Nanjing Road----- the First Commercial Street in China

Nanjing Road is the earliest and most prosperous shopping street in Shanghai dating back to the 1840s. Regarded as "the first commercial street in China", Nanjing Road offers all-in-one shopping malls, gorgeous restaurants and spectacular night views.

Nanjing Road is the world's longest shopping district; around 5.5km long, and attracts over 1 million visitors daily. Nanjing Road occupies a surprising length of 5.5 kilometers. It is named after the city of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province neighboring Shanghai.

Today's Nanjing Road comprises two sections, Nanjing Road East and Nanjing Road West. In some contexts, "Nanjing Road" refers only to what was pre-1945 Nanjing Road, today's Nanjing Road East, which is largely pedestrianised. Before the adoption of the pinyin romanisation in the 1950s, its name was rendered as Nanking Road in English. Now the pedestrian street has become the most welcomed commercial area around Shanghai and the most famous among thousands of pedestrian streets in China.

Nanjing Road is also of historical significance, playing an important role in the development of the city. After the Opium War (1839-1842), Shanghai became a treaty port. And the Nanjing Road was a main road to reach the Bund, so it was important. The road was first a British Concession, then the International Settlement. Several standout companies established by Chinese businessmen later nestled their stores at the buoyant Nanjing Road, for instance, Wing On Department Store and East Asia Hotel (developed from Sincere Company ).

On Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street there are trolleys for tourists to ride on. Tourists can walk along Nanjing Road for 5 to 10 minutes and reach the Bund, which is another famous attraction that tourists do not want to miss for their Shanghai travel. To reach Nanjing Road, visitors can take Shanghai metro line 2 and get off at Nanjing Road Station.
For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com