Shanghai Walking Tour

Discover some of Shanghai's old districts and lanes. Walk through areas which used to be bustling with interesting popular places and residences of important people. Go back in time to rediscover the history of the lanes and get a glimpse of the authentic atmosphere of old Shanghai. Meet long-time, elderly residents and interesting characters, learn their stories of the streets and neighborhoods and of China in the past century. Architecture, design, artwork of the courtyards, and other cultural aspects will be discussed as well.

We will start our walk at the entrance of one of the oldest local Chinese park (built in 1914). Every day, performers, artists, and martial arts performers descend on the park. Each area bustles with different types of activities such as Tai Chi, ballroom dancing, calisthenics, and music performances. After our walk in the park, we will go to a 4-storey wholesale tea market which targets area resellers, so the prices are very good. Here, we will have a brief discussion of tea’s history and health benefits.

At the birds and crickets market, there are cages and cages of birds and animals. There are many different types of birds, including multilingual parrots that like to entice customers with their skills. There are tanks brimming full of fish, turtles, and frogs, They also sell insects such as cricket. The small streets are crowded with people and toys and accessories for your pet. There are also cats and dogs in some of the stores and you need to be careful, otherwise you will end up walking out of the market with a few cute new pets.

We take you into the biggest fish and seafood market in Shanghai - walk into an impressive array of fish and seafood, talk with the local vendors to know the best seasonal picks. The street is filled with vendors selling all kinds of fish and sea creatures, many of which you don't see in supermarkets. Most of the city's restaurants source their seafood here and it's possible to pick up crab, lobsters, and abalone cheaper than anywhere else in town. Once you buy your seafood, you can bring it to one of the restaurants near the vendors' stalls and they will prepare and cook it for you.

Step into the pages of history and discover the secrets and story of the first grand family's compound in Shanghai. Long before the foreign concessions and the skyscrapers, Shanghai was a prosperous Chinese town surrounded with protective walls and bustling with trade and commerce. This tour takes you back in time to see Shanghai’s ancient past, including the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644AD) Yu Yuan Garden and Taoist City God Temple.

Hidden in Shanghai’s old lanes and streets are numerous historic revolutionary sites, which are often unnoticeable to careless tourists. However, close contact with those old houses can ignite images of Chinese revolutionary history. Inside a nondescript historic lane, there is a three-story villa. Only a wooden board with faded inscriptions informs passersby of the villa’s prestigious identity: the birthplace of the League of Chinese Left-Wing Writers.

The China Pavilion which was one of the highlights of the 2010 Shanghai Expo and now it is turned into a super sized new 160,000-square-meter museum called the China Art Palace to showcase Chinese modern art with exhibition space divided into 27 halls. The 600 pieces in “Shanghai Brightness” trace the origins of China’s modern art. “Congratulations from the World” features 100 pieces from seven countries. “Splendid China” features 250 works of 21st-century Chinese art, while “Historical Shanghai Contexts”includes 64 pieces.