The Bund is located along the Huangpu River which is located in the Huangpu District, the center of Shanghai. It is the scenery line of Shanghai. In the opposite across the Huangpu River,it has a few Shanghai landmarks like Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Finacial Centre, Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Jinmao Tower, which are among those most famous buildings in China,. It is a must-see place while enjoying your Shanghai Tours.
Since 1943, the Bund has been also known as Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road. It has the total length of about 1.5 km. The Bund starts south from the Yan'an East Road, north to the White Bridge on the Suzhou Creek, east faces the Huangpu River, west has the 52 different classical revival building in the Gothic, Romanesque, Baroque, Chinese and western style which constitute the financial center of old Shanghai and concentration zone of foreign trade agencies. The Bund is known as the "International Architecture Exhibition Group".
History of The Bund
After 1840, as one of the five treaty ports, Shanghai, was opened to the public. In 1845, the British colonialists seized the Bund and established the British concession. In 1849, the French colonists also seized the Bund and established the French Concession. Till the early 1940s, the Bund has been occupied by the British concession and the French Concession, and was known as the the "British Concession Bund" and " French Bund".
The western powers operated, managed and constructed the concession in their way, hence, the Bund became earliest constructed and most bustling place in the concession. Early Bund was a foreign trade center, here, there were foreign firms and prosperous trade. From the late 19th century, many foreign and Chinese banks were established in the Bund, here became Shanghai's "Financial Street", but also known as "Oriental Wall Street".
Features of The Bund
The Bund Shanghai faces the mother river of Shanghai — Huangpu River, leans on rigorous modeling and different styles building group. Due to its unique geographical location and its influence in the areas of economic activity in Shanghai and China over the past century, it has a very rich cultural connotations. The streets view constituted by the surface of the river, the long beach, green belt and beautiful buildings is the most characteristic landscape. In the morning, the Bund is the place for exercise. During the day, it is a bustling tourist attraction. In the evening, it is a world for the lovers. Whenever the night comes, the light-flooded buildings on the Bund, like Crystal Palace, make both local and overseas visitors amazed.
How to Get to the Bund and relevant tips:
- You may take Subway Line 2 or Subway Line 10, get off at the East Nanjing Road Station(南京东路), it takes about 15 minutes to walk to the Bund from the exit;
- The Bund is free to visit at any time of the day but if you want to take the Bund sightseeing tunnel, it is 50 CNY per person;
- 40 minutes is enough to see the night view of the Bund, but if you want to walk through the whole Bund area it will take around 4 hours.