Nanjing Road starts from the Bund in the east, reaches the intersection of Jing 'an Temple and Yan 'an West Road in the west, and runs across downtown Shanghai.
It is 5.5 kilometers long and divided into two sections: Nanjing East Road and Nanjing West Road.
During the Republic of China, Nanjing Road was already a famous "ten-mile foreign market".
After the founding of New China, it has been continuously expanded to become "the first commercial street in China".
Shanghai No.1 Department Store, Shanghai Hualian Store and Shanghai New World Shopping Mall on Nanjing Road are the leading retail enterprises in China.
Every Saturday afternoon, Nanjing Road is turned into a pedestrian street, which is convenient for tourists from all over the world to shop.
History of Nanjing Road
1840 After the Opium War, Shanghai was forced to turn into a trading port. Nanjing Road was first a British concession and then a public concession.
Nanjing Road is the earliest commercial street established after the opening of Shanghai.
At that time, foreign financial groups first established a financial concentration area on the Bund, and then developed their business along what was then called "Garden Lane" to "Main Street".
With the rise of five universal films such as Yong 'an, Shixian, Xinxin, Daxin and Made in China, Nanjing Road has become the most prosperous commercial street in Shanghai.
Nanjing Road is neither the first street in Shanghai's urban history nor the widest street in Shanghai, but it has won the reputation of "the first commercial street in China" because of its prosperity.
The formation of Nanjing Road can not be separated from concession and racecourse. The main mode of its development and change is "roads first, shops later, and streets extend with shops".
1842 The treaty of nanking signed by China and Britain opened the door to Shanghai.
At that time, the county seat of Shanghai was in today's Chenghuang Temple area, and the British opened a concession on the Bund in the north of this oval county seat.
Because I took a fancy to this piece of land in the eyes of China people, which is "overgrown with reeds and numerous graves in the fields", I can not only completely control the estuary of the Yangtze River, but also park British warships to protect British expatriates, so I have a superior geographical position.
At that time, Nanjing Road was just a path by the river bank. With the construction of the concession, it was expanded into a two-foot wide path, and the river bank was also transformed into a roadside sewer.
But there was no name at that time, and it was recorded as "Four Points South".
Because at that time, there were nine plots of land along the Bund from north to south, and there were eight foreign firms, which were the earliest buildings on the Bund. Among them, the location of a foreign firm, the north building of today's Peace Hotel, is called the fourth place.
Living in a foreign country for a long time is boring. In order to enrich their foreign life, the British chose to open a garden near Nanjing East Road and Henan Middle Road, about 500 meters west of the Bund, and built the first racetrack around the garden.
Since then, gentlemen and businessmen have a place to race horses and throw balls, and ladies and wives have more opportunities to compete with the United States.
In order to facilitate the passage of carriages, the most convenient connection between the Bund and the racecourse-"South of Sichakou" was renovated and named as "Garden Lane".
The English homonym of the word "Garden" is "PARK", also called "Park Lane".
The section of Garden Lane that extends to the racecourse is called "Road", which means the road of horse racing.
The leisure activities of the racecourse have brought huge crowds to Garden Lane and attracted a large number of vendors. Shops on both sides of the road have become very popular, and bakeries, foreign cloth shops and pharmacies have opened one after another, forming a business atmosphere that continues to this day.
To this day, Donghai western-style cakes and Laojiefu silks and satins on Nanjing East Road are also famous for a long time. Unfortunately, there are countless shops that have changed their owners.
Nanjing Road in the Late Qing Dynasty
1853, Shanghai filial piety uprising, a large number of refugees inside and outside the original county hid in the concession, foreigners are very willing to accept the business opportunities brought by refugees. The agreement on partition between China and foreign countries can only become a dead letter.
Then, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement made the rural rich gentry in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces flee to the concession for refuge, and the population of the concession surged and the land was insufficient.
In order to earn the land price difference, the original racecourse was divided and sold, and the racecourse moved westward, and Garden Lane was postponed to the second racecourse accordingly.
1863 The land price in the concession soared, and the racecourse moved westward to today's People's Square again.
Garden Lane was expanded again, and Nanjing City was renamed Nanjing Road to commemorate treaty of nanking.
Because of treaty of nanking, it is possible to set up a concession, which can be said to be the source of the concession.
Since then, most of the road names in Shanghai have followed the east-west road, taking the names of major domestic cities such as Beijing Road and Tianjin Road. Nanbei Road borrows the names of domestic provinces, such as Jiangxi Road and Henan Road.
The famous "Road" of the original racecourse was merged into the newly named Nanjing Road. At that time, people were used to the old name, and still called Nanjing Road "Road", and some people called it "Ying Da Road".
The east-west Nanjing Road intersects with many north-south roads, namely Sichuan Road, Jiangxi Road, Henan Road and Zhejiang Road from east to west ... The distances between these roads are relatively small, often less than 100 meters, and the blocks formed are relatively small.
On the one hand, this invisibly increases the number of shops along the street and increases the available commercial value of each plot; On the other hand, the area of each plot is small, even if the unit price is high, the total land price can still be controlled at a low level, and the starting point of housing development is reduced, which is conducive to the prosperity of the market.
In addition, such blocks are smaller and more suitable for walking. With shops and crowds, the popularity naturally rises, which is also the basic reason for the strong business atmosphere in Shanghai.
Nanjing Road starts from the Bund in the east and ends at Yan 'an West Road in the west, with a total length of 5.5 kilometers, and is divided into two parts with the middle road as the boundary.
1853 Welfare Company opened, 1862 Watsons, Lauderkee Pharmacy, etc. 14 foreign firms and 9 woolen shops opened here.
With the development of the city and the influx of imported goods, the business of Nanjing Road, a treasure trove of geomantic omen, has developed rapidly, and hundreds of big stores and famous shops have opened one after another. Nanjing Road gradually extends westward to * * * Road and Jing 'an Temple.
With the rise of five department stores, Yong 'an, Give First, Xinxin, Daxin and Made in China, Nanjing Road, a colorful "Shili Yangchang", has become the most prosperous commercial street in Shanghai and even the whole country.
After liberation, Nanjing Road, which has been completely transformed, adjusted and rearranged, has become the center of Shanghai, with hundreds of modern commercial buildings, Chinese time-honored brands and specialty stores. Nanjing Road has become the largest distribution center for retail goods and business information in China, and millions of people flow to Nanjing Road every day.
At night, the whole Nanjing East Road is brightly lit.
Nanjing Road, with its gorgeous buildings, numerous shops, bustling markets and magnificent night scenes, is worthy of the reputation of "the first commercial street in China".
1999, this "No.1 Commercial Street in China" was transformed into the first all-weather pedestrian street in China.
The first phase of Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street is planned from Henan Middle Road to * * * Middle Road, with a total length of1.033m and asymmetrical design. On the north side of the straight Nanjing Road, there is a "golden belt" that runs through the whole street, just like a colorful dynamic movie.
At the same time, the commercial pattern of Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street has also changed, and the phenomenon of "a thousand shops on one side" has become history.
One hundred, Hualian and New World in the pedestrian street continue to retain the characteristics of their comprehensive department stores, while the rest of the commercial buildings are developed into professional commercial buildings of "one store, one product".
At the same time, the pedestrian street has greatly increased the elements of catering, leisure and entertainment, making Nanjing pedestrian street develop into a pattern of "elegant in the east, professional in the middle and prosperous in the west".
Most of the large shops on Nanjing East Road are located near * * * Road, such as Zhongbaiyi Store, New World Shopping Center, Boutique World, Fashion Company, Food Company, Pharmaceutical Company, Gorgeous Shopping Center and Overseas Chinese Store.
There are also many famous specialty shops on Nanjing Road.
For example, Peromon and Hengsheng's suits, Pengjie and Hongxiang's women's dresses, Mankel's and Ren Li's fashions and Longfeng's Chinese dresses, heming's, Lan Tang's and Bobo's leather shoes, Shengxifu's hat, Zhang Xiaoquan's scissors and so on.
There are also a large number of restaurants, restaurants, dim sum shops and tourists on Nanjing Road, where you can taste various flavors of food.
Nanjing Road is the most touching at night, and colorful neon lights weave the whole street into a dazzling and dazzling sea of lights, which is amazing.