DISTANCE: 2km (1.2 miles)
TIME: A full evening
START: Grand Theatre
END: M1NT
POINTS TO NOTE: Take the metro to People’s Square station or catch a taxi to the Grand Theatre to begin.
Shanghai is well on the way to becoming a world cultural centre, with music, drama, dance and cinema all experiencing a golden age. Coupled with fantastic nightlife and a vast supply of restaurants, the options for a night on the town are almost endless.
A Shaolin Kung Fu performance
David Shen Kai/Apa Publications
Shanghai Grand
Begin your night at the dramatic Shanghai Grand Theatre 1 [map] (Shanghai Dajuyuan; 300 People’s Avenue; tickets: 6372 3833; www.shgtheatre.com). This modern 1,800-seat theatre features a wide variety of shows. Big names such as Tan Dun perform here, as do local drama groups, symphony orchestras, Chinese opera and dance troupes. Try to catch a performance of the Shanghai Ballet’s Revolution-era White-Haired Girl, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2014.
Yifu Theatre
East from the Grand Theatre is the Yifu Theatre 2 [map] (Yifu Wutai; 701 Fuzhou Road; tel: 6360 3195). Originally (and officially) known as the Tianchan Theatre, this is Shanghai’s oldest Chinese opera house. Once hailed as the largest theatre in the Far East, it has featured Peking opera performances since its establishment in 1925. A new 1,000-seat, two-storey theatre with modern facilities was added in 1994. Located just across from Raffles City shopping centre, the theatre hosts troupes from around the country, but the highlight is its own Shanghai Peking opera troupe.
Peking opera at the Yifi Theatre
David Shen Kai/Apa Publications
Peking Opera
There are more than 360 different varieties of Chinese opera, including a popular regional version (Kunju), but Peking opera remains the best-known style. It’s recognisable by its falsetto singing, vivid make-up, percussion-based music, striking acrobatics and librettos based on the exploits of legendary heroes. Peking opera was king in old Shanghai; it is a highly demanding art: actors, who begin training as children, must learn not only to sing and dance, but also to acquire an extensive repertoire of highly stylised gestures and acrobatics. Few props are used, which means the audience must use their imagination to fill in the considerable blanks.
Great World Entertainment Centre
Head south along Tibet Road, crossing under the Yan’an Road Elevated Freeway. On your left is the infamous Great World Entertainment Centre 3 [map] (Da Shijie), associated in the 1930s with all of the vices that earned Shanghai its moniker as the ‘Whore of the Orient’. Built in 1918 as a vaudeville-style multiplex with shows appealing to all ages, it was gradually taken over by the Shanghai underworld and filled with bars, opium dens and lewd floor shows.
After drugs, gambling and prostitution were virtually eliminated by the new regime in the 1950s, the Great World returned to the more wholesome fare of dramatic performances, concerts and children’s shows. It has been unused for the past decade, but the municipal government has announced that the building, which was renovated before the 2010 World Expo, will be reopened.
Shanghai Concert Hall
Across Tibet Road from the Great World is the Shanghai Concert Hall 4 [map] (Shanghai Yinyueting). Originally the Nanking Theatre, it was one of the city’s popular movie theatres during the 1930s and 1940s. Today it’s the venue for a wide variety of musical performances, including classical, jazz and Chinese concerts. The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (SSO) performs its chamber music series here – try to catch a performance if you can.
Founded in 1879, the SSO began as the International Settlement’s town band, evolving into a symphony first with only foreign musicians and later with Chinese musicians, leading to the establishment of the Shanghai Conservatory in 1927. It was the graduates of this conservatory that were instrumental in persuading the Communist Party that classical music could ‘serve the people’, and continued to develop Western music in the post-1949 era.
In the bar at M Glamour
Ryan Pyle/Apa Publications
Shanghai has buzzing nightlife
Ryan Pyle/Apa Publications
Begin your evening at M Glamour, see 1, sister venue to the renowned M on the Bund restaurant, and quite possibly Shanghai’s prettiest bar. Glamour’s location at the top of the Bund makes it an ideal place to begin a bar crawl.
Directly across Guangdong Road at Three on the Bund, Unico (2/F, Three on the Bund; www.unico.cn.com; daily 6pm-2am, later at weekends) is a sexy Latin lounge with an impressive tapas and cocktail menu paired according to compass coordinates that span Latin America, and a regular roster of live musicians and top-name DJs that keep the dance floor swaying until late.
From Guangdong Road, walk north on the Bund to No. 18 and take the lift up to Bar Rouge (7/F, Bund 18, Zhongshan No. 1 Road East; www.bar-rouge-shanghai.com; Sun–Thur 6pm–1.30am, Fri–Sat 6pm–4.30am), a favourite party spot with the jet-set crowd. The bar, decorated with lipstick-red glass chandeliers, opens out on to a spectacular terrace overlooking the Pudong skyline. DJs keep the party going until the early hours.
Leave Bar Rouge and head south on the Bund. Just one block west on Fuzhou Road is the House of Blues and Jazz (60 Fuzhou Road; www.houseofbluesandjazz.com; Tue–Sun 7pm–2am, concerts 9.30pm–1am), owned by Shanghai celebrity Dong Fu Lin. It’s his passion for jazz and blues that drives the club, which is one of Shanghai’s best live music venues. Late evening is the time to go, when the crowd and the music creates a real buzz. The interior feels like an old Shanghai speakeasy, with a selection of vintage items from the history-loving owner’s collection.
Want to keep the party going? Head west on Fuzhou Road to M1NT (24/F, 318 Fuzhou Road; www.m1ntglobal.com/club-shanghai). Perhaps Shanghai’s top club, the fashionable M1NT attracts top international DJs, visiting stars and local celebs. The club’s dramatic entrance features a 17m (56ft) long shark tank, with over 20 white-tipped reef sharks. With its breathtaking, 360-degree views of Shanghai’s glittering skyline, you may just want to stay until dawn…
Food and Drink
1 M Glamour
No. 5 The Bund (entrance at 20 Guangdong Road); tel: 6350 9988; www.m-restaurantgroup.com; daily 5pm–late; $$$
The cocktails are creative and the excellent food comes courtesy of M on the Bund chefs at this swanky bar-restaurant with an eclectic fusion menu.