Around Shanghai

Between visiting family, relatives, and friends, we explored various parts of Shanghai, discovering new places and revisiting old favorites.

• Zhang Yuan (Zhang Garden): an urban renewal project featuring traditional Shanghai residential buildings.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Waitanyuan (Source of the Bund): another urban renewal project showcasing the oldest commercial buildings at the north end of the Bund. On the day we visited, a bustling Christmas market, which had sold out, created quite a crowd. Unfortunately, we couldn't explore as much as I had hoped.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Dishui Lake: located at the very tip of Shanghai on the East China Sea, this new urban development is centered around a man-made circular lake that spans 2.5 km in diameter. It is home to the new Shanghai Planetarium and features a branch of the popular Duoyun Bookstore. The day we visited was bitterly cold and windy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Panlong Tiandi: a recently transformed shopping and commercial complex, reimagined from an old water village. Here, we stumbled upon our first Aldi in Asia.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Having missed M50 in 2019, we were delighted to discover that the place has expanded while maintaining its edgy vibe. No wonder it was our go-to place when we lived in Shanghai. First below, a photo by Oliver Jiang. Second below, a painting by Ning Tao.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Shanghai-Style Savory Fried Nian Gao for Lunch at M50.