The Bund

--Located on the Bank of Huangpu River in Huangpu District, central Shanghai, it is one of the most symbolic scenic spots in Shanghai.

Some people say that "the story of the Bund is the story of Shanghai". The essence of the Bund lies in the 52 the Bund architectural complex known as the "universal architecture Expo".

--Although the buildings on the Bund are not from the same designer or built in the same period, their architectural colors are basically unified, and the overall contour treatment is surprisingly coordinated.

--In the evening, the neon lights on both sides of the Pujiang River are in full bloom. When you stroll through it, you can feel the charm and romance of "never night city". In addition, the wind of the Bund is blowing. How can it be a beautiful word.

The Bund

The Bund (English: the Bund; Shanghainese Pinyin: Nga thae) is located on the Bank of Huangpu River in Huangpu District, Shanghai, which is a Chinese historical and cultural district. Since 1844 (the 24th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty), the Bund has been designated as a British concession, which has become a true portrayal of Shanghai's shiliyangchang and the starting point of the old Shanghai concession and the whole modern city of Shanghai.

The Bund is 1.5 kilometers long, South Yanan East Road, north to Suzhou River on the outer white bridge, East is Huangpu River, the west is the old Shanghai financial and foreign trade organization's concentration. After Shanghai became a commercial port, foreign banks, commercial banks, associations and newspapers began to gather here, and the Bund became the financial center of the whole country and even the Far East. In August 1943, the Bund was returned to the Shanghai public concession under the Wang puppet national government, ending the century long concession period. In 1945, the Bund was officially named zhongshanyi road.

There are 52 classical Renaissance buildings with different styles on the Bund, known as the Bund International Architecture Expo Group. It is an important historical site and representative building in modern China, and one of the landmarks of Shanghai. In November 1996, the State Council listed it in the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units. The Bund and Lujiazui, opposite to Pudong, have Shanghai landmark buildings, Oriental Pearl, Jinmao Tower, Shanghai Center Tower, Shanghai world financial center, etc., which become the symbol of China's reform and opening up and the epitome of Shanghai's modernization drive.

In March 2018, on the basis of comprehensively promoting the functional replacement of the "first Facade" (i.e. riverside buildings), Shanghai Bund started the functional replacement of the "second Facade" (i.e. non riverside buildings) simultaneously.

Historical evolution

The origin of the name

In the late Qing Dynasty, most of the riverbanks except the Huangpu River bank in the east gate of Shanghai county were natural beaches. At ebb tide, the river water stagnates in the center of the riverbed, exposing a large area of beach. At high tide, the river never crossed the bank. The Huangpu River is the main channel in Shanghai. Because of its wide width and rapid flow, ships sailing against the river have to pull their boats. For hundreds of years, the track of the trackers has stepped on a winding path on the Huangpu River beach, which is known as the "trackway", which is the earliest Road on the Bund. On the west side of the track is farmland, with scattered thatched cottages between the fields and ditches.

In the customary use of place names in Shanghai, the upper reaches of the river are generally called "Li", and the lower reaches of the river are called "Wai". Before entering the old town of Shanghai, there was a small tributary called shanghaipu (which has disappeared). Shanghainese take the outlet of shanghaipu as the boundary. The upper reaches of the Huangpu River are called "lihuangpu Beach", which is called "Litan" for short, and the lower reaches of the Huangpu River are called "Litan" It is called "waihuangpu Beach" for short.

Evolution of construction

In 1843, before the British Empire opened a concession in Shanghai, the Bund area was first designated as the "anchorage area" for its ships.

On November 29th, the 25th year of Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty (1845), 830 mu of land to the west of the Bund was designated as the British concession by the Shanghai land charter. Since then, the colonial authorities have built the British Consulate in Lijiazhuang (also known as lijiachang, a section of Yuanmingyuan Road southwest of today's Yuanmingyuan Road and Beijing East Road near the Bund) (now the location of Shanghai Branch of China Travel Agency, No. 33 on the Bund). Soon, along the Huangpu River in the south of the British Consulate, there were Sassoon, Renji, Baocheng, Qichang, Tianchang, etc.

In the 28th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1848), the track near the Huangpu River was transformed into an 18 meter wide road, and a wharf, a stack, a line and a shipyard were built on the east side of the road.

In 1849, French colonists seized the Bund and established the French concession.

From 1854 to 1941, there were more than ten foreign banks and Chinese banks on the Bund, which became the financial center of Shanghai, known as "Oriental Wall Street".

In 1873, the British Consulate in the Bund was built, which became the earliest consulate building in Shanghai and the oldest preserved modern building in the first interface of the Bund complex.

In May 1897, the first commercial bank in China was established on the Bund, becoming the first bank in the modern financial history of the Chinese nation.

In October 1905, the first National Bank of China, the Hubu bank, set up a branch in the Bund.

In May 1908, the Bank of communications set up a Shanghai branch in the Bund.

In 1936, there were 131 Chinese banks and banks in Shanghai, almost all of them concentrated in the Bund area.

In 1937, the Bank of China building was completed, which is the only one designed and built by Chinese people.

Before the Japanese occupied the concession in 1941, the Bund was occupied by the British concession and the French concession, and was called "the Bund of the British concession" and "the Bund of France" respectively. The Ministry of industry of the public concession and the Council of the French Concession are their highest municipal organizations and leading bodies respectively.

In 1945, with the victory of the Anti Japanese War, China regained the management of the concession, and the road where the Bund was located was named zhongshangdong No.1 road.

In October 1948, the Bank of communications building was completed, and the Bund skyline and the Bund complex were basically formed.

In May 1949, when Shanghai was liberated, the Shanghai Municipal military control commission was ordered to take over the capital bank of the Republic of China. New state-owned banks such as the East China branch of the people's Bank of China gather on the Bund.

In 1979, with China's reform and opening up, all kinds of new financial institutions and financial factor markets in Shanghai, such as China foreign exchange trading center, Shanghai Gold Exchange and Shanghai clearing house, were first settled on the Bund; many foreign banks returned to the Bund; Shanghai municipal government gave up its building to open Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

In April 2007, the Shanghai municipal government approved the implementation of a new round of comprehensive renovation project of Bund traffic for the World Expo. In July, the Bund began comprehensive renovation.

In March 2009, after the construction of Shanghai international financial center was approved by the central government, the Bund financial gathering zone was established, covering an area of 2.6 square kilometers along the Bund, starting from Suzhou River in the north and reaching the Expo site in the south.

On March 28, 2010, on the eve of the opening of the World Expo, the renovation project of the Bund was fully completed.

geographical environment

The Bund (Zhongshan East 1st Road) is located at 31 ° 24 ′ N and 121 ° 49 ′ e, in the middle of Shanghai and the east of Huangpu District, facing Lujiazui across the Huangpu River in the East, 2km away from Shanghai People's Square in the West and Suzhou River Estuary in the north. The Bund runs through 9 roads from north to South: South Suzhou River Road, Beijing East Road, Dianchi Road, Nanjing East Road, Jiujiang Road, Hankou Road, Fuzhou Road, Guangdong Road and Yan'an East Road, with a total length of 1.5 km.

The Bund has four distinct seasons, mild and humid, abundant rainfall and long frost free period, which belongs to subtropical monsoon climate. More than 60% of the annual rainfall is concentrated in the flood season from May to September.

architectural style

Since the concession was seized by Britain, France and other countries in the 1840s, the Bund has become a sovereign area. The Western powers operate, manage and construct the concession in their way. When commercial banks and financial enterprises occupy a place in the Bund, they construct company buildings, and most of the buildings on the Bund have been rebuilt three or more times.

In the 20th century, due to the development of construction technology and the growth of economic strength, multi-storey and high-rise buildings appeared on the Bund, with various styles, such as British classical, British neoclassical, British Renaissance Asia Building (former Shanghai Metallurgical Design Institute), Shanghai Federation (now Dongfeng Hotel), Shanghai Pudong Development Bank building (former HSBC building) and chawa building (now foreign trade Design Institute) In addition, there are French classical style, French Grand residence style, Gothic style, Baroque style, modern western style, East Indian style, eclecticism style, Chinese and western mixed style, etc., showing the coexistence of architecture in the world. As a result, North Suzhou outside the white bridge, South to East Zhongshan road Jinling East Road, this group of buildings, known as the "universal architecture Expo." These classical and modernist buildings have become the symbols of Shanghai.

Main buildings

Historical buildings

There are 33 buildings on the Bund,

Chinese PinYin : Wai Tan