A cluster of former lilong lanes in Luwan District that transformed from industrial workshops into an arts and crafts quarter in the early 2000s. The narrow lanes of Taikang Road and its offshoots are now dense with small galleries, handcraft studios, ceramics shops, clothing boutiques, tea houses, and cafes — the kind of arts district that has been replicated across China, but here in one of its more genuine forms, since many of the artisans were here before the visitors arrived.
The three-dimensional nature of the area — workshops above, lane-level shops, basement galleries — rewards exploration rather than a linear route. It is crowded on weekends, and significantly more pleasant on a weekday morning. The area connects to Xintiandi to the north and to the French Concession streets immediately west, making it naturally part of a half-day walk through the most atmospheric parts of former colonial Shanghai.