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Home - China Travel Guide - Shanghai Travel Guide - The Bund

The Bund (Wai Tan) is one of the symbols of Shanghai. Located along the Huangpu River, the Bund is an exemplar of Shanghai's outstanding foreign buildings, most of which were erected before 1937. To the Europeans, the Bund was Shanghai's equivalent to the City in London. The name "the Bund" is derived from an Anglo-Indian term meaning literally "a muddy embankment." At the beginning of the 19th century, the area was merely a shallow waterfront covered with reeds.

The Bund is a building in the process of transformation. The building, easily identified by its crowning dome, is the old Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank, was completed in 1921. For many years it has housed the Shanghai People's Municipal Government. The statues that once lined the Bund are long gone; the pair of bronze lions that once stood guard outside the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank can now be seen at the Bund History Museum.

On the west side of the Bund are various towering buildings erected by European and American immigrants, they are a mix of different architectural styles, including Gothic, Baroque and the Romanesque. The combination of these structures creates a unique setting that resembles the Liverpool Docks and 1920s New York City.

Huangpu Park (once called British Public Gardens) can be found at the northwestern end of the Bund. More of a pedestrian walkway than a park in the conventional sense, this area was also under the control of the British. For many years it was forbidden for Chinese people to enter the park unless they were accompanying their western employers. Today, the park is open to everyone with free entry; it consists of a well-maintained walkway, which provides excellent views over the river to Pudong and down the river to the old Customs House and other relics of the colonial era.

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