Shanghai: Nanjing Road is a Shopper's Destination

By Patricia Mohr@

If you want to find lights, color, fashion and shopping, the place to go is Nanjing Road. That is also where you’ll find the wealthiest of the China’s wealthy. Much of the population in Shanghai is educated, employed and able to spend money on consumer goods. Nanjing Road is where they do it. It is the heart of Shanghai’s commercial center where China’s upper and middle classes walk, shop and talk.

People stroll up and down the broad sidewalks to see what is new in Western shops like Nike, Olympus, and Zara. Others go to be seen. They all dress in fashionable clothes—crisp and clean T-shirts with designer jeans, tailored sport jackets and designer dresses.

Some gaze blankly ahead, noticing everything and nothing at the same time. Others focus on finding the next prized piece of retail.

Walking down Nanjing Road, a million things attract the eye: brightly colored billboards advertising fashions, street signs promoting events, and movement—lots of movement. Mini trolley trains filled with tourists cut through the center of the street, forcing pedestrians out of the way. Motorbikes cruise by. Ladies call out “watch your bag” to unsuspecting tourists. It sounds as if they warn of pickpockets, but they are actually trying to sell “watch-n-bags”—fake ones that are stored in attics and back rooms all throughout the city.

The street is just as much of an attraction at night as it is during the day.