Hengshan Road (), formerly Avenue Pétain, is a street in the former

French Concession The Shanghai French Concession; ; Shanghainese pronunciation: ''Zånhae Fah Tsuka'', group=lower-alpha was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943, which progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China. A major thoroughfare that connected the heart of the French Concession with the Catholic district of Zikawei (

Xujiahui Xujiahui (, , romanized as: Zikawei, Ziccawei, or Siccawei) is a locality in Shanghai. It is a historic area of commerce and culture administratively within Xuhui District, which is named after the locality. The area is a well-known precinct for ...

), the boulevard was for much of the 20th century the centre of Shanghai's premier residential district. Since the 1990s, many of the mansions along the road have been converted into bars, night clubs, and restaurants. From 2016 onward, many of the bars on Hengshan Road have been closed down or moved away to other new and more popular entertainment districts in the city.

History

Named after

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...

Marshal of France Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished ( ...

, the boulevarde was constructed in 1922 to link the heart of the French Concession with Zikawei, now

, the centre of

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. It stretched from Rue Pottier and Rue Henri-Rivière in the east, to the intersection of Avenue Haig and Rue de Zikawei in the west. The newly developed boulevard soon attracted an American presence, as American expatriates who worked in the

Shanghai International Settlement The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai, in which British subjects and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdictio ...

built more spacious residences in the newly developed area. This American presence can still be seen in the form of the former American College (No. 10), and the Community Church (No. 53). A large number of mansions were built along the road in the 1920s, with some high-end apartment blocks built in the 1930s as land value soared in the area. The Chinese headquarters of

Pathé Records Pathé Records was an international record company and label and producer of phonographs, based in France, and active from the 1890s through the 1930s. Early years The Pathé record business was founded by brothers Charles and Émile Pathé ...

was also located on Avenue Petain. The French Concession was handed over by

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

to the

Wang Jingwei government The Wang Jingwei regime or the Wang Ching-wei regime is the common name of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China ( zh , t = 中華民國國民政府 , p = Zhōnghuá Mínguó Guómín Zhèngfǔ ), the government of the pup ...

in 1943, which renamed the boulevard as "Hengshan Road", after Mount Heng, a sacred mountain in Hunan province. In the 1990s, many of the former mansions were converted into bars, night clubs and restaurants, making the street an important centre of night entertainment in Shanghai. Many of the restaurants and bars are located in side streets off Hengshan Road, particularly, Dongping Road and Taojiang Road. The Community Church, also known as the International church or Union Church was built in 1925 (at the corner of Wulumuqi (Ürümqi) Road) is open to foreigners and has services on Sundays. Just off Hengshan Road near the Hengshan Road

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

station, on Gao'an Road, are some of the few remaining manhole entrances mark "CMF" (Conseil Municipal Français). The man hole covers have been replaced, but the metal structures around the outside are original.

Present day

There are numerous bars, nightclubs and a bowling alley located towards the center of the street. Next to the subway station is Yong Ping Li, an ANKEN urban regeneration project consisting of a 6,000 sqm compound stretching from Heng Shan Rd through to Yonjia Rd

Transportation

The central part of Hengshan Road can be reached by taking

Shanghai Metro Line 1 Line 1 is a north-south line of the Shanghai Metro. It runs from in the north, via to in the south. The first line to open in the Shanghai Metro system, line 1 serves many important points in Shanghai, including and Xujiahui. Due to the large ...

to Hengshan Road station. It is also a short ride by taxi from central Shanghai.

References

The leisure street at Hengshan Road (Shanghai Tour)
{{coord, 31.2018, 121.4443, format=dms, display=title Streets in Shanghai Entertainment districts in China Restaurant districts and streets in China