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Shanghai Old Street
Shanghai Old Street
Shanghai Old Street is an ideal place to discover what Shanghai was like in the old days. The 825-m long Old Street runs from Renmin Rd. to Henan Rd. . It is an important thoroughfare for visiting the Yuyuan commercial area. In old Shanghai here were found the private banks, gold shops, jewelry stores, wine shops, tea houses, theatres, and other firms, usually called the center of all trades in Shanghai. Here, now, we can find some of the traditional trades like a coin store, old-fashioned tea houses, a shop selling mahogany decorative articles, a pawn shop, a wine shop and a private bank.
The 825 meter-long street can be divided into eastern and western sections.
Peddler at Shanghai Old Street
The eastern section retains characteristics of residences in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and early Republican days (1911-1949). The houses on both sides of the street are fitted with checkered windows, and shop fronts have wooden boards, balustrades and swing doors. Their roofs have upturned eaves, protruding corners and laced drain-pipes. The western section is filled with Ming (1368-1644) and Qing style architecture. Black tiles and white-washed walls, red columns and upturned eaves, showcase the style of old Shanghai.
The western section has a number of antique and curio shops, as well as restaurants and teahouses, and the eastern section has a variety of shops including florists, shoe and clothing retailers, noodle restaurants and specialty dealers selling Chinese tea and snacks, such as "Five Fragrant Beans".
Shopping at the Shanghai Old Steet
On the street you will find hundred-year-old stores: Tonghanchun, Laotongsheng, Wuliangcai, Wanyouquan, Qiu Tianbao, Old Shanghai Tea House, Deshun Western Food Restaurant, Chunfeng Deyi Restaurant, Xishi Soya Beancurd Store, Dingniangzi Cloth Store, Rongshun Restaurant and Baoyintang. There is also a newly opened Danfeng Tea House, a Clinic of renowned traditional Chinese medical doctors and other new shops with traditional characteristics.