive but not taste so good. If you haven’t taste Xiaolongbao before, you may think those in the Yu Garden taste wonderful, but once you try the Xiaolongbao in Nanxiang Guqi Yuan, you will think they are junk, compared to those in the Nanxiang Guqi Yuan. I strongly command every tourist in Shanghai to have the Xiaolongbao in Nanxiang Guqi Yuan because it’s so amazingly delicious!

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Youdunzi

Do you know what is it? It's called Youdunzi, an old food in Shanghai. Actually it's a kind of oil-grilled turnip cake.

I remember when I was 5 years old, my grandma bought a Youdunzi for me from a street stall for the first time and after I ate that Youdunzi, I begged for a long time for another. It left a deep impression on me. Nowadays, Youdunzi are sold less and less in the city and it has been extinct from the downtown, important business areas and new residence communities. It can only be seen in some old residence areas. I missed this food for years and finally found it in a street stall near my high school.

Youdunzi is not for any meals, just for snack. I often bought a Youdunzi on my way from school to home in winter and ate it on the street with my friends. We just sat on the ground on the side of the road, keeping a hot Youdunzi in our hands and talked till dust.
Youdunzi is only sold in street stalls. Makers made panada in advance. When somebody ask for a Youdunzi, they put the panada, turnip and meat emulsion together in a die and then put the whole thing in to boiled oil. When they turn to the color of gold, pick them out and the Youdunzi is finished. Youdunzi is very appetizing and delicious. Besides, it will make one think of the Old Shanghai, that age of our grandparents and to me, it makes me miss my high school time so much.

Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Guotie

This is a picture of Guotie that is also known as the pan-fried dumplings. This is also one of the most popular foods in Shanghai. People often have them for a good breakfast.

Many people know Chinese dumplings but few of them know Guotie. Someone just think that if you fry the dumplings, they become Guotie. Actually, they are wrong. Guotie , a characteristic food of Shanghai, is different from dumplings from the north part of China. People can use hundreds of materials to make the stuffing of dumplings, no matter meats, fishes and vegetables and they care about the flavor of the stuffing and whether the materials are fresh. However, Guotie is always made of meat, sometimes, with a few of vegetable. People not only care about the flavor of the stuffing but also the process of cuisine very much. They should make sure that the bottom of Guotie should be a little burnt but not too much, the meat inside should be cooked and the other side of the Guotie is neither too hard nor too soft. The most important criterion to decide whether a Guotie is good is that there should be meat fluid in it. When you bite a Guotie, the first thing you can taste should be the extremely delicious hot meat fluid. You drink all of it and then begin to eat the whole Guotie. Therefore, if you have a Guotie that is very dry in some places, that must not be an orthodox Guotie.

Streert Dim Sums in Shanghai-The Baojiaobu

This is Baojiaobu which is also called egg roll, one of the most popular street Dim Sums in Shanghai.If I have the Baojiaobu for breakfast, I would feel extremely happy because I like it so much. It smells good, looks good and tastes good. Whenever I see there is Baojiaobu being sold on the street, I will buy one under any circumstances.


People use iron panel to make Baojiaobu and when you buy one, the Baojiaobu will be made in front of you. You can see the whole process and tell the maker what materials you want to put in the egg roll, what you don’t want and what flavor you like. See the picture of a street stall of Baojiaobu.






The surface of Baojiaobu is a round flat cake made from eggs and flour. If you like, you can ask to put some scallion on it. The core of Baojiaobu are made of Chinese twisted cruller, preserved Szechuan pickle and tangy source. These Three things are all typical Chinese food. Among them, the twisted cruller is a traditional Shanghai food. People mixed and stir flour, alum, alkali and salt together and cut them to strips afterwards. Then, twist the strips and fry them until they turn to the color of gold. The Chinese twisted cruller is appetizing and crisp. Usually, makers will make all the Chinese twisted crullers at home or somewhere else before they open the stalls so that they can be available to make Baojiaobu. After make the round surface of Baojiaobu, makers will put those core materials on it and add ask if you want to add some spicy source. In the end, makers will roll up the Baojiaobu for you and till now, your Baojiaobu is finished. You can keep it in hand and eat it wherever you like.

Believe me , a hot Baojiaobu really brings you happiness.

Foods in Shanghai

Previously, I wrote about the architectures in Shanghai, including the most famous ones and the old and new resident buildings. Now I would like to transfer our focus to food.

China has a diversity of delicious foods. Food in different parts of China are totally different. Among them, the most famous styles of cooking are Guangdong food and Sichuan food. Actually, Shanghai doesn’t have an exact style of food because there is a mixture of all kinds of food from all over China, even all over the world. Shanghai’s feature is diversity. So is the food.

However, Shanghai is famous of its Dim Sums. Though most of the Dim Sums in the city aren’t from Shanghai, all of them are known as “Shanghai Dim Sum”.

Travelers like to taste Shanghai Dim Sums in the Yu Garden and most of them like the foods there. Yet Shanghainese never eat in Yu Garden because it’s too expensive and the foods don’t taste good, neither. Therefore, those who said that the Shanghai Dim Sums in the Yu Garden are excellent should know that real common Shanghai Dim Sums even taste far better.

People in Shanghai have different styles of food every day. For example, my family may have spicy Sichuan food for Monday, Sweet-tasting food of Zhejiang (a district of China, next to Shanghai) for Tuesday, Sushi for Wednesday, Spaghetti for Thursday, and Hot pot for Friday. We enjoy the life that we have different kinds of food everyday and we always expect a new flavor.

If you ask me what I miss in Shanghai the most, I will answer you: food. There are so many distinguished Dim Sums in Shanghai and I will introduce them in detail later.

The new generation of resident buildings in Shanghai

The new generation of resident buildings in Shanghai

As I discussed, the resident buildings in Shanghai used to be in the form of Linong, but now just few Linong survived in the city and now people live in recently built apartments. Apartments in Shanghai exist in the form of Community.

Actually, community is the new generation of Linong.

Now a company buys a large area to build resident buildings and the designers in the company plan the area well- they design the style of the whole area, the appearance of the buildings, the patterns of the buildings locations, the locations of green belts and the parking lots, the park-like facilities in the green belts and where to build other facilities such as the community restaurant and gym in the area and the appearance of the community facilities. They plan the area as a whole- as a community- and give the community a beautiful name. The names of communities are usually beautiful and creative. When a community is built, the owner company will employ another managing company to manage the community. Managing the community means they set guards in the main door of the community, set officers dealing with the problems and activities such as water leakage in apartments, community activities for residents and so on.

Therefore, residential areas in Shanghai are composed of many communities. Each community has different style and all of them are different from the others.

When people buy real estate in Shanghai, they consider the location and transportation first. Then, the second important thing is the community. Is the community, including its building and green area good-looking? Can I have a good view of the scene of the community from my window? Is the service of managing company good? Can they provide a good security to us? ……

In one word, Shanghainese live in communities. A good community means a good living environment and a good living quality.

We used to live in a big family

I talked about my old life in Yonglefang and the changes that happened there. Now I want to say something about what the old crowded way of life brought us that is lost now.

Of course Linong life was hard and every little space had to be shared with others but it also brought us an extremely precious thing- it made people closer to each other than anytime in the history or the future.

I remembered when I just moved out Yonglefang to an apartment. I was so lonely. My parents went out to work and left me alone at home. I went out to find if there was somebody who can accompany me and play with me, but after searching through the entire building, I found there was even not one person in the building. Adults went out for working and kids were locked indoor. Each family had their own world in their apartment, without any connections to the world beyond their door. People didn’t know anything about their neighbors. In fact, they didn’t care who lived next to them at all. During that time, I always spent my summer vocation alone at home, watching TV and playing video games. As a primary school student, spending summer vocation alone at home made me really bored and disappointed. However, living in Linong was totally different. I knew every kid in Yonglefang well and my parents knew everyone there, too. I had so many friends at that time. When I got bored, I just knocked on some friends’ doors and asked them to play with me. Everytime at least 10 kids came out. We played many games in the Linong- hide and seek in anyone’s home, chased each other in the Linong, played soccer and many other game. I could spend a whole day with my friends happily. I really felt that Linong was a big family for us all. The whole Linong was my home and I could be extremely free and happy there. I loved that life style so much that when I lived in apartments, I constantly missed Yonglefang.

The changes around Yonglefang

Yonglefang is on North Sichuan Road in Shanghai. During the years of my childhood, North Sichuan Road was just a small street with a few shops and few people. That time, my friends and I played in the road. We rode our little bikes, chased each other and screamed on the road and no one scolded us. The roads were desolated. However, one day people came here and began to change it.

They widened and decorated it. Many shops, malls, plazas and restaurants came. In my memory, Sichuan Road became a golden mile of Shanghai, suddenly. Things changed to a new level; there were thousands of people walking on the road every day; the traffic became very busy. Once we came out Yonglefang to the road, we got lost. Yet I was excited about that the surroundings of Yonglefang becoming so busy and the way we played changed to. We didn’t play simple games any more but we went to the video game arcades and roller skated in front of the malls.

Actually, the changes around Yonglefang reflected the whole changes in Shanghai. Shanghai started its extremely fast development during those years. When my parents took me out to somewhere to play, they got lost, too. Everywhere in Shanghai was being rebuilding and the old views disappeared, the sight of the same place became totally new. Every day, thousands of buildings were being demolished and thousands of buildings were being built. Shanghainese were just busy with accepting the new view of Shanghai, with great shock.

Nowadays, old resident buildings are almost extinct from Shanghai and unfortunately, Yonglefang was one of those being demolished. I miss those old buildings and my old life but I can only find them on the pictures.

My old life in Yonglefang

I grew up in Yonglefang which was a name of a Linong. However, now it has been demolished. Compared to now, that period of life in Yonglefang was very hard, but I it's hard not help to love and miss that kind of life.

Life in Linong was poor, but true, happy and peaceful.

I had lived in Yonglefang till I was eight years old. I liked the mornings there. When I woke up, I was the only one in the room but I could hear the sounds in the kitchen. My parents went to work but my grandpa and grandma was in the kitchen, cooking my breakfast. The kitchen was full of racket and whispers. My grandparents and the neighbors were afraid that their voices would awake me. I got up and went out the room and saw the delicious food was right there waiting for me. Then I went out the door, came to the Linong and found the Linong was full of sunshine, with people coming and going, saying hello to me. Adults were ready to work and kids were sit in the Linong, out of the buildings, eating breakfast or stood at the doors, brushing teeth or washing face. It was the picture of a busy and hopeful morning, which I remembered for so many years. I'll never forget the sounds in the kitchen, the caring of my grandparents, the sunshine in Yonglefang, the hopeful expressions on people’s faces and the whole feeling of the old peaceful life.

Ever since I left Yonglefang, I have never had such mornings. On weekdays, I hurry to school when I get up and usually have breakfast on the way to school. Now, I don’t know anyone else in our building. My grandparents passed away and I don’t know where the other aged are; sunshine is only in other people's home; no one greets me; no kids eat outside there home……

Old Resident Buildings

In old Shanghai, people used to live in two to three story houses that are extremely long and very close to each other. They form many narrow meandering footpaths, which have been the unit of Shanghai residence for a long time. Such units include three to five lines of short buildings and the footpaths within them. They are called "Li","Nong" or generally called "Linong". Each Linong has its own name. Like today, people often say that “ I live in XXX building, apt YYY…”, but about twenty years ago, people said “ I live in Yongwen Li”, “ I live in Kuanan Nong” ( “Yongwen” and “Kuanan” are both names of Linong) and so on.

See the picture of Linong:





At that time, all Shanghainese lived in such house. The living environment was extremely bad. Often, hundreds of people lived in one Linong. The long buildings were divided into many parts. Two to three families lived in one part, each story holds one family. Every divided part has one kitchen and several bathrooms, so the families lives in the same area share the kitchen, with several stoves in it, and have one bathroom for themselves. Generally, one family, no matter there are three or six people, have only one big room. Therefore, people were very closed to their neighbor, sometimes even nearer than their relatives. They talked when cooking, when washing, when eating, and any time they were at home.

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Famous architectures in Shanghai

Shanghai is a diversified city. It has people not only from all around the country but also all around the world. Statistics show that less than 30% of Shanghai’s populations are those who were born and grew up in Shanghai.So, we know that most people live in Shanghai come from different places. Therefore, the feature of Shanghai is diversity. Shanghai has both various food from all over the world and different architectures of global styles.

Today I want to write about two famous architectures in Shanghai.

Though Shanghai was an important harbor in ancient China, the ancient architectures didn’t survive. Some old buildings were broken during the war time, but most of them were destroyed in order to build new modern buildings. The only ancient building surviving in Shanghai currently is the Yu Garden which was built in 1559. It was built as a private garden in the 18th century and was the center of Shanghai in the 19th century and now it is one of the most famous tourists’ attractions in Shanghai. The Yu Garden showsthe history of Shanghai and the great charm of ancient China style. Here is a picture of Today’s Yu Garden:

Another group of architectures in Shanghai is the Bund. The buildings in the Bund were built by the English when they invaded China. When P.R.C was founded, the building in the Bund was used as government buildings and banks. Now the Bund is a magnificent view in Shanghai because of its lights and its style, totally different from a style of eastern city but incredibly suitable. If you went to Shanghai without visiting the Bund, you can’t say you have been to Shanghai. The Bund is showing the diversity and international feature of modern Shanghai. Below is a picture of the Bund:

Brief history of Shanghai

(picture: With the fast development in Shanghai, there are both new buildings and old ruins every where. The city is rebirthing.)

Shanghai, located in eastern China, is often said that it has a short history because many people believe it was formed of the sediments from the ocean so this place didn’t even exist in the ancient times. That belief was right is some extent as Shanghai is extended by the deposit of sediments from the ocean, but most of that theory was wrong.

On the contrary, evidences show Shanghai has a long history. Historians found there are more than 25 historic markings from 6000 years ago in Shanghai, which means human have been living in this area for more than 6000 years. However, it is true that Shanghai was not a city in the past. It was just a little fishing village. We can say that the culture of Shanghai is based on fishing. One of its nicknames “Hu” comes from a kind of fishing gear and the other, “Shen”, comes from the biggest river in Shanghai which was called “Chun Shen” river in the past.

In the middle of the Tang dynasty (about 751 B.C.), in the need of marine trade, Shanghai was fast developed as one of the most important harbor in China and till then, it has become one of the biggest town in eastern China. Till about 1648 B.C., because of benefits from some new trade policies, the economy of Shanghai developed unprecedentedly and it was the most important trade center and transport center of the whole country. Yet at that time, Shanghai was invaded by several European countries and was divided to several parts that belong to different countries. In that period, a lot of different cultures and foreign languages were brought in to Shanghai by those countries and many buildings of different styles were built by the aggressors. Though it was the darkest period of Shanghai, it also provided the start of the great diversity of today’s Shanghai.

When the People’s Republic of China was founded, Shanghai was made one of the most important cities and the government tried hard to develop Shanghai to a modern, flourishing, industrial and financial city. Nowadays, Shanghai, being called as “the eastern New York”, has become the shinning pearl in Asia.

Other old buildings in Shanghai

As I said, Shanghai is a multicultural city. Exotic old buildings are everywhere and most of them are not well known by the public; they just appear in our daily life as one of the most common things. So many exotic styles came together and then formed a new style called: Shanghai. If you observe Shanghai style carefully, you will find that each element of that has different origin and different story.

One typical example is the dormer. Actually dormer is a classical style of European architectures but when it came to Shanghai, it mixed with the Chinese style, such as the Chinese eaves and Chinese tiles. Almost all residential buildings in Shanghai have this feature-the dormer. Besides, the dormers in Shanghai are nearly in the same style, which means they have same shape, same color and same windows. As Shanghainese, the dormers are not only an element of the old architectures but also a memory of childhood. When we were little children, we all lived in those old buildings, watching the sky through the highest windows, and imagining that someday we can grow wings and fly out the windows. However now such buildings, with dormers on the top, are fading away from this city. A net pal said, “When I saw the dormers again somewhere, I suddenly remembered the dormer was the thing that I always want to touch but my parents never let me do so as it was so dangerous. I dreamed of crawling out of the window for years, in my childhood.”

This is a picture of Shanghai characterized dormers.