Nanjing Road Shanghai

Nanjing Road is a premier shopping street in Shanghai which every tourist would end up one way or another. Our tour guide brought us there on our very first night in Shanghai.

Stretching 3.4 miles, it starts from the Bund on the east, ending near the junction of Jing’an Temple and Yan’an West Street on the west. Nanjing Street is reputed to be the first and the earliest shopping street in Shanghai, right after the Opium War (1839-1842).

This street has been mostly rebuild over the years and today is a modern shopping pedestrian mall with trendy outlets lining both sides of the street. You will find all the high end trendy premium outlets such as Dunhill, Mont Blanc and Tiffany that would bleed your pocket and wallet as well as outlets offering a range of other specialty goods. There are also a host of cafes, trendy restaurants and pubs for a meal, a snack or simply a drink.

Be prepared to be `harassed’ by the numerous street vendors, offering all sorts of products and items, many that would definitely be enticing especially to the little ones. If you are thinking of buying some, do not buy from the very first vendor who approaches you and be prepared to walk away if you could not get the price you want. You will be surprised that you could actually buy what you got from the first vendor (even after a hefty 50% bargain, which you thought was superb) even cheaper if you have only waited and walked further down the road.

Nanjing Street is definitely more attractive with all the flashy neon signs illuminating the night and be on a look out for the occasional street performance or music which could be rather interesting.

I, for one, did not find anything particularly interesting about this street. Maybe I am not a keen shopper or maybe my pocket is not deep enough for me to walk into all those high end quality boutiques to grab an LV bag or a Mont Blanc fountain pen. I find this street no more exceptional than the Wangfujing shopping street back in Beijing. It is good for one visit just for the ‘Been there, done that’ reason but nothing interesting enough to draw me back the second round.

Your female other half might beg to differ. So, get that credit card ready.