The Bund

You are walking along one of China’s most iconic places, the Bund, the grand promenade that follows the Huangpu River, a one-and-a-half-kilometre avenue that feels like an open-air museum of architecture. Here, former British, French and Japanese bank headquarters stand side by side, all reminders of Shanghai’s international past. In the nineteenth century, this was the heart of the foreign concessions. After the Opium War and the forced opening of Shanghai’s port, Western powers established consulates, banks, and trading houses here, earning the city the nickname “Paris of the East” — a cosmopolitan centre where money, culture, and power mingled in a uniquely vibrant atmosphere. In the 20s the promenade reached its golden age, lined with grand neoclassical and Art Deco façades like the Customs House with its clock tower or the former HSBC headquarters, then considered the most beautiful building in Asia. After 1949 the Bund was nationalised and remained almost unchanged for decades before being revived in the 90s as Pudong rose on the opposite bank, and today these restored century-old buildings face the futuristic skyscrapers of the skyline, creating a stunning contrast between the city’s colonial past and modern China.