Peoples Square

Central public square on the site of the old British race course

The civic centre of modern Shanghai, between the Bund and Nanjing Road. Surrounded by the Shanghai Museum, the Grand Theatre, the Urban Planning Exhibition Center and the City Hall, with the green expanse of People's Park to the north. On weekends the park hosts the famous marriage market: anxious parents pin handwritten advertisements describing their unmarried adult children — height, salary, education, hukou — and hover, hoping to interview a match for their offspring.

Below ground, People's Square station is the busiest interchange on the Shanghai Metro, with three lines meeting and corridors of shops and restaurants. The Park Hotel on the north side was the tallest building in Asia when it was built in 1934.

things to do sight city center
A story
From 1862 to 1949 this was the Shanghai Race Course — the second-largest racetrack in the British Empire. After the Communist takeover, the track was bulldozed, the grandstand became a public library, and the infield was turned into a Soviet-style parade ground for political rallies. The People's Park to the north is on the actual race track, and you can still trace the oval if you look at a satellite map.