The Bund

The Bund is the 1.5-kilometre waterfront on the west bank of the Huangpu, lined with the banks and trading houses of treaty-port Shanghai. It faces the towers of Pudong, and the two skylines are a century apart.

Overview

Fifty-two buildings survive from between 1880 and 1940 in beaux-arts, neoclassical and art deco, built by the foreign banks that ran the city’s trade. The raised promenade was rebuilt in 2010 to widen the walkway and bury the road. It is a working financial address again, so the interiors of a few — the former HSBC bank, now Pudong Development Bank — can be seen during business hours.

Highlights

Walk it twice: by day for the buildings, after dark for the lit facades and the Pudong towers. Step inside the old HSBC building for the 1923 mosaic dome in the octagonal entrance hall. The ferry to Pudong costs a few yuan and gives the view the tourist cruises charge for.

Overview

Highlights

Location