Imprints of the colonial history

The Bund in 1880

Under the provisions of the Sino-British Nanking Treaty signed after the First Opium War in 1842, Shanghai began to be an open port on November 17, 1843. The British (firstly, diplomats, merchants, and missionaries) came to Shanghai in succession to lease land.

The Bund was the first settlement in Shanghai. In 1846, Great Britain established its consulate on the Bund, and after that, other countries also established their consulates on the Bund in succession.

In the early 20th century, the former brick and timber buildings on the Bund were replaced by reinforced concrete high-rises. The Bund became the center of Shanghai's politics, economy, and culture, with the consulates of most countries as well as and many overseas banks, businesses, and newspaper offices settling there.

A space of 30 feet was reserved between buildings erected on the foreshore and the edge of the river. British settlers gave the road its name "Bund," and the stretch of neoclassical buildings became a showcase for foreign banks, trading houses, hotels, consulates, and lavish gentleman's clubs. Granite from Japan, marble from Italy, and toilets from England were imported.

About 52 British, French, American, German, Japanese, and Russian, as well as Chinese buildings were built, in various architectural styles such as Gothic and Baroque to Romanesque, Classicism and Renaissance, giving the area a pronounced European flavor. The combination of these created a unique and famous boulevard that resembles the Liverpool Docks and New York in the 1920s.

From here Shanghai grew into a cosmopolitan and thriving commercial and financial center and Asia's leading city in the 1920s and 1930s.

  Wall Street of the Orient

Known then as "the Wall Street of the Orient," the Bund was a historical miniature of colonial-era Shanghai.

Page:

1

2

3

4

5