Handpicked experience · Shanghai
Shanghai, China
A 1571 bridge built on the condition that fish be freed from it, a Qing post office still fitted out, and a skyline standing on piles driven into silt.
A canal town and a modern waterfront in a single day
Thirty-odd surviving stone bridges, the oldest from the sixteenth century
Lanes still lived in rather than restored for display
The Bund and the Pudong towers across the water
Timing set by you, not by a group schedule
An eight-hour private day pairing Zhujiajiao, the canal town an hour west of the city, with the waterfront of central Shanghai — old stone bridges and narrow lanes in the morning, the Bund and the Pudong skyline afterwards, with a car and driver for the whole day.
Roughly an hour on the road in each direction, and walking at both ends. Zhujiajiao is cobbles, humpbacked bridges and lanes too narrow for vehicles; central Shanghai is flat pavement. The private vehicle means the timing bends to you rather than to a departure board.
The five-arch bridge at the heart of Zhujiajiao dates from 1571 and is called Fangsheng, meaning release of life. A monk raised the money to build it on the condition that fish caught nearby be set free from its span, a Buddhist act of merit. People still buy live fish at the foot of the bridge and tip them back into the canal, which means the same fish are occasionally released several times over.
The town keeps one of the few Qing-dynasty post offices left standing in China, with its counters, sorting frames and stamped ledgers still in place. Letters here moved by boat along the canals, and the network was privately run before the imperial service absorbed it. The building is small enough to miss and worth the two minutes.
North Street runs about a kilometre through the old town and is barely two metres wide in places, so the eaves on either side almost meet overhead. Locals call this a one-line-of-sky street. It is the best-preserved Ming and Qing street anywhere near Shanghai, and it is still lived in rather than restored into a museum.
The Bund is not a Chinese word. It comes from Hindustani, meaning an embankment or dyke, and reached Shanghai with British traders who had spent time in India. The Chinese name for the same stretch, Waitan, simply means outer shore.
Shanghai sits on soft river silt, hundreds of metres deep, with no rock anywhere near the surface. Everything heavy must stand on driven piles, and the great stone banks along the Bund have all settled unevenly since the 1920s — a few have measurably sunk. Look across the water and remember that until 1990 Pudong was warehouses, docks and farmland; the entire skyline you are photographing is younger than most of the people photographing it.
Wear shoes for uneven stone and humped bridges. Carry some cash — several things in the old town are settled on the spot and cards are not taken everywhere. Zhujiajiao is busiest at weekends, when the main lanes can be shoulder to shoulder.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
About an hour by road each way. With a private vehicle you can leave early to reach the lanes before the day-trippers, or stay later once they have gone.
It means release of life. The monk who funded it in 1571 required that fish caught nearby be freed from the bridge, and people still buy live fish there to tip back into the water.
It is one of very few Qing-era post offices left in China, still fitted with its counters and sorting frames. Mail here travelled by boat along the canals.
A lane so narrow that the eaves on both sides nearly meet, leaving a strip of sky overhead. North Street runs about a kilometre and is the best-preserved example near Shanghai.
From Hindustani, meaning embankment — carried to Shanghai by British traders who had worked in India. The Chinese name, Waitan, means outer shore.
No. The boat on the canals and entry to individual sites are arranged on the day, so carry some cash for them.
On weekdays and early in the morning. Weekends fill the main lanes to the point where walking slows to a shuffle.