Suzhou Creek Twelve Nations Colors 苏州河十二国色

Welcome, everyone. Our first stop is Gaoling Market. Take a look at the building's facade — that bright, warm egg yellow. Doesn't it just make you feel hungry and at home? Gaoling Market sits in the Zhenru neighborhood of Putuo District. It's one of those places Shanghai residents call a "neighborhood gem right on the doorstep" — bringing together a fresh-produce market, a community canteen, and cultural exchange spaces all in one.

The highlight here is getting hands-on with classic Shanghai snacks. Fresh-meat moon cakes, soup dumplings, pan-fried buns — these are the snacks Shanghai people have grown up eating. Here, you don't just buy them; you can learn to make them with a master. The moon cake dough needs to be rolled out thicker in the center and thinner at the edges. The meat filling gets stirred clockwise until it firms up. And the seal has to be pinched tight. These skills look simple until you try them yourself, and that's when you realize how much practice they take. We recommend booking a snack-making workshop online in advance — you get to take home whatever you make.

The market also has a community cultural space that hosts occasional events like Shanghainese language classes and exhibitions of old Shanghai photographs. If you have children with you, this is the best starting point for experiencing the daily life of ordinary Shanghainese — no entrance fee, no barriers, just the real warmth of a Shanghai neighborhood.

Photography tip: The egg-yellow facade looks best in morning light on a clear day. For a full-facade shot, stand in the small square across from the market. Inside, the warm lighting makes the snack-making process a naturally lively subject.

Welcome, everyone. We've arrived at Caoyang New Village. Did you know this is the first residential community in the history of the People's Republic of China to be officially named a "Workers' Village"? Construction started in 1951, and it was celebrated as the "Model Workers' Village" — because every single one of the first residents was a labor hero or an outstanding worker.

The overall color palette of Caoyang New Village is a quiet, refined moon white. The neat rows of residential blocks and the neighborhood-unit planning concept reflect early New China's spatial vision of a good life. As you walk through the village, you can see the layers of different eras stacked on top of one another — workers' housing from the 1950s, kitchen extensions added in the 1980s, community service facilities upgraded in the 2000s. It's essentially a living specimen of the history of housing in the People's Republic.

Today Caoyang New Village is a model for Shanghai's "15-minute community life circle" initiative. Walking around, you'll spot senior activity rooms, a community canteen, a neighborhood health station, a reading room, and outdoor exercise equipment — this is what daily life looks like for ordinary Shanghai residents. Take your time, and if you see any grandparents sitting in the sun, try striking up a conversation. Quite a few of them are the original labor heroes who moved in during those early years, or their descendants — and they can tell the story of this village like they know it by heart.

Welcome, everyone. We've arrived at Jade Buddha Temple, one of Shanghai's four great Buddhist temples. Look at the main buildings — that deep, ceremonial vermilion. In Chinese tradition, vermilion is the color of palaces and temples, a symbol of solemnity, good fortune, and protection.

Jade Buddha Temple was founded in 1882, during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty. It takes its name from two jade Buddha statues brought back from Myanmar. When we go inside, make sure to take a good look at the seated jade Buddha — carved from a single piece of Burmese jade, standing 1.95 meters tall and weighing 3 tonnes, with a luminous quality to the stone and exquisite craftsmanship. It is the temple's greatest treasure. There is also a reclining jade Buddha, one meter long, also carved from a single piece of jade, with an expression of serene repose.

Jade Buddha Temple is not only a place of worship — its vegetarian restaurant is famous across Shanghai. Luohan vegetarian noodles, mushroom noodles — light, fragrant broth, generous toppings. Many Shanghai locals make a special trip to the temple just for a bowl of vegetarian noodles. It has become a ritual in its own right.

Photography reminder: Photography is prohibited in certain halls inside the temple. Please watch for signs at the entrance to each hall. When entering the halls, please dress appropriately — shorts, short skirts, or tops that expose the shoulders are not suitable.

Welcome, everyone. We've arrived at M50 Creative Park. Look at the park's outer walls — covered in jade-green ivy, playing off the color of Suzhou Creek just beside it. That's exactly where the "jade green" inspiration comes from.

M50 started out as the Shanghai Chunming Coarse Textile Factory. From 2000 onward it gradually transformed into a hub for artistic creation, and it is now one of Shanghai's most influential contemporary art parks. Walk through the park and you'll encounter industrial buildings from every decade between the 1930s and the 1990s — bare brick walls, sawtooth factory skylights, old crane rails. These are the physical remains of Shanghai's national industrial history.

What makes M50 truly special is the live energy of art in the making. The park is home to over a hundred artists' studios, galleries, and exhibition spaces. If you happen to catch an artist mid-creation or setting up a show, stop and watch — that experience of art in production is something you simply cannot get in a museum. The park also hosts regular live demonstrations and workshops in Chinese painting, calligraphy, bamboo weaving, and other intangible cultural heritage crafts.

Welcome, everyone. We've arrived at Wuyuan Tea House. Does it feel noticeably quieter here? Like you've suddenly been lifted out of the noise of the city? That's the spirit of sky blue — "the sky clears to blue where the rain breaks through the clouds." The essence of Song-dynasty aesthetics is exactly this quality of stillness.

Wuyuan Tea House is a Chinese garden cultural space shaped by Song-dynasty aesthetic principles. Its layout follows the format of a Song literati gathering, with dedicated spaces for tea ceremonies, incense appreciation, and qin performances. In a moment you can take a seat at one of the tea tables and enjoy a pot of Chinese tea — Longjing, Biluochun, Da Hong Pao, Puer — there's a fine selection. The tea masters will walk you through the brewing methods and etiquette for different teas. It's the perfect introduction to Chinese tea culture, and well worth listening to carefully.

Wuyuan Tea House also offers a special experience: live teaching of Lu's Xinyi Boxing, a national-level intangible cultural heritage practice. Xinyi Boxing is a traditional martial art that originated in Henan and has been practiced in Shanghai for generations, built on the principle that mind and intention move as one, cultivating both inner and outer strength.

Welcome, everyone. We've arrived at the Bamboo Weaving Heritage Experience Hall. Look at these pieces on display — fan frames, carrying boxes, lamp shades woven from strips of bamboo as fine as silk thread. That delicacy and transparency is something you really have to see in person to believe. This is Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage: bamboo weaving.

The raw material is high-quality local bamboo. From raw stalk to finished object, the craft involves more than ten distinct steps — selecting three-year-old moso bamboo, splitting it into strips as thin as hair, soaking it in a special herbal solution, and then weaving. The weaving itself takes years to master. In a moment you'll be able to watch a heritage master at work — fingers moving almost too fast to follow, bamboo strips flowing like threads. Watching them, you'll understand in a visceral way what the idea of craftsmanship really means.

The hands-on session is the highlight of this stop. Everyone can try the basic weaving movements themselves.

Welcome, everyone. We've arrived at Gu Zhenghong Memorial Hall. Look at the building — that deep, somber dark tone. It matches this history perfectly. In the classical Chinese color palette, xuancai is the heaviest and darkest of blacks. For a memorial to revolutionary history, no color could be more fitting.

Gu Zhenghong was a worker and labor leader who died during the May Thirtieth Movement of 1925. He was only twenty years old. Inside the museum you'll find a rich collection of historical photographs, archival documents, and physical artifacts — a reproduction of Gu Zhenghong's clothing, strike banners used during the walkouts, original newspapers from the time of the May Thirtieth Movement, and a recreated scene of a workers' assembly. The exhibition systematically documents Gu Zhenghong's life and the full course of the May Thirtieth Movement.

Together with the nearby Historical Exhibition Hall of the West Shanghai Workers' Half-Day School, this memorial forms the "Industrial Origins" cultural precinct. It is a designated patriotic education base in Shanghai, and an important window into the city's revolutionary heritage.

Welcome, everyone. We've arrived at the Suzhou Creek Industrial Heritage Museum. Look at the building's exterior — that soft lilac, like the quiet passing down of culture through peaceful years. Gentle, unhurried.

Before we go in, let me give you a bit of context about Suzhou Creek and Shanghai's industrial history. The Putuo stretch of Suzhou Creek was once known as the "West Shanghai Industrial Corridor." From the early to mid twentieth century, hundreds of factories producing textiles, flour, chemicals, and ships lined these banks, making it one of the cradles of modern Chinese national industry. You may have heard of "Textile Mill One" and "Textile Mill Two" — these were working mills right here, producing cotton yarn and cloth that supplied the whole country. Fuxin Flour Mill operated here too, and its Peony Brand flour was sold across China and beyond.

Inside, the museum holds a rich collection of artifacts, archival footage, and interactive installations. Don't miss the recreated scene of walking through an old factory floor — the roar of machinery, the shouts of workers, the smell of cloth. The curatorial team has used multimedia to bring the historical environment to life with remarkable vividness.

Welcome, everyone. We've arrived at Banma Suhe Park. Look toward the water — the cobalt blue of Suzhou Creek catching the sunlight, the buildings on the far bank reflected in the surface. This image is the most poetic part of what the "Half-Marathon Suzhou Creek" name holds.

Banma Suhe Park stretches for roughly 21 kilometers, threading together the industrial heritage sites, creative parks, residential neighborhoods, and public spaces along the Putuo section of the creek. You can walk or cycle through the park, or simply sit on the waterfront promenade and watch the boats go by. There are sports facilities and nature interpretation signs throughout — if you have children with you, you can learn about the plants and birds along Suzhou Creek as you walk.

Here's something worth knowing: Suzhou Creek was not always like this. In the 1980s and 1990s, untreated industrial and household wastewater flowed directly into the creek, turning it black and foul-smelling. It was known as "Shanghai's dirtiest river." After more than twenty years of cleanup and restoration, the creek today is home to egrets, wild ducks, and a variety of fish.

Welcome, everyone. We've arrived at Baixi Park. Does this park feel a little unusual? It's built on an elevated structure — like an aerial corridor running through the neighborhood. This is Shanghai's first high-line park, inspired by New York's High Line, but Baixi has its own story to tell.

Baixi Park's predecessor was the Caoyang Railway Farmers' Market, once Shanghai's longest market, stretching roughly 800 meters. In 2021, Putuo District transformed this former railway site into a high-line park with three stacked levels — an elevated walkway on top, art exhibition spaces in the middle, and community activity areas at ground level. From farmers' market to high-line park: that's the magic of urban renewal.

The overall color of Baixi Park is begonia purple — a reddish-brown with a hint of violet, holding both the steadiness of old railway iron and the energy of a new public garden. Take your time walking through. From the upper level, looking down on the moon-white buildings of Caoyang New Village, the layered view is really something.

Welcome, everyone. We've reached the final stop on our Twelve Colors journey — Hongshou Fang. Look at these buildings: amber-toned shikumen brick walls glowing warm in the sunlight. That's exactly what amber means here — time settling slowly into something luminous and lasting.

Hongshou Fang sits in the Changshou Road area of Putuo District. It is a new-model community commercial and cultural space built around the bones of a century-old shikumen alley neighborhood. Walk through the complex and you'll find the original shikumen buildings fully intact — red brick walls, the characteristic carved stone gate frames, open courtyards, and the small rooms above stairwells known as tingzijian. All the defining elements of old Shanghai alley architecture are here.

The real joy of Hongshou Fang is its unhurried pace. Find a cafe or a small bar with a seat facing the lane, brew a jar of plum wine or order a hand-drip coffee, and let yourself sit quietly across from those century-old brick walls. That particular kind of daydreaming — with a hundred-year-old wall right in front of you — is something that belongs to Shanghai alone.