The famous Bund tourist area on the banks of the Huangpu River has been designated as a British concession since 1844 (the 24th year of the Qing Dynasty’s Daoguang reign), becoming a true reflection of Shanghai’s ten mile western-style market and the starting point of the old Shanghai concession area and the entire modern city of Shanghai. It is a must visit place for outsiders coming to Shanghai. The Bund is located at the junction of Huangpu River, the mother river of Shanghai, and Suzhou River, facing the Oriental Pearl TV Tower Scenic Area across the river. It starts from Garden Bridge of Shanghai in the north and ends at Yan’an East Road in the south, with a total length of about 1.5 kilometers. The terrain is crescent shaped. To the east of it is the Huangpu River, and to the west is the concentration of financial and foreign trade institutions in old Shanghai.
Why is it called the Bund here, and how did it develop? The Bund was originally a riverside beach located northeast of Shanghai, commonly known as “Huangpu Beach” in ancient times. After the opening of Shanghai in 1843, the first British Consul in Shanghai, Balfour, set his sights on this area and in 1845, based on the so-called “Shanghai Land Charter” issued by the Shanghai Dao Tai, designated 800 acres of land, including the Bund, as the British Concession. In 1849, France also designated the French Concession to the south of the British Concession. Subsequently, the two countries built roads along the river, known as Huangpu Road and Huangpu Beach Road. In 1945, 100 years later, in memory of the great revolutionary pioneer Sun Yat sen, the main road on the Bund was renamed Zhongshan East Road.
Since the opening of Shanghai as a port, the Bund has become the financial and trade center of Shanghai and even China, and a reflection of old Shanghai capitalism. There are 52 classical style buildings standing on the Bund, known as the Bund International Architecture Exhibition Group, which is a symbol of Shanghai and the city’s history. The original name of the China Pacific Insurance Company building is known as the “tallest building on the Bund” in history. It is the oldest high-rise building in Shanghai. Next to it is the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which was once the most luxurious club in Shanghai – the Shanghai Club, known as the “Oriental London”. Its design imitates British classicism and also references the Empire State Building in Japan. The triangular elevator is manufactured by Siemens and has a history of over 90 years; There is a bar counter that is over 110 feet long, known as the longest bar counter in the Far East. No.10-12 is the location of Pudong Development Bank, originally the Shanghai branch of HSBC Bank in Hong Kong, built in 1923.
After the liberation, the Shanghai Municipal Government worked here. This building was built at a cost of 8 million taels of silver and was once hailed as the “most exquisite building from the Suez Canal to the Bering Strait”. No. 13 is now the Customs Building, a sister building of the HSBC Bank Building. It was built in 1927 and is modeled after the Big Ben of the British Parliament. The clock on the exterior of the building is the largest clock in Asia and one of the three existing Westminster clocks in the world. Number 15 is the China Foreign Exchange Trading Center, originally the building of the China Russia Daosheng Bank, which was built in 1902. Looking at the 19th and 20th, they are now the Peace Hotel, divided into the South Building and the North Building. The South Building was originally the Huizhong Hotel building, while the North Building was originally the Huamao Hotel building. Huizhong Hotel is one of the oldest surviving hotels in Shanghai, built in 1854, and is the most luxurious hotel in Shanghai. In 1906, it was renovated and an elevator was installed inside the building. This was also the first time in old China that an elevator was installed inside a building. In 1965, it was renamed as the South Building of the Peace Hotel. Huamao Hotel is invested by real estate tycoon Sassoon, also known as Sassoon Building, and is known as the “first building in the Far East”. In 1956, it was renamed as the North Building of Peace Hotel. No. 23 is currently owned by Bank of China and is a building with Chinese ethnic characteristics. Looking at the 29th, it is Everbright Bank, which was originally the building of Dongfang Huili Bank.
In addition to these distinctive buildings, the northernmost bridge on the Bund is the Garden Bridge of Shanghai, which is also one of the landmarks of the old Shanghai famous at home and abroad. Garden Bridge of Shanghai is located at the estuary of the lower reaches of Suzhou Creek, on the west side of Huangpu Park, at the Suzhou Creek section between Zhongshan 1st Road and Dongdaming Road. It is a full steel bridge. Two spans of 52.16 meters and a width of 18.3 meters, it is an important thoroughfare connecting the north and east of Shanghai city, with high pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
The Bund, which has gone through many vicissitudes, underwent a large-scale renovation between 1992 and 1993. The original road will be expanded into a ten lane wide road, and a unique Wusong Road Gate Bridge will be built in the north to reduce the burden of Garden Bridge of Shanghai.
