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The Bund and its Environs
This site shows a portion of the historic
center of the foreign presence in Shanghai and its transformation
in recent times. Pudong, on the east side of the Huangpu
River is one of the world's busiest construction zones.
The transformation may be dramatically seen in the juxtaposition
of two photographs that introduce this series. Additional
architecture of the new Pudong may soon be viewed on another
part of this site.
The Bund (Waitan) is one of the most recognizable
architectural symbols of Shanghai. "Bund" derives
from an Anglo-Indian word for an embankment along a muddy
waterfront and that is what it was in the beginning when
the first British company opened a office there in 1846.
Located on the west bank of a bend (running north and south
at this point) in the Huangpu River and just south of Suzhou
Creek, the Bund became the site of some of the earliest
foreign settlements after Shanghai was opened as one of
five "Treaty Ports" in the Treaty of Nanjing that
ended the Opium War in 1842. Because of its proximity to
the Yangtze (Changjiang) River--the path into central China,
Shanghai grew rapidly as the economic center of foreign
interests.
Jardine Matheson & Company bought its
first land here in 1848 and the river front soon became
vital to the interests of the entire foreign settlement.
In the latter 19th early 20th century the Bund became the
financial and political center of the international community
and (indeed of much of China). It was China's Wall Street,
as Shanghai's financial market became the third largest
in the world (behind London and New York). Nearby were located
a number of important consulates, including the British,
American, Russian and Japanese.
The twenty-four major structures, of uneven
height 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
--classical, Gothic, renaissance, eclectic and modern--a
reported seventeen styles of architecture. 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.
After the establishment of the People's
Republic of China in 1949 the old tenants were gone. They
had already be impacted by the wartime crises. Many of the
structures were subdivided into government offices, department
stores or storage areas, furnishings were sold off or destroyed,
and architectural features covered. The Bund, one might
say, was moribund.
Much of this now is changing with the revitalization
of Shanghai, strongly encouraged by a visit of Deng Xiaoping
in 1992. The next year the plans for the Bund were finalized
and the renewal of Shanghai began in earnest. Although many
of the state-protected historic buildings of the Bund remain
vacant, or perhaps underutilized as government offices as
of this writing (April, 2002), there are strong indications
that this might change--even though the old tenants have
outgrown their old quarters and will not return since many
are now in more spacious and comfortable quarters on the
east side of the river in Pudong. But their old buildings
are newly appreciated, with even brass plates outlining
their previous use, and efforts are being made to bring
elements of the international community back to where it
started in the Bund, as well as on the Pudong side.
The area does have a new vitality. Zhongshan
Dong Lu has been widened to to ten lanes to accommodate
the increased Shanghai motor traffic, and the promenade
along the banks of the Huangpu has also been elevated and
enhanced as a place to view the ever-changing skyline of
Pudong across the water. It actually is part of a new dike
to protect the city. One only need look at a few images
of this area taken in 1980 that are on this site to gain
an appreciation of this new vitality. A decade ago there
was little in Pudong besides warehouses, shipping facilities
and small shops. Now it is the most extensive construction
site in the world. Both sides of the Huangpu River reflect
important aspects of Shanghai's heritage--its past, present
and future.
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