The Bund
Sunday, October 14th, 2007The Bund, also called the Zhongshan Road, is a famous waterfront and regarded as the symbol of Shanghai for hundreds of years. It starts from the Baidu Bridge, which is at the connecting point of the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Creek, to the East Jinling Road and winds a 1500 meters (less than one mile) length. Walking along The Bund, which is at the west shore of the Huangpu River, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower can be seen on the opposite side and also the Jin Mao Tower.Being one of the Top Ten Shanghai Attractions, The Bund is a really beautiful and special place which is worth visiting. The newly-built Flood Control Bank takes the function of preventing the oversize flood; the square with the statue of Marshal Chen Yi is an open air podium which gives new views of the Shanghai Plaza Culture; the Cenotaph which stands on the man-made island is a monument of people’s heroes; the riverside greenbelt, the Electronic Waterfall Bell, and the Great Mural Carving are all representatives of The Bund.
As you walk through Shanghai, it may feel as though you are entering a fair of world architecture or an art gallery of human civilization. In fact, Shanghai is unique among world cities in its variety of architectural styles. This variety reflects the wisdom and efforts of architects, engineers, and workers–both foreign and domestic–and is a precious legacy to the world.
Take a walk along The Bund (Zhongshan Road), once the most famous street in Asia. It is a tree-lined promenade along the Huangpu River. The major firms of the Far East had their headquarters in the buildings facing the river. First among them is the former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, which after 1949 was used as the city Communist Party Headquarters. It is now the home of the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. One of the conditions for the bank to move to this building was that they restore it to its original grandeur, which apparently was quite grand. (Note that in 1992 the waterfront was raised for anti-flooding purposes and to provide more room for visitors to take photographs of each other!)
