Discover Shanghai
Tianzifang
田子坊
A warren of 1930s shikumen lane houses off Taikang Road, converted from a street market into studios, galleries and independent cafes from 1998. Smaller and grubbier than Xintiandi, and much more like the real lane-house Shanghai that is disappearing.
The story
What makes this place special
A block of shikumen lane housing off Taikang Road, in the southern part of the former French Concession, built in 1933 as a residential estate called Zhicheng Fang, with some converted factory buildings mixed in. Artists moved into the cheap lofts towards the end of the 20th century - the painter Chen Yifei had a studio here - and the area was redesignated as a creative quarter in 2001, then rezoned for tourism from around 2005-06. In 2006 a plan to demolish it for redevelopment was fought off by artists, shopkeepers and residents who petitioned the government. That fight is why it survives, and why it differs from Xintiandi nearby: Xintiandi's houses were mostly knocked down and rebuilt as a luxury replica, while Tianzifang was renovated in place and people still live in it - the overhead wires, washing and air-conditioning units are original equipment, not decoration.
What you’ll discover
A dense maze of narrow brick lanes, barely two people wide, three storeys high, packed with small galleries, design shops, cafes and bars in what were front rooms and kitchens, with residents' laundry hanging above and doors you should not open. There is no plan to it and no main street; you wander, get lost, and come out somewhere unexpected. Entrances are at several points off Taikang Road and the surrounding streets.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Go on a weekday morning. The lanes are too narrow to absorb a crowd and at a weekend afternoon it is a single-file jam with no way to turn round.
- Compare it with Xintiandi, ten minutes' walk north, on the same day. Seeing the renovated-and-lived-in version and the demolished-and-rebuilt version back to back is the most useful hour you can spend on Shanghai's architectural politics.
- The upper floors are where the good galleries and the quiet cafes are, and almost nobody climbs the stairs - the ground floor is mostly souvenirs.
- Remember that people live here. Several lanes are residential, not commercial, and the residents' long-running complaint about noise and intrusion is legitimate; keep the volume down and don't photograph into windows.
- Walk out of the north side and into the surrounding streets of the old French Concession - Jianguo, Sinan, Ruijin - which are plane-tree avenues of 1920s and 1930s houses and are more rewarding than the shops.
- Dapuqiao station on metro Line 9 is immediately south, which makes it an easy add-on to an afternoon rather than a destination in itself.
When to come
Weekday late morning, or early evening when the bars open and the lanes are lit but not yet full. Spring and autumn; the lanes are stifling in August and offer no shelter in heavy rain.
Getting around
Workable but tight. The lanes are flat, paved and at street level with no steps between them, so a wheelchair can get in - but they are extremely narrow, crowded, and cluttered with shop displays, scooters and bins, and turning round is often impossible, so timing matters more than gradient. Most individual shops and all the upstairs galleries have a step at the door or stairs with no lift. A bad knee is untroubled on the flat; just expect to be on your feet with few places to sit.
Worth knowing before you go
Residents still live upstairs in parts of the complex, so the 'no photography' signs on some doorways are real. The quieter craft studios are in Lane 248 and Lane 274, away from the souvenir stalls in Lane 210.
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