Address: No.181 Taicang Rd Shanghai
Admission Fee: free
Phone: 86 (021) 6386 1818
Transportation: subway line1    bus146, 781, 911, 926, 42.
Hotels nearby: Jin Jiang Tower - Shanghai, City Hotel - Shanghai, Laurel Hotel – Shanghai
Scenic Spots nearby: The bound, Yu Garden, Renmin'square

Location

Shanghai Xin Tian Di will be something like Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong and Clarke Quay in Singapore. Xintiandi, the first development in the Taipingqiao Redevelopment Project, is an urban scenic spots imbued with the city's historical and cultural legacies. Shanghai Xin Tian Di is a fashionable pedestrian street composed of Shikumen and modern architecture style. Located at Shanghai downtown, and only one block south of the prestigious Huai Hai Zhong Road and its Metro station, the project has a site area of 30,000 square meters and a gross floor area of 60,000 square meters.
Style of Architecture
No other place can compare with Shanghai Xintiandi, it is unique because of its concept of construction. It retains the antique walls, tiles and exterior of the Shikumen housing of old Shanghai. On the other hand, its interior embodies a totally different world of international gallery, bars and cafes, boutiques or theme restaurants. When you walk into Xin Tian Di, you will get the taste both ancient Shanghai in the 1920's and the modern lifestyle of urbanites of the 21st century. Because of this unique architectural design, Xintiandi has won the national "Innovation China 2001 - Architecture Award", "AIA Hong Kong Citation 2002" and 2003 Award for Excellence from US-based Urban Land Institute.
Introduction
Shikumen is a type of tenement housing unique to Shanghai. Not quite Chinese and not quite Western, it was built in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century to house Chinese people in the Western quarters. "Shikumen", meaning "stone gate", is a special old form of residence in Shanghai.
The remaining shikumen buildings are badly deteriorated (as most old things are in China), and are now being demolished block by block and replaced with Shikumen-looking buildings that are no longer tenements but expensive restaurants, bars and boutiques, where a designer t-shirt costs more than what the people still living in the yet-to-be-demolished building next block would make in a month.
Xintiandi is divided into the North and South Blocks. In the North Block, antique buildings with their modern interior design, decorations and equipment play host to a dazzling array of restaurants specializing in French, Brazilian, Italian, Japanese, American, German, British, Taiwanese and Hong Kong cuisine, putting on display the full international dimension of Shanghai Xintiandi The dividing line between the two blocks, Xingye Road, is the site of the First Congress Hall of the Chinese Communist Party.
The South Block covers 25,000 square meters (6.2 acres) and opened in the middle of 2002. This glass wall building has a very modern atmosphere. boutiques, fashionable ornament shops, food courts, cinemas and one-stop fitness centers provide places of leisure and entertainment for customers and tourists from home and abroad as well as restaurants from all over the world.