Jing'an cultural spaces bring district's past to life
“Strolling down the Suhe Bay” is an immersive historical walking tour which turns a 2.5-kilometer stretch along the Suzhou Creek into an open-air stage.
The creative fusion of old buildings and new ideas, grassroots culture and fine arts has made Jing’an one of the most culturally vibrant districts in Shanghai.
Of the district’s top cultural projects in 2019, many are joint efforts involving neighborhoods, professionals and the business sector.
“Strolling down the Suhe Bay” is an immersive historical walking tour which turns a 2.5-kilometer stretch along the Suzhou Creek into an open-air stage. It requires participants to put on headphones and join a group venturing into historical sites. Along the way, they can experience the area's great moments from centuries past.
The Suhe Bay area is an epitome of Shanghai’s unique Haipai culture and “red” revolutionary history, according to Zhang Zhong, a senior researcher from the Jing’an Culture and Tourism Bureau.
The area is where the first Chinese-run silk reeling factory was operated, where China’s first modern chamber of commerce was founded and where the first Western-style court was established.
The area's 17 former banks and warehouses were the cradle of finance and commerce in Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s.
The Sihang Warehouse witnessed one of the bloodiest campaigns in Shanghai's wartime history. Around the facility, Chinese and Japanese soldiers engaged in a fierce four-day battle in 1937. Bullet holes in the walls can still be seen.
The area is also a museum of shikumen（stone-gate) architecture, featuring buildings from different eras, and in different styles.
Participants can visit these sites and hear historians to tell stories behind every brick. In particular, they can learn about the history of Suhe Bay before the liberation of Shanghai. They can see how the People’s Liberation Army launched a sneak attack under the cover of night and forced more than 1,000 Kuomintang defenders to surrender on May 25, 1949. Also, they can join performers to give flowers to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of the country.
“They were deeply moved and some couldn’t help busting out into tears,” Zhang said of participants. “They didn’t only look back at history, but also felt like they were part of it. It made history come alive.”
Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum has moved to Jing’an’s Innovation Galaxy.
The museum’s collection of fine arts is four times larger than at the original site and serves as an art branch of the Jing’an District Library.
Meanwhile, Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum has moved to Jing’an’s Innovation Galaxy, which was transformed from a former heavy industrial zone into a creative complex of theater, broadcasting studio and media companies.
The museum’s collection of fine art is four times larger than that at the original site and serves as an art branch of the Jing’an District Library. It is all part of the district's concept of integrating art into local neighborhoods, according to museum director Gan Zhiyi.
“The district library offers financial funds and the museum operates the center,” Zhang said.
Another prominent project is a community reading venue in the Beizhan Subdistrict.
The subdistrict allocated nearly 300 square meters of its properties and joined hands with the popular domestic magazine Readers to build a Readers-themed cultural venue, where local people can rest and chat, while visitors can have a cup of coffee, buy books and enjoy exhibitions.
Beizhan has also opened a memorial and art gallery honoring master painter Wu Changshuo (1844-1927) in the subdistrict’s cultural center.
Wu, a prominent painter, calligrapher and seal artist, was considered a leading figure in traditional Chinese painting, especially flowers and birds. He lived with his family in a shikumen neighborhood in Beizhan from 1913 until his death. There, he earned fame and completed his last orchid painting.
