Shanghai/Minhang
Minhang (闵行区) is a district of Shanghai, one of the inner ring of suburbs. It is mainly a residential and factory area, but there is a bit of everything. Population is about 2.4 million (2010).
Minhang is the only district with territory on both sides of the Huangpu river, but most of both the land and the population are on the west side. The main access routes (see next section) are also west of the river.
Get in
By metro
Metro line 5 runs North-South through the part of the district that lies west of the river, running into Fengxian at South. It connects at its northern terminus, Xinzhuang metro station, to line 1 which leads into the downtown core. Line 5 has a branch line to the southwest corner of the district. The newer line 12 goes direct to parts of Minhang from downtown.
Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway Station are up near the northern tip of the district. Lines 2 , 10 and 17 go to those. Line 20 is planned to start from Xinzhuang and go north through Hongqiao Airport to Baoshan Industrial Park.
Line 9 runs roughly Northeast-Southwest across the Northern end of Minhang, with a stop near the water town Qibao, listed under #See. It connects Songjiang on its Western end to downtown to the East.
Line 8 goes to the part of Minhang that lies east of the river and the Pujiang line continues south from the end of line 8.
By car
For drivers, Humin Lu is the main North-South artery, running parallel to metro lines 1 and 5 through most of the district. The Northern part, from Xujiahui to Xinzhuang, has an elevated road above the ground-level street, each about six lanes. Beyond Xinzhuang, it runs at ground level and is mostly four-lane. The S4 toll road runs parallel to Humin Lu a bit East of it through Minhang and off to the South. The fastest way from downtown to southern Minhang, and the usual route for taxis, is Humin Lu to Xinzhuang then switch to S4.
Xinzhuang is one of the city's main road interchanges. In addition to the roads already mentioned — the one out from Xujiahui, Humin Lu and S4 — it is on the A20 ring road. That leads to both Hongqiao Airport nearby to the north, and Pudong Airport, some distance to the east. G60, the main highway south and east toward Hangzhou, also starts from this interchange.
By bus
Bus #816 runs from Hengshan Road in the French Concession (terminus on Dongping Lu near Shanghai Brewery) along Humin Lu all the way to the river at the South edge of Minhang.
Get around
By metro
The routes described under "get in" above, especially metro line 5 , are also much used for travel within the district.
By bus
There is a complex web of bus services covering the entire district; the buses radiate out from major metro stops such as Xinzhuang, Shanghai South Railway Station and Dongchuan Road. There are also taxis more-or-less everywhere, and taxi stands at most metro stops.
By bicycle
There is a city-operated system of free bicycles, but the stands are card-operated and as of 2012 the cards were available only to registered Shanghai residents; even migrant workers from other parts of China were excluded. There are many stands around town, each with a few dozen bikes; with a card, you can take one. If you return it to any stand within four hours, there is no charge.
See
- 1 Qibao ancient town (七宝古镇 Qībǎo gǔ zhèn) (metro line 9 to Qibao station (七宝镇), take exit 2 and walk towards the road junction. Turn left at the junction and walk a few hundred meters south; the entrance to Qibao town is a huge gate on your left. Alternately, bus lines 4, 87, 91, 92 or 911 stop near the gate.). Qibao is a small town about two square kilometers in size which is crossed by two canals. Around the canals, a large number of traditional houses, shops and restaurants are found. Tourism has been actively encouraged and it makes a good daytrip from central Shanghai. Although Qibao can be touristy, prices are comparatively cheap. Qibao temple and pagoda (七宝教寺, 七宝塔), only ¥5 to enter and not very touristy, is in the east of the town, and the Qibao distillery (七宝酒坊) is at the center of the city. A quiet boat ride around one of the canals is ¥10. Embroidery from Mrs. Xie Ju Fang, who moved from the embroidery capital Suzhou, and is now making her lovely artwork in her shop, No.70 Fuqiang Rd. Free to enter.
- 2 Shanghai Aerospace Enthusiast's Center, 7900 Huming Rd, Caohejing High-Tech Area (take Metro Line 1 to Jinjiang Park and go through the underpass directly outside the station's only exit, turn left and walk about 1 km past an amusement park, it should be obvious by the sight of a large DC-8 tail fin). A small museum with a selection of Chinese military planes (mostly from the 1950s and 60s), Mao Tze Tung's personal plane as well as a complete DC-8 plane to walk through. (It had a small crash when landing here in the 1980s). There are a couple of exhibition halls containing some small model airplanes that you probably wish you were seeing here in real life. There are also some simulators that you have to pay extra for. The museum is in a good state but unless you are an enthusiast then you will probably be underwhelmed. ¥8.
- 3 Shanghai Metro Museum (上海地铁博物馆, Shànghǎi Dìtiě Bówùguǎn), 1779 Wuzhong Lu, near Ziteng Lu (metro line 10 Ziteng Road station exit 1). Tuesday-Sunday 09:30 - 16:30. It presents the history and technology of Shanghai's urban transit system. Many exhibits intend to address children. As of 2018, the displayed information hasn't been updated for three years. In the same time new halls are being prepared to be added. The best entertainments are very often out of service: "toy metro" working model of line 4, subway driving simulation and 5D movie. The brochure is in Chinese, and only about half of the exhibits have English translation. ¥30, free on Tuesdays.
Universities
There are two universities near the South edge of Minhang on Dongchuan Road, East of the line 5 metro station named after the street. From the station, a taxi, a moderately long walk or the #3 bus will get you to either.
- Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU or "Jiaoda"), one of China's top technical schools. There is a free bus that circumnavigates the campus; the terminus is just across from the main gate. This is a large university with over 40,000 students, more than half of them PhD candidates. Jiaoda has several campuses, including one on the coast in Pudong that does mainly marine biology and the original campus in the French Concession that now does mainly continuing education courses such as Chinese-for-foreigners or MBA-for-executives; the Minhang campus is the largest.
- East China Normal University, just East of Jiaoda. Originally, China's "normal universities" were teacher's colleges but many of them, including ECNU, have now expanded to teach a far broader range of subjects.
To see both campuses, go to Jiaoda and ride the free campus bus around to the East gate — the fancy Chinese-looking one, moved from the downtown campus to save it from road-widening work there — and walk across the street to the ECNU main gate.
Do
Buy
Minhang has quite a bit of shopping, mainly for the local market except in the Qibao water town which is well-provided with tourist-oriented merchandise.
There are several large malls, including one almost directly above Qibao metro station and others nearby, a couple of enormous ones across the street from Lianhua Lu (Lotus Road) station, one across a street from Dongchuan Lu station, and one near Xinzhuang station (cross the footbridge over the railway tracks and turn right). Lianhua Lu also has a group of cheap clothing stores at the station itself, mainly for women. The malls have a lot of international brands; for example, Xinzhuang has Marks & Spencer, H&M, a Carrefour supermarket, B&Q building supplies, Dairy Queen and Burger King.
Eat
There are many restaurants along Hongmei Lu, and the area is popular with both tourists and expats. Take line 10 , get off at Longxi Road stop, turn right as you exit the station and right again onto Hongmei Lu. Walk a block, past Yan'an elevated road, and you are in an area full of restaurants including many places with an international menu. Another block down on the left is a pedestrians-only side street with at least a dozen restaurants and bars, including an Iranian place and an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet. Alternately, a #757 bus from Lianhua Lu metro station (fairly far South on line 1 ) takes you along Hongmei Lu.
Opposite the main gate of Jiaotong University is an entire street of restaurants; they cater to students so most are moderately priced. In particular, there are two barbeque places that do reasonably good all-you-can-eat meals for about ¥50, excellent value if you are fairly hungry.
There are also five clusters of restaurants on the Jiaotong U campus, each of which includes a very cheap cafeteria-style place and several other restaurants. Canteen number 5 has an overpriced coffee shop, a popular Korean place, several Chinese places, and a pseudo-Italian place with reasonable pizza around ¥25 and several good rice-and-stirfry or noodle-and-topping plates around ¥15. The same Italian place has at least one other location on campus.
There is a street with a dozen restaurants across from Dongchuan Lu station, Line 5 . The Sichuan place, recognisable by the large red chilis on its sign, is quite good and moderately priced.
Budget
- Yingshanhong (映山红湘菜馆), 1251 Lianhua South Rd.
- Laziyu (蜀地辣子鱼), 118 Xinli Rd.
Mid-range
- Mamamiya (吗吗咪呀), 379 Hongsong Rd.
- Amazing Grace, 388-16 Hongzhong Rd.
Drink
- The Monk (修道士酒吧), 458 Jinfeng Rd,.
- German Corner No. 38, 38-1101 Hongquan Rd,.
- Sparks (火花酒吧), 36 Hongmei Xiuxian Pedestrian St,.
Sleep
There are plenty of hotels in the area, especially toward the North end near the French Concession.
The Hongmei Lu area (see Eat above) is a fairly popular choice because it has a good range of both restaurants and hotels, is near Hongqiao Airport and is connected via metro line 10 to both the airport and downtown.
Budget
- Shanghai Fangduo Hotel (上海方多大酒店), 2060 Humin Rd (闵行区老沪闵路2060号). Listed rates for doubles from ¥178.
- Motel 168 (Shanghai Huaxiang Branch) (莫泰168 (上海华翔路店)), 29 Huaxiang Rd (闵行区华翔路29号). Listed rates for doubles from ¥168.
Mid-range
- Wistaria Hotel (上海紫藤宾馆), 3050 Dongchuan Rd (闵行区东川路3050号). Three-star hotel. Listed rates for doubles from ¥420.
- Jinyan Hotel (上海金燕大厦), 3800 Chunshen Rd (闵行区春申路3800号). Three-star hotel. Listed rates for doubles from ¥388.
Splurge
- Shanghai Renji Hotel (上海人济酒店), 3558 Kunyang North Rd (闵行区昆阳北路3558弄). Listed rates for doubles ¥968-1,868.
- Shanghai Dazhong Merrylin Hotel (上海大众美林阁大酒店), 699 Wuzhong Rd (闵行区吴中路699号).