The Bund(Wai Tan)

Walking along Zhongshan Lu, you can enjoy the faded grandeur of old Shanghai, for this was the Bund, where the great trading houses and banks had their headquarters. On one side is a line of imposing 1930s European buildings, while on the other is the Huangpu River. The Bund has undergone a face-lift, which included raising the level of the breakwater to prevent flooding. The raised pedestrian promenade gives a good view of the HuangPu River with the futuristic-looking buildings of the new Pudong area on the other side. As before, the improved riverside promenade of the Bund continually throngs with Shanghai residents, Who stroll about in the hot summer evenings and in the mornings practice taijiquan and martial arts.

The Bank of China is in one of the few buildings still run by its original occupants. The former Shanghai Club at 2 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu was the Dongfeng Hotel unti1 it closed in 1998. The Long Bar was, in its heyday, the longest in the world. Built in 1910, this was a bastion for the elite classes. Padlocked iron gates now stop visitors from entering the building site but the facade has been repainted recently making it now the most outstanding building on the Bund.

A branch of the Pudong Development Bank is now housed in the columned building that was the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank headquarters, built in 1923. Visit the coffee shop there to read, relax and absorb the atmosphere of the Bund. The green-roofed Peace Hotel wa5 the handsome Cathay Hotel, where Noel Coward wrote his p1ay Private Lives in 1928. The Palace Hotel, opposite, now the south building of the Peace Hotel was Sassoon House (named after one of Shanghai's Jewish tycoons). It was built in 1906.

At the end of the Bund, where Suzhou Creek meets the Huangpu, is HuangPu Park. It was first laid out by the British, who called it the Public Gardens. In the old days British residents held Sunday afternoon concerts and promenaded there. Though the regulations of the International Settlement did indeed forbid Chinese (other than servants and nannies) as well as dogs from the gardens, the infamous sign 'No Dogs or Chinese Allowed' never existed. The waterfront building with the clock tower is the old Customs House built in 1927.

With the multitude of choices for crossing the Huangpu River from Puxi to Pudong, still none can surpass the ferry ride. Get on at Shiliupu Wharf on Zhongshang Dong Er Lu. This short trip offers the best view of the Bund.