【Location】 Old City Area, Shanghai City
【Type】 Ancient Architecture, historical scenic spot
【Rank】 ★★★
【Completion date】1559
【Recommended Time to stay】 2 hours
【Opening Hours】
• Each March to November: 8:30-17:30
• Each November to March: 8:30-17:00

Made into a rounded walled city in 1553 to fend off Japanese pirates, the Old Town displays the richness of Ming and Qing architecture and the vibrancy of traditional Shanghai street life. Some call this Shanghai's " Chinatown " because of the traditional atmosphere, though the bright visages of Colonel Sanders and neon lights lining the narrow alleys add a modern touch. Considered unhealthily overcrowded, dirty and smelly by foreigners during the concession era, this was the one place that Chinese could call their own in Shanghai.

Today the Old City is one of the few historic tourist highlights in a city that's all about modernity. One of the best ways to enter this area is from the northern gate from Renmin Road and Lishui Road. Walk south on Lishui past the new park underneath a massive gate straddling the road.

Some streets in the Old City are more understated than others, explore the sidewalk shops and lanes - quiet shopping opportunities abound. Small niches filled with clay kettles, glazed teacups and all sorts of trinkers line the walls in small stores, and antiques and antique replicas lure collectors and those stumped for souvenirs. Posters of 1930's era beauties to simple peasant art vie for your attention and cash. Parts of this area remain residential, it's easy to get lost in the maze of longtangs while walking past residents washing vegetables at outdoor sinks, toddlers playing hide and seek, and old men hunch over a game of Chinese chess.

To enter the main nerve of Old Town and visit the Ming era Yu Garden, look for one of the many small entrances that lead into the central garden area. The dark narrow lanes are towered over with a mish-mash of Chinese architecture and modern styling. Commercialisms is the word of the day; it's a modern version of an old bustling market - with the added kick the Shanghainese throw into making money. Different snacks and trinkets are available. Tasty goodies include sweet sticky rice candies, grilled sausages and assorted fried kebabs. Shanghai is known for its steamed meat dumplings and the most famous in Shanghai are found in the Yu Garden shopping complex. Just off the central pond, this vendor is hard to miss, just look for the long line of salivatinge people. The dumplings are made on the spot and steamed to juicy perfection in a few minutes.

Like a green aquatic gem ensconced in a shell, the lake in the center of the market complex features a nine - bend bridge where locals and tourists alike all compete for the best photo opportunity. Fat fish swim lazily underneath the bridge, but come alive into a feeding frenzy whenever people throw in some food.

Across the bridge is the famed Huxinting Teahouse. This massive structure donimates the Yu Garden skyline, with massive upturned eaves, this building was originally built in 1784 and became a teahouse just before the turn of the 19th century. The restaurant inside the five-sided structure is as famous as the dignitaries that have poked their shopsticks into the restaurant's rice bowls. Pictures of Jiangxi Zeming, Queen Elizabeth and the Clintons mingling with the staff hang on the walls.

Across the pond from the teahouse is the Yu Garden, the garden was built by the Pan family, powerful officials of the Ming dynasty. Built between 1559 and 1577 as part of their estate, this typical southern style garden was destroyed several times and later restored to its former glory. One defining feature of southern garden is the carefully created sense of space within small confines using narrow lanes, strategically placed partitions and windows that provide frames for portraits and windows that provide frames for portrait views. One of its more alluring displays is a naturally hollowed out jade boulder standing in front of a large hall, it's considered by experts to be an exquisite sample.

Just behind the Yu Garden is the Chenghuang Temple, the temple to Shanghai's City god. Each Chinese city used to have a city god based on the Taoist pantheon of Chinese deities and they were worshipped in these colorful temples. Loud, crowded and full of eager worshipers, these temples were rambunctions places where people would gather in front of their preferred god and pary for health ad wealth, and being Shanghai, perhaps more for wealth. Originally the Jinshan Temple, it was rebuilt during the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming dynasty in the 13th century. The temple was refurbished again in 1926 and today, still drenched in incense smoke, it continues to attract worshippers. In the front hall is a statue of a Han dynasty general while in the back hall stands Qin Yubo, Shanghai's city god.