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Xintiandi

Coordinates: 31°13′21″N 121°28′12″E / 31.22260°N 121.47010°E / 31.22260; 121.47010
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Xintiandi (disambiguation).
View of Xintiandi.
Location of the first Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921, Xintiandi.

Xintiandi (Chinese: 新天地; pinyin: Xīntiāndì, Shanghainese: Shinthidi lit. "New Sky and Earth",[1] fig. "New World") is an affluent car-free shopping, eating and entertainment district of Shanghai.[2][3] Xintiandi now refers to the wider area centered around Madang Road which includes both pedestrian-only and motor traffic roads.

Overview

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The district is composed of an area of reconstituted traditional mid-19th century shikumen ("stone gate") houses on narrow alleys, some adjoining houses which now serve as book stores, cafes and restaurants, and shopping malls. Most of the cafes and restaurants feature both indoor and outdoor seating. Xintiandi has an active nightlife on weekdays as well as weekends, though romantic settings are more common than loud music and dance places. It is considered one of the first lifestyle centers in China. It is also the most expensive place to live in China, with some apartments costing more than Tokyo, Singapore, New York and London. It is generally home to the Chinese elites and top executive expats or immigrants. The slogan of the area is “Let tomorrow meet yesterday at today in Shanghai”.[4]: 108 

Xintiandi is the location of the site of the first congress of the Chinese Communist Party,[5]: 173  which is now preserved at the Museum of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.[6]: 30–32  Also nearby are the Shikumen Open House Museum and the site of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.

Renovated shikumen lane in Xintiandi.

Redevelopment

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In 1996, Shui On Group acquired 23 square blocks in the former French Concession area of Shanghai.[5]: 173  This was part of a larger redevelopment project at southern Taipingqiao Road.[4]: 108  At the time of its redevelopment, the government could not itself fund the work and the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis had weakened the real estate market overfall.[4]: 109 

Shui On's redevelopment of the area required it to meet strict historical preservation requirements.[5]: 173  Height requirements were a particular challenge for redevelopment, as required by the historic terraced buildings, including the site of the 1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.[4]: 108  The historical preservation requirements meant that redevelopment came at a high cost; Shui On offset these costs through its development of modern buildings adjacent to the historic core of Xintiandi.[5]: 174 

Among other redevelopment approaches seeking to preserve the historical character of the area, the internal spaces of various houses were merged to create a larger space for restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and shops.[4]: 108  Many tour groups both domestic and from abroad also visit Xintiandi as one of the main attractions in Shanghai.

The Xintiandi redevelopment was also collaborated with global architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,[7] including with Benjamin T. Wood and Nikken Sekkei International. The urban renewal is considered one of the first examples of the placemaking approach in China.[8] It was a success both from a real estate business perspective and as a cultural phenomenon.[5]: 175  According to academics Fulong Wu and Fangzhu Zhang, this was also an instance of private development being utilised to meet the political and governmental needs to the state.[4]: 109 

Redevelopment was completed in 2001.[5]: 174  The previously neglected area became a hub of activity and influenced the development of other attempts to revitalise other older neighborhoods around the country.[5]: 173 

Transportation

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The closest Shanghai Metro stations in the vicinity are South Huangpi Road Station (on Line 1), Xintiandi Station (on Line 10 and Line 13) and Madang Road Station (on Line 9 and Line 13).

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Warr, Anne: Shanghai Architecture, The Watermark Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-949284-76-1
  2. ^ "S.F. Architects helping to reshape Shanghai". 26 January 2003. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  3. ^ Pitts, Christopher (April 2013). "Top Sights: Xintiandi". Pocket Shanghai (3rd ed.). Lonely Planet. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-1-74179-963-7.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Wu, Fulong; Zhang, Fangzhu (2025). Governing Urban Development in China: Critical Urban Studies. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-003-35517-5.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lin, Zhongjie (2025). Constructing Utopias: China's New Town Movement in the 21st Century. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-779330-5.
  6. ^ Ho, Denise Y. (2016). "Making a Revolutionary Monument: The Site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party". In Li, Jie; Zhang, Enhua (eds.). Red Legacies in China: Cultural Afterlives of the Communist Revolution. Harvard Contemporary China Series. Vol. 18. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1sq5t95. ISBN 978-0-674-73718-1. JSTOR j.ctt1sq5t95.
  7. ^ "S.F. Architects helping to reshape Shanghai". 26 January 2003. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Our Man in Shanghai: Ben Wood Takes On History". Archived from the original on 2017-03-29. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
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31°13′21″N 121°28′12″E / 31.22260°N 121.47010°E / 31.22260; 121.47010

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