Yap Seow Choong

Yap loves design, travel and everything beautiful in life. He writes for various media about travel and design and has published works, including Wander Bhutan and Myanmar Odyssey. Formerly publisher of Lonely Planet (China Office), Yap is now Chief Content Officer of Youpu Apps, a Beijing based travel app company.


New look of Shanghai

08 2018 | Issue 28

From Beijing to Shanghai, when getting off the plane, I knew that I was in Shanghai. Beside the carousel, the luggage carts have already been there, which saves the trouble for travellers. This is Shanghai. Shanghai is a city with details. People in Shanghai are always criticised for being fake. That’s a bit derogatory and kind of hypocritical. But being fake also needs energy and emotion. At least it is better than carelessness. 


Shanghai is a city where I have lived for more than ten years. Every time I come back, I feel that the city becomes more beautiful. In the 1930s, Shanghai was the most prosperous capital in the Far East. With solid foundation, even went through the difficult times, this city could easily have a gorgeous turnaround. It seems as if the old blocks and houses do some repairing, the good old times may come back. 


My friend said, how about going for a walk on Yuyuan Road? The Yuyuan Road in early summer has a beautiful green view of the sycamore trees along the street. More than a hundred historical monuments are hidden in the alleys of the road. As the road is not wide, there are not many cars on the road. Quite a few people ride bikes at a leisurely pace, instead of walking, which is the best speed for Dang Ma Lu. In the Shanghai dialect, Dang Ma Lu means hanging out. It sounds like boat drifting with a lower speed. Slowing down could accommodate more scenery. 


Due to its proximity to the old French concession, in 1930s, many rich businessmen and famous people have built garden houses and new style alleys on Yuyuan Road, which was sort of a high-class location at that time. This small road, which is not wide but about three kilometres long, also has its merits. For tourists, though, Yuyuan Road is no more famous than Nanjing West Road or Huaihai Road, for Shanghai people, this road is so interesting. The most famous amusement ballroom in old Shanghai, the garden house that traitor Wang Jingwei has lived, the Changde apartment that Zhang Ailing has lived as well as the St. Mary’s Hall where she has education were all along this road. Singapore’s investment in the shopping mall project, leave the school and church of St. Mary’s Hall, surrounded by a group of modern buildings, at the centre of the square. Seeing the old and new buildings living in harmony, I think it also embodies the high level of acceptance of Shanghai. 


Lately, the Yuyuan Road, near the Jiangsu section, has also been transformed. A group of designers worked with local government to try to improve the lives of local people by design. They even replaced the garbage cans on this section of the road. The design is simple but not ugly. It uses colour as the sign of garbage classification. Even the space for parking and sharing bicycles is redesigned, which is funnier. There are a lot of stools in the street, which make people tired to wander around having a place to rest. Exquisite cafés have sprung up along the road, and new creative parks have attracted more fashionable people to embrace the future without forgetting the past. The famous historical wall on the Yuyuan Road shows the famous deeds of famous people who had ever lived in Yuyuan Road, which makes the fashions of Yuyuan Road have more confidence. 


My friends knew that I love old buildings. This busy city always tries to keep the old buildings and give them new functions and meaning after transformation. During my stay in Shanghai, the Columbia Circle was just opened. This group of buildings is located on Yanan West Road, not far from Yuyuan Road. The industrial park was previously the Shanghai Institute of Biological Products Co. Ltd. (Siobp in short). This park retained the old houses and industrial buildings in the early years of 19th century to the 80s. One of the garden houses is the former residence of Sun Yat-sen’s son Sun Fo. 


One of the most eye-catching old buildings in the park was the Colombian village club a hundred years ago with the Spanish Mediterranean style, which was a leisure and recreation place for foreigners living in Shanghai at that time. The building also retained a swimming pool with gorgeous Mosaic murals. Many people are sitting at the edge of the pool enjoying brunch. It becomes the most popular celebrity hotspot in the park. The old houses in the building, including the villa where Sun Fo once lived and the buildings for industrial use, have been transformed. The team in charge, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), led by Koolhaas, kept the old trees in the park and carefully tended the space that had been abandoned for years. They also designed several beautiful old houses, which attracted many fashionable cafés and restaurants in Shanghai to station in. Even a small bookstore with design style came and added more cultural atmosphere for the space.