North Bund Shopping District

The North Bund (北外滩, Běiwàitān) is the part of Hongkou District that faces the Bund across the Huangpu River, at the point where Suzhou Creek meets the river. Shanghai’s official commercial plan names it a city-level shopping centre, but it is better described as a district being built than as a finished shopping street. A visitor goes for the river views of the Bund skyline and for one large mall, Raffles City The Bund. Those after a long run of shops and street life will find East Nanjing Road a better fit.

What the plan says. The 2022-2035 commercial space plan, issued on 29 December 2022, lists the North Bund as one of 29 city-level commercial centres. It plans about 0.7 square km of land and about 650,000 square metres of commercial floor area. The plan sees it as an international central activities area that mixes business, culture and conferences. Shops are meant to cluster in a slow-travel zone in a fishbone pattern along East Yuhang Road, East Changzhi Road and Gaoyang Road, around the North Bund central green space. The plan also lists the North Bund among the centres that anchor the eastern international consumption cluster, together with East Nanjing Road, West Nanjing Road, Lujiazui, Middle Huaihai Road, Yuyuan and Xujiahui.

What is there now. The anchor is Raffles City The Bund (北外滩来福士, Běiwàitān Láifúshì), which opened fully on 10 July 2021. Its developer, CapitaLand, calls it the tenth Raffles City in the world and the third in Shanghai. The complex sits at 1089 Dongdaming Road and combines two office towers with a mall, connected to Line 12 at Tilanqiao station. CapitaLand’s own figures differ on size: the 2021 release gives about 420,000 square metres of total floor area, while its property page gives 312,717 square metres of gross floor area, probably counting different things.

What is being built. The commercial plan lists three further projects for the core area: Pujiang International Financial Plaza, Shanghai Star Plaza and Shanghai Industrial Centre. It also calls for a pedestrian route and car-free zone on North Suzhou Road. The district has a financial side too: in September 2021 Hongkou announced a Shanghai Asset Management Park here, next to an existing hedge-fund park and fintech park. Check on site what has opened since the plan was published.

Older buildings nearby. The waterfront has older landmarks that are covered on their own pages: Broadway Mansions, the Astor House Hotel and Waibaidu Bridge. For the wider district, including Tilanqiao and the former Jewish refugee quarter, see the North Bund and Hongkou area page.