NY Times style Shanghai Tour

The NY Times recently added a new Shanghai 36hours guide (). Let me pick up the cherries out of it and show it to you. 

During the tour you will see some of the famous spots in Shanghai including the French Concession, Dumpling Shops, People Square and Xintiandi.

NOSH AND SHOP

"Start your day in the French Concession district, with its old lane houses and tree-lined streets — specifically, in the former residence that now houses the Citizen Cafe & Bar (222 Jinxian Road, 86-21-6258-1620; www.citizenshanghai.com). Try the club sandwich (45 yuan) in a parlor-like setting of wainscoting, vintage-style ceiling fans and velvet banquettes. Then have a wander among the area’s fashionable boutiques. Make sure to stop by the antiques shops known as Lao Zhou’s (152 and 204 Jinxian Road; 86-136-8191-6036) for Old Shanghai-era furniture and knickknacks; One by One (141-10 Changle Road; 86-21-5306-3280; also at 141-12 Changle Road and 143 Xinle Road) for work by the city’s emerging conceptual fashion designers; and Spin (758 Julu Road, Building 3; 86-21-6279-2545), which produces contemporary ceramics in the traditional porcelain-making center of Jingdezhen."

ROOM FOR DUMPLINGS

"Feeling peckish? Despite lines that are often long, Yang’s Fry-Dumpling (54-60 Wujiang Road) is worth a wait. Not much more than street stalls, this institution’s two adjacent locations dole out pan-fried sheng jian bao — pork dumplings encrusted in sesame seeds and scallions (1 yuan each) — that are so deliciously soupy you might wish you had a bib. The trick: bite a small hole and slurp out the juices."

CULTURAL REVOLUTION

"Time to feed your cultural appetite, and you have three museums in People’s Square to select from: the Shanghai Museum (201 Renmin Avenue; 86-21-6372-5300; www.shanghaimuseum.net), an important repository of ancient Chinese art, including bronzes, jade, ceramics, calligraphy and painting; the Shanghai Art Museum (325 Nanjing Road West; 86-21-6327-2829), with exhibitions that range from more calligraphy to modern painting and the Shanghai Biennial; and the Museum of Contemporary Art (231 Nanjing Road West; 86-21-6327-9900; www.mocashanghai.org)."

FROM HAR KOW TO MAO

"Xintiandi, another must on the tourist circuit, is a popular enclave of recreated and restored — over-restored, some would say — lane houses that are now home to high-end restaurants, shops and bars. Start with dim sum at Crystal Jade (6-7 South Block, Xintiandi, Lane 123, Xinye Road; 86-21-6385-8752), a Cantonese restaurant in a new mall. Its setting may lack charm, but you’ll love the shrimp har kow (24 yuan), steamed soup dumplings (24 yuan) and pan-fried turnip cake (16 yuan). Then stroll to the Memorial to the Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (76 Xinye Road). It’s where the Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 and where one might ponder what Mao Zedong would make of today’s Shanghai."

Source: