West Nanjing Road Shopping District

West Nanjing Road (南京西路, Nánjīng Xīlù) is Shanghai’s best-known address for large, upmarket malls. The shopping district runs along a road of about 3.8 km, from Middle Xizang Road to Jing’an Temple. Shanghai’s 2022–2035 commercial plan names it one of the city’s 29 city-level commercial centres, about 1.2 km² with some 800,000 m² of planned shop and mall floor space. It is also one of the centres the plan groups into an ‘east international consumption cluster’ around the Bund and Lujiazui. Come here for malls and department stores; for the older pedestrian street and its Bund end, go to East Nanjing Road.

The road dates from 1862, when it was built beside the racecourse that had moved to the area. It was one of the roads that foreign settlers built beyond the limits of the concession, and it was first called Bubbling Well Road (静安寺路, Jìng’ānsì Lù). The concession was extended to cover the whole road in 1899. After 1945 it took the name West Nanjing Road.

The modern shopping district grew in the 1990s. Meilongzhen Plaza (梅龙镇广场) opened in August 1997. CITIC Square (中信泰富广场) and Plaza 66 (恒隆广场, Hénglóng Guǎngchǎng, at No. 1266, developed by Hang Lung Properties) followed around 2000-2001. Sources differ on the exact year for each, and the three are often grouped as a cluster. The western end is anchored by the Jiuguang department store (久光百货, opened 2004, at No. 1618) beside Jing’an Temple. At the eastern end, HKRI Taikoo Hui (兴业太古汇, No. 789) opened in December 2017. Jing An Kerry Centre and Tian An Centre also stand on the west section. Park Hotel, opposite People’s Park, is on the same road.

West Nanjing Road station (Lines 2, 12 and 13) sits near the middle of the malls, and Jing’an Temple station (Line 2) marks the western end. People’s Square station is at the eastern end.