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On Hengshan Lu you will find blue-green French parasol trees, garden villas with mahogany colored roofs, European-style gazebos, and cozy cafes. In the evening you can enjoy live music and laidback nightlife.
Built in 1922, Hengshan Lu was original-ly a famous street in the French Concession known as Avenue Petain. Measuring at 2.3 kilometers in length, in October 1943, the road officially changed its name to Hengshan Lu.
Shanghai locals love coffee, and cafes can be found on virtually every street. In its early days, Hengshan Lu was steeped in coffee culture. Number one on Hengshan Lu, today's Xiangzhang Garden, is home to the Hengshan Cafe. This simple museum-like place has some historical significance; established in 1985, it was the first cafe to open in Shanghai after the Cultural Revo-lution. Over its 20 years of operation, it still retains its original look. Many people come to appreciate the nostalgic feel of the place. It is a popular spot for first dates.
It is recommended that you visit Heng-shan Lu in the evening and enjoy its quiet and restrained nightlife. Dim lamps, flick-ering candles, and the quite soft tones of music and singing will bring you into this comfortable new world. If you come dur-ing the daytime, you can visit the Commu-nity Church, the Xujiahui Catholic Church, or pass through one or two small roads to the Song Qingling Residence. If you feel so inclined, this is also the place to visit the Shanghai Library where you can quietly spend part of the day exploring its enor-mous collections.
Former Residence of Song Qingling
Shanghai Museum of Arts And Crafts
Walking 10 meters north from Xu Guangqi's cemetery will take you to the library. Built by French Jesuits, this, the first modem library in Shanghai, provided books to Shanghai's Catholic missionaries for reading and on loan. It was the largest library in early Shanghai, and in modem times it has become incorporated into part of the greater Shanghai library. Xujiahui Library is open on Saturdays from 2pm to 4pm. Groups are allowed in for fifteen minutes at a time and are lead inside by workers on the premises.
Visitors must register their name, wear tags, and put their cameras in their bags. No photography is allowed.
Now part of the Shanghai Music Con-servatory Middle School, the building at 9 Dongping Lu was once home to two of the most famous people in the world — Chiang Kaishek and Song Meiling. When the couple was married in 1927, Song Meil-ing's older brother, Song Ziwen, bought this building for his sister and Chiang as a wedding present. When the newlyweds returned to Shanghai from their honey-moon in Hangzhou and Mogan Mountian, they moved into this property, making it their long-term residence. Chiang Kai-shek owned many properties in Shanghai, but this one was his favorite. He carved the characters for the word ailu ("love cottage" in Chinese) in the ornamental hill outside, and you can still see them there today. Chiang was not able to stay here for very long. He was always on the move, rushing from one place to another. Song Meiling often traveled at her husband's side, but, nevertheless, was able to spend more time at their home.
The Conservatory Middle School does not have a large campus, and Ailu is easy to find next to the school's main gate. The house looks older than ever, and the hang-ing vines are flourishing. Dark red-colored flat tiles on the roof are extremely well pre-served, and the black, white, and yellow cobblestones in the wall are as beautiful as before. Music only adds to the spirit of this little house, and you can hear the sound of string instruments reverberating here all day long. A practice studio now occupies the house's first floor and the other rooms have been converted into classrooms. The structure still preserves a secret escape route that, in special circumstances, can be used to escape to the outside. But if you ask the guards around the building, they will not be able to tell you where the secret stairwell is.
Before the building was absorbed into the middle school, it was occupied for a while by Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing. Old men and women who tend to linger around the building chat tirelessly about the peculiarities of history surrounding the building and its inhabitants.
Address
The Music Conservatory's middle school is located at 9 Dongping Lu. It is within walking distance of the Hengshan Lu subway station.
The Xujiahui Catholic Church is located at 158 Puxi Lu. To get there, take subway line one to the Xujiahui station. You can also take bus line 56 and get off at its final stop, Nandan -Donglu (Jianguo Hotel), or take lines 122, 732, and 770 to their final stops at Tianyao-qiao Lu. Buses that pass by Xujiahui include lines 02, 15, 42, 43, 44, 50, 72, 93, 205, 401, 548, 572, 593, 806, 814, 820, 824, 830, 847, 864, 872, 920, 923, 926, 927, 931, 946, the | Daqiao number six line, airport line 3, tourist line number 10, the Xumin line and the Xu Chuan line.
You can also take the following bus lines to Huaihai Zhonglu: 44,48,72,113,126,138, 506, 548, 911, 920, 923, 926, 945, 946, and tourist line number 7.
Take the subway to the Xujiahui station. First visit the Xujiahui Cathedral and the Xujiahui Library before heading over to La Villa Rouge inside Hengshan Park. You can walk or take a cab or bus to the Community Church and from there, pass through Wulu-muqi Lu toward Huaihai Lu. Check out the Song Qingling Residence and then move over to the Shanghai Library. Head back over to Fenyang Lu to see the Little White House and other pieces of outstanding colonial architec-ture.
If you are short on time, you do not need to visit any site in particular, just stroll down Hengshan Lu, Fuzing Xilu, and Fengyang Lu. At the intersection of Fenyang Lu and Hengshan Lu you will find a bronze statue of Russian poet, Alexander Pushkin.
You can find Japanese cuisine, Dongbei Daxian Dumplings, Xinxin Little Kitchen (欣欣小厨房), Argentinean Barbecue, Bifeng Tang (避风塘) and other restaurants near the Wanping Lu entrance.
Yifang Clay Pot Porridge(一方砂锅粥)
Located at the intersection of Huaihai Lu and Wanping Lu, this restaurant cooks up all kinds of rice porridges. Most of the porridges are seafood-based and cooked in clay pots. The portions are large, but because each portion is made from scratch, cooking times tend to be long. Expect to pay about 50 RMB per person.