FREE guided Shanghai Historic Walking Tour on February 1st 2014

Time: Saturday February 1st 2014, 10 am.

Tour Itinerary: The Bund – Chinatown – Old Shanghai – Daoist Temple – Xintiandi – 1^st Congress of the CCP

We begin our tour of colonial Shanghai at The Bund with all its former glory. History is everywhere, which we will hear about as we walk south. As we enter Chinatown we also enter an entirely different world. As the foreign powers controlled the most important parts of Shanghai the Chinese kept within their own part of the city. In here they could live like they wanted, fairly undisturbed by the Western influence.

We continue though old Shanghai alleyways to Xintiandi. On the way we pass a small Daoist temple. We enter the main room to find the Jade Emperor, thought to be the inventor of the Chinese zodiac. Later we come across the Dongtai Lu market, where ‘antiques’ are sold from vendors. Although we can not expect to find genuine antiques it is still worth a quick stop to check out the things on offer.

Then we continue to Xintiandi where some of the best examples of the Shikumen doorway architecture are found. The Shikumen architecture became a hallmark of the Shanghai building style in the mid-19^th century. Here we also visit the 1^st Congress of the CCP to learn about the Party’s place in late colonial Shanghai.

Time: Saturday February 1st 2014, 10 am.
The tour will take 4-5 hours. We take a break at a coffee house mid-tour (coffee, food etc. is not included in the tour).

Meeting point: The Bund, by the statue of Chen Yi across from the Peace Hotel (if you can’t find us call 138 1897 6489 for assistance).

Guide: Casper Tollerud

Focus: Shanghai history, history's influence on modern society

Sign-up: write to ct@gogct.com or call 5153 1601