Xujiahui - From Jesuits to Jewelry Stores

On Saturday I explored the Xujiahui area of Shanghai. A hundred and more years ago this was the largest site of Western influence in China. This is where the Jesuits set up operations in China in 1848 when the land was given to them by one of their early converts, the scientist and scholar Xu Guangqi. Xu was buried in what is now Xujiahui in 1641 and his tomb is there today, surrounded by skyscrapers. In the 1800s and early 1900s a church, seminaries an observatory, library, schools and orphanages were constructed in this area. Much of it is gone – but the church and a few other buildings can still be found hidden among other, more modern buildings.

The church is still being restored from the ravages of the Cultural Revolution of the early 1970s when it was turned into a food warehouse and all the stained glass broken and ruined. Many of the windows now have new stained glass windows. The church now operates under the Catholic Church of China – which does not recognize the Vatican.

Today, Xujiahui is the shopping mecca of Shanghai. Huge shopping complexes command the main intersection and more and more of the historical buildings are being replaced by monuments of commercialism. After a vegetarian buffet nearby I ended my walk at Jiaotong University – founded in 1896.

On Sunday I explored the lilongs of the old French Concession near Shaoxing Road and Shanxi South Road in Shanghai. The lilongs were apartments and villas built from 1915 to the 1930s and are quiet neighborhoods that are easily missed if you don’t wander through the gates and take the shortcuts from one street or malu (literally horse road) to another. Most of these neighborhoods are built on a fishbone pattern, with a main thoroughfare with lanes leading off the main spine. These areas are fast disappearing in Shanghai but they are some of the best places to see what life in Shanghai is all about.