PEOPLE'S PLACE

The People Square is the Centre of the City of Shanghai. It brings together many points of interest.

Formerly the international concession field. Only the galleries built in 1933 remain standing today. In the north, some of the most prominent buildings were built: Parc Hotel de 1934, a red brick building, was the first skyscraper in Asia. The Grand Cinema, designed by a young Czechoslovak architect in 1933, is characterized by tiled facade. The Hotel Pacific, a central dome building, was the old China United apartment building. The former YMCA of Shanghai, a Byzantine madness designed by an American architect, parallels him. There is nothing left of the race field, transformed into a People Park of 12 hectares after liberation in 1949. Nowadays, local authorities have made Renmin Square the new administrative and cultural centre in Shanghai.

The new Shanghai City Hall occupies the old seat of the Shanghaien Party in the centre of the People's Avenue. In contrast, Shanghai Museum (Shanghai Shi Bowuguan), renamed the «Basket» by the Shanghaiens, is a vanguard structure with one of the world's finest collections of ancient art.

In the north of the People's Square, not far from the Shanghai Art Museum, other buildings deserve to be reported. A luxury establishment in the city, the Park Hotel, with its dark red bricks, was the first skyscraper in Asia and dates back to 1934. A few steps from there is the Grand Cinema, designed in 1933 by a Czechoslovak architect, Hudek, with the resolutely modern ideas for the time. The Pacific Hotel, with its central dome, is a more classical architecture, especially if compared to the former YMCA of Shanghai, a very exuberant Byzantine style.

Once the People Square behind you, Nanjing Dong Lu Street then abandons its Cultural Vocation to devote once again to trade. This portion of Nanjing Xilu is home to some of the city's most chic shops, in the image of the Plaza 66 shopping centre, including Chanel, Vuitton, Dior and Hermès. Not far from it leads the Shimen Lu (石门路), a north-south axis traditionally devoted to the ready-to-wear. A little further on Nanjing Xilu is the restaurant Meilong Zhen, a local institution housed in an extravagant building in the late th century. The Portman Hotel, overlooking the Meilong Zhen, is a little the symbol of Shanghai renewal. Built in 1989 according to the plans of the famous American architect John Portman, this building is the first luxury establishment and design of modern Shanghai. Just opposite is the exhibition centre (the main entrance is on the other side, on Yan'an Zhong Lu).