Why do we live in Shanghai anyway? For sure it is not for the food because the Chinese food in the USA is much more appetizing than in China; it’s not for the work because work is not as much fun as retirement; it’s not for the weather because the weather is much too hot for my liking. It’s for those times when we can come face to face with the real Shanghai; not the new infrastructure like in Pudong but rather for the history as shown on “THE BUND”. So remembering why we are here, I took this past Friday off to join Catharine in a “Tour of the Bund”. For those unfamiliar with Shanghai, the Bund refers to that portion of Shanghai which borders the Huangpu River. It is where Shanghai really began.
Prior to the 1800’s Shanghai was nothing but a farming community and there was very little if any development in the city. The first European traveler to reach the Shanghai area was Marco Polo in the mid 1200’s. He was the first to travel the “Silk Road” from Europe to Shanghai. Marco Polo was the first outsider allowed to visit and trade with the Chinese and became a great friend of the Mongol Emperor. Trading with Shanghai was very difficult because of its distance from Europe so it wasn’t long before the trade was done with the Mongols and Shanghai did not benefit further from the European trade. In the mid 1700’s, and with the advent of the Shipping trade, Shanghai once again became a potential trading port but no one other than the Chinese were allow to land on Chinese soil. So in the 1830 the British traders from India made the first real impact into the Chinese market. They did this by starting the “Opium Wars”.
The area got its name at the time of the “Opium Wars” from the early British East Indian traders. The name “Bund” is an Indian word meaning Muddy Waters, and that was a great description for the area at the time. In 1756 the Chinese government enacted a law which restricted trade to one port and did not allow foreigners entrance to China, the British East India Company wanted to improve their trade with China and therefore invested heavily in opium production. At this time the Chinese people were heavily addicted to Opium. British and United States merchants brought opium from the British East India Company's factories to the coast of China, where they sold it to Chinese smugglers who distributed the drug in defiance of Chinese laws. In 1838, the Emperor demanded that foreign firms turn over their stocks. When they refused, the Emperor stopped trade altogether and declared war on the British. This was a foolish move because the British had a strong navy and China had none. The British easily defeated the Chinese and demanded retribution for the loss of their Opium Stocks. But the Chinese were broke and decided instead to give them land. This land became known as the Bund. [Before the 1840s, the Bund was a muddy narrow lane with tall reeds. After Shanghai was established as the trading port in 1846, a street was paved there and the riversides were reinforced. Then, rows of commercial buildings were constructed. As the UK Concession, a building boom at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century led to the Bund becoming a major financial hub of East Asia. It was the center of Shanghai's politics, economy and culture more than a hundred years ago, consulates of most countries and many banks, businesses and newspaper offices were settled there, and that's why we have these spectacular buildings representing the Art Deco, the Neo Classical and Queen Victorian eras of architecture.
In the 1990s the Shanghai government attempted to promote tourism and started to plan the restoration of the waterfront. From 2008, a major reconfiguration of traffic flow along the Bund was carried out. After 33-months of tunnel construction, Shanghai's Bund was reopened to visitors on March 28, 2010. The new tunnel allowed for a much more pedestrian friendly downtown area. One of the most interesting aspects of the Bund area is that there is no “bed-rock”. After drilling footings as deep as 2000 meters, the idea of footings had to be abandoned. They borrowed the construction techniques from Venice to create the foundations for the waterfront buildings. The historic buildings were built on huge floating “logs. The Logs, when placed into the muddy waters, become petrified and last approximately 300 years before gradually succumbing to the mud. You can see cracks starting to form in some of the historic buildings, especially those near to where the tunnel was constructed. The newer buildings use a form of “concrete logs” to float the buildings that are constructed on them. What happens after 30 years only time will tell.
The Bund has been called a 'museum of international architecture' and indeed it was and still is. But it was also much more. Here were located the banks, hotels, exclusive clubs, press organizations and headquarters of international concerns. The twenty-six major structures, of various heights along approximately 1.5 kilometers of Zhongshan Lu and the Huangpu River, have changed little externally since the 1930s. All were constructed in western-inspired styles. Many of these building are now open to the public and have been exquisitely restored to their former glory.
The tour was delightful 2 hours of architecture and history, and is a must see on the visitor list. We hope many of you will take the opportunity to check out this and many other sights in the Shanghai area.
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