Wujiaochang Commercial District

Wujiaochang (五角场, Wǔjiǎochǎng, “five-corner plaza”) is a shopping and university district in northeast Shanghai, built around a junction where five main roads meet. It suits visitors who want to see a district shaped by students and by planning rather than by the old concessions. It is far from the usual central sights.

The name comes from the junction of Siping, Huangxing, Xiangyin, Songhu and Handan Roads. The site was once part of Jiangwan township in Baoshan County, so it was known as Jiangwan Wujiaochang. In 1929 the Shanghai Special Municipal Government adopted the Greater Shanghai plan (大上海计划, Dà Shànghǎi Jìhuà), which picked this area as the new city centre. Civic buildings and the Jiangwan Stadium went up before the war, and English Wikipedia says the Japanese invasion in 1937 halted construction. Chinese Wikipedia says shops began opening near the junction after the 1990s. Fudan, Tongji and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics nearby gave the district its young population and its education-led growth. Hopson One (合生国际广场, now 合生汇), begun in 2009, opened in early 2016 under its new name.

Official planning now treats Wujiaochang as one of Shanghai’s urban sub-centres. The 2022-2035 commercial-space plan lists it as one of 29 city-level commercial centres, covering about 3.1 square kilometres with about 1.2 million square metres of planned commercial floor space. The plan splits it into two parts: a southern Wujiaochang sector for high-end retail, business and fashion shopping, and a northern Sanmen Road sector for technology business and performance venues.

Getting around: Metro Line 10 serves the district, at Wujiaochang and Jiangwan Stadium stations.