Shanghai’s development has meant that many of the city’s most vibrant markets have given way to the relative sterility of shopping malls. Still, in the Luwan District, crossed by Huaihai Lu and home to Xintiandi, there are a number of zones where upmarket shops and restaurants can be contrasted with the density and local flavor, of street markets. These include:

The Dongtai Lu Antique Market has few if any ‘authentic’ antiques but this street bazaar has lots of character and plenty to buy. Over 100 stalls sell porcelain bowls and brilliant teacups with in-built tea leaf holders and lids, gorgeous makeup boxes with tiny drawers and fold out mirrors, small furniture (benches and stools), old posters, Mao kitsch and Buddhist trinkets. Be prepared to bargain hard.

Shanghai’s Luwan District taps into several distinct but interconnected currents in the city’s history. As the wild heart of the former French Concession, it still seems to reverberate with the giddy pursuit of sophisticated entertainment and coffee-shop culture. The wide-ranging late-night conversations that filled its meeting spots were not always frivolous, however. Luwan was also central to weightier matters, including the country’s political destiny. It was the place where China’s most influential political figures did much of their thinking, planning and organizing, it is where the Chinese Communist Party was established and a long list of important activists lived and worked there before the revolution. In today’s Xintiandi extensive homage is paid to both of these legacies. Luwan is also where Chinese industry first started, when (in 1867) the Jiangnan Shipyard started producing modern warships and molten steel. This industrial heritage has also left important remants and continues to shape the district’s economic fortunes, often in unexpected ways.

1922: A Call to Arms (Lu Xun Park and Duolun Lu)

Lu Xun (1881-1936) is widely regarded as the greatest of China's modern literary figures. In the preface to his first collection of stories, he recalls the incident that prompted him to write. It occurred after a lecture in Japan where Lu was studying to be a doctor. It was common, he recounts, for the professor, after finishing his slide presentation on microbes, to use the same projector to screen short films. Many of these featured propaganda footage from the 1903-4 Russo-Japanese war. “It was a long time since I had seen any compatriots,” writes Lu. “But one day I saw a film showing some Chinese, one of whom was bound, while many others stood around him. They were all strong fellows but appeared completely apathetic. According to the commentary, the one with his hands bound was a spy working for the Russians, who was to have his head cut off by the Japanese military as a warning to others, while the Chinese beside him had come to enjoy the spectacle.”

The Town Hall, 650 Qingyuan Huan Lu, was completed in 1933. It now functions as an office building for the Shanghai Sports University. It is a vast, grandiose Chinese-style structure with a colorful tile roof, animal decorations and upturned eaves. It has a red pillar front, arched doorways and -- inside the main entrance -- a ceiling mural with an inlaid floor map of Shanghai. In front of the building is a vast square. Now converted into sports fields, it was built to hold up to 100,000 people – the anticipated crowd at the building's inauguration. On one occasion, 500 couples were wedded in a mass ceremony in the square.

Your guide to the main parts of Yuyuan Gardens. Ideal if your mates are in town and you really can't face it that one more time...

The Sansui Tang (Three Ears of Corn Hall), 9 meters in height, is the first and largest of the grand pavilions in the garden. The Hall was not originally part of Pan’s garden but was added in 1760 during the first restoration to be used as a meeting place for government officials. The hall’s doors and windows are decorated with detailed carvings of wheat, fruit and rice that represent the harvest. The name Sansui means ‘lucky’.