Various new activities heat up in Jing'an as the weather cools

Shanghai's 'Shakespeare & Company'

The local version of the renowned Shakespeare & Company has opened in Jing'an.

Established in Paris in 1919, the origional bookstore is located just across from Notre Dame.

It is a cultural landmark in Paris as well as a pilgrimage site for literature lovers, featuring floors of books and Paris' literary history.

But most importantly, literary giants like Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Allen Ginsberg, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William S. Burroughs and Henry Miller were fixtures in the bookstore. Also, Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" was filmed there.

Now, here in Jing'an, people can feel the same vibe. The 1691 cafe&bar on the fourth floor at 218 Fengxian Road has recreated a Shakespeare & Company with vintage-style decoration featuring Shakespeare's portraits and books.

Actually, it's more than just a bookstore. It's also a café, bar, reading club, talk show performance venue and so on. It has attracted local writers, musicians and artists.

New R&D center

Essential oil company doTERRA, one of the largest of its kind in the world, has opened its first overseas R&D center in Jing'an.

The new center takes over 1,700 square meters at Lane 777 Guangzhong Road W. It is divided into 10 R&D zones such as food, home care products and personal care products in a bid to develop more applications of essential oils.

In Jing'an, the company has opened its regional headquarters, its first overseas lab and its first flagship store on the Chinese mainland.

Photography festival

This year's Pengpu Town photography festival has begun and will last until January 17 next year with a variety of activities such as exhibitions, discussions and photographing on offer.

An exhibition that focuses its lens on front-line workers has opened at the township photography center at 745 Lingshi Road.

Pengpu is a town with cultural origins. Photography became popular in the area in the late 1970s and local photographers soon gained fame nationwide, notably in 1988 when local farmers were invited to display their works in Osaka, Japan.

Festive cheer

A 20-meter-high firework-style tree sparkles at the grand square outside the Jing'an Kerry Center, raising the curtain on the mall's winter holiday celebrations.

The highlight of this year's activities is an outdoor skating rink, which will remain open until January 2, 2023. Additionally, the popular Green Escape, the pop-up pedestrian-and-weekend-only fair, has returned to Anyi Road, a narrow lane tucked in between the mall's buildings.

The fair will offer a wide selection of holiday merchandise, great food and drinks, street art shows and charity activities. Notably, pets are welcome. It will also run through January 2.

Design fest

The Shanghai International Design Festival kicked off at 800 Show Creative Park on November 23. The five-day festival features new product releases, a runway walk and a roundtable discussion to explore how creative industry creates ecosystem for sustainable design.

Also, several partnerships were formed. The highlight is the Chinese creative design center of the Parsons School of Design, one of the top four design schools in the world. It will join hands with XNode, a Shanghai-based business incubator and accelerator, to create a world-class creative platform.

Autumn palette

An autumn palette of golden ginkgoes and red maples decorate roads and parks in Jing'an.

Zhabei Park, the oldest park in Jing'an at 76 years, is awash with seasonal colors. Other highly recommended spots to enjoy ginkgoes include Changde Road between Yan'an Road M. and Beijing Road W., Ever-Bright Greenland and Pengpu Four Seasons Park.