Unique Things To Do In Shanghai
An Overview of Shanghai
Home to one of the largest shipping seaports and major industrial centers of China, Shanghai is a towering modern city found on the coast of the East China Sea and the Yangtze River. The large city is an enormously popular tourism destination due to its many landmarks, including The Bund, Yu Garden, the Lujiazui Skyline and numerous museums. The city is home to unique neighborhoods, as much of Shanghai was filled with both Chinese and foreign residents from around the world in the 1800s and 1900s. Due to this fusion of culture, unique histroy and thriving nightlife, there are many unique things to do in Shanghai.
Unique Things To Do In Shanghai
Shanghai Bank Museum
This is a strange museum which focuses on Chinese modern banking history, with old props, several vaults and a small ring of exhibits.
West Bund Artistic Center
Operating out of a repurposed aircraft factory, this center displays contemporary artworks, fashion designs and unique exhibits within.
French Concession
Historically, this neighborhood was administrated under the French colonial government from 1849 to 1946 following China’s loss in the Opium Wars. The neighborhood is now one of the nicest in the city with tree-lined avenues and fine, old houses defining the street. The area is especially popular with expats.
Wukang Mansion (The Normandie Building)
This is a famous building located on a five-way junction in Shanghai. The apartment building, designed by Hungarian-Slovak architect László Hudec, housed foreign businessmen as well as actors and actresses from the Chinese film industry. It’s a popular location for tourists and photos.
Bathe Café
This quirky coffee shop serves coffee in a “bathroom-themed” café. There are seats in shower stalls, counters with faucets and cakes in the shape of soap bars.
Propaganda Museum
This interesting museum is filled with old propaganda posters pertaining to Shanghai and China at large. Many of the posters focus on the Maoist period China, especially during the Cultural Revolution period.
Yu Garden
This is a famous and beloved Chinese garden located alongside the City God Temple near Shanghai Old City. The garden includes a temple complex, numerous footpaths, beautiful water features, low, etched walls and gorgeous plants and flowers.
Yuyuan Old Street
This is a large and active Chinese shopping street built in the traditional style with numerous shops, souvenir stalls, novelty foods and traditional meals.
Old City Shanghai
The Old City of Shanghai, formerly called Chinese City, is the traditional urban center of Shanghai. Much of the area traces its history back to when Shanghai began as a fishing village in the 13th Century. The area retains some of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, along with a few remnants of the Old City Walls.
Yixiulou
Especially beautiful when lit up at night, Yixiulou is a large, traditionally styled building of multiple tiers found near Yu Garden.
Gucheng Park
This is a small park related to the “Old City” of Shanghai, used as a thoroughfare for Yu Garden. The park is home to some low overlooks, a interspaced bamboo forests and several quaint plazas. It is sometimes known as “Ancient City Park” though the park was established in 2002.
The Bund
The Bund, otherwise called Waitan, is likely the most iconic and famous feature of Shanghai. The large, protected waterfront area and historical district follows a popular section of Zhongshan Road and the western bank of the Huangpu River. The area is known for pristine views of the Shanghai skyline, Huangpu Park, numerous monuments and a nearby line of rooftop bars to overlook Shanghai. The area is especially popular at night, when Shanghai performs it skyline light shows. The light performances run from 7:00 PM to 11:00PM in summer and from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM in winter.
Bund Psychedelic Tunnel
The Bund is also home to a long tunnel stretching under the Huangpu River, which allows visitors to experience a light and sound warp while moving through the underground pathway. The tunnel is quite expensive, crowded and considered a tourist trap, so extra research on the unusual route is warranted.
The House of Roosevelt
This is a Neo-Classical building built in 1920 with a rooftop bar overlooking the Bund and the Shanghai Skyline.
Knock Coffee
This is an entertaining novelty coffee house in Shanghai, know for hot beverages sealed with a chocolate cap. Visitors must strike the chocolate shell into their beverages to enjoy their drinks.
TeamLab
TeamLab is a international art collaboration group with a digital technology art venue in Shanghai. The surreal experience utilizes mirrors, projectors, optical illusions, dark rooms and psychedelic sound effects to create an entirely unique experience.
Nanjinglu Street
Widely known as one of the world’s busiest shopping streets, Nanjing Road is the longest shopping district in China, attraction over one million visitors per day.
Tianzifang
Also called “Tianzi Fange,” this is a crafts and arts district, home to boutique shops, bars and restaurants. The area is known as a popular tourist shopping zone inside the Old French Quarter.
Roof 325
Located in People’s Square of the History Museum, this beautiful dining venue is iconic for it’s night-lit view of a colonial-styled clock tower.
Jade Buddha Temple
This is a traditional Buddhist Temple in Shanghai known for The Jade Reclining Buddha statue within, along with a seated Buddha.
China Art Museum
This is a wildly distinct Chinese building with red platforms built outward with each rising level, creating a gradually expanding inverse terraced roof. The building, sometimes called the “China Art Palace” or “The Shanghai Art Museum” is one of the largest art museums in Asia.
Qibao
This is a beautiful and scenic water town in the Minhang District, comprised of two broad waterways and bordered by traditional houses and gardens in the town’s center. The area is known for the elaborate pagoda at Qibao Temple, the shadow-puppet theater at the Shadow Play Hall and its numerous traditional calligraphy stores.
Jing’an Sculpture Park
Also known as Jingan Sculpture Park, this large outdoor sculpture garden is filled with an ever-changing display of abstract and surreal sculptures on a large, green lawn.
Bird Singing at Guilin Park
Guilin Park once served as the private property of Huang Jinrong, a detective who eventually became a notorious gangster. The park space was opened to tourists, allowing the to walk through carved pavilions and quiet grottos. The area is especially well known for “Singing Caged Bird.” Pet songbirds, which need to listen to other songbirds for communication and stimulation, are brought in cages to the park and hung near one another. Small crowds often attend the area to listen to the songs.
Southern Barbarian Restaurant
This is an amusing, casual restaurant dedicated to exotic and novel cuisine found in China’s Yunnan Province. There are dishes which contain tropical flowers, fried honey beefs, dried beef and unique imported beer.
Scale Model of Shanghai
Found inside the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, A.K.A. the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, this is a large, futuristic model of Shanghai, demonstrating the vast city with glowing rivers and towers. The museum is also home to exhibitions regarding the history and development of Shanghai.
Jing’an Temple
This is a gorgeously large and esoteric Tangmi Buddhist Temple built in the Three Kingdoms Period of Chinese History (220 CE to 280 CE). The Temple was originally called the Hudu Chongyuan Temple when it existed beside Suzhou Creek. During the Song Dynasty, the temple was moved to its current location, where it’s now visited by numerous tourists wishing to see the artworks, wide plaza spaces, golden roofs and rising pagodas.
Guangfulin Relics Park
Found in the Songjiang District of Shanghai, this amazing archaeological site has unearthed numerous unique and vital artifacts from various periods in Chinese history. The building itself is a combination of legitimate artifacts and modern recreations, making some of the exhibits seem touristy. Note that all information inside the park is written in simplified Chinese.
Longhua Martyrs Cemetery
This cemetery operates as a sculpture garden and memorial hall site, dedicated to those who lost their lives during the regime of the Chinese Nationalist Party, more famously called the Kuomintang. The garden area is beautifully maintained.
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