The neighbourhood north of the French Concession and west of the Bund, anchored by the Jing'an Temple — a working Buddhist monastery surrounded by a wall of luxury retail, which says something about the district's character. Jing'an is Shanghai's most concentrated luxury shopping area: Nanjing West Road and the Jing'an Kerry Centre carry every international brand worth naming. But behind the malls, the streets of old lilong housing and the tree-lined lanes near Changshu Road offer a different pace.
The M50 Creative Park on Moganshan Road, in a cluster of former mill buildings, is the best place to browse contemporary Chinese art galleries. Jade Buddha Temple to the north is one of the city's most visited religious sites, its two jade Buddha statues — the larger one over a metre tall — brought from Burma in 1882. Maoming Road and Yuyuan Road have good independent cafes and bars at a scale that Nanjing West Road doesn't offer.