Overview
Shikumen are the stone-gated terraces that housed most of Shanghai for a century, and this block was saved when artists took studios in its disused factories. The lanes are genuinely narrow and residents still live above the shops, laundry hanging over the crowds. Commercialisation is well advanced, and the quieter northern lanes are where the original character survives.
Highlights
Get lost deliberately — the plan is a maze and the interesting shops are off the main run. Look up at the shikumen gates, the carved stone lintels that give the housing its name. Come on a weekday; weekends compress the lanes to a shuffle.