Established in the mid-nineteenth century, the former French Concession lay to the south and west of the International Settlement, abutting the Chinese City. Despite its name, it was never particularly French: before 1949, in fact, it was a relatively low-rent district mainly inhabited by Chinese and White Russians, the latter of whom, for all their claims to wealth and titles back home, were looked down on by other Westerners as latecomers, obliged to take jobs that should have been left to the Chinese. Fascinatingly, however, certain French characteristics have lingered here, in the local chic, and in a taste for bread and sweet cakes - exemplified in Huaihai Lu , the main street running through the heart of the area. Not as crowded as Nanjing Lu, Huaihai Lu is considerably more upmarket, particularly in the area around Maoming Lu and Shaanxi Lu , where fashion boutiques, extremely expensive department stores and excellent cake shops abound.

 

The two plushest hotels in town, the Garden and the Jinjiang, are on Maoming Lu just north of Huaihai Lu, and are well worth a visit for glimpses of past luxuries. The Jinjiang compound includes the former Grosvenor Residence complex, the most fashionable and pricey address in pre-World War II Shanghai. The Grosvenor has recently been modernized, but the VIP Club still retains much of its 1920s architecture and Great Gatsby ambience. Non-guests might be able to sneak a peek by taking the elevator to the top floor of the Old Wing of the Jinjiang, where the Club is located, although gaining entrance to one of the twenty US$800 a night VIP Mansion rooms on the floors directly below, with astonishingly beautiful, refurbished Art-Deco architecture, might prove slightly more difficult. Unfortunately, the Grosvenor's grand lobby, with crystal chandeliers and finely sculpted balustrade, no longer exists. The Jinjiang compound also includes the former site of Cercle Sportif Francais, the club of choice in the 1930s. Less sexist but just as racist as its British counterpart along the Bund, the Cercle counted forty women among its members, but no Chinese. Little of the club's original architecture remains today.

Some more excellent examples of Palladian , Art-Deco and other early twentieth-century architecture survive several blocks south, in the private residences along Changle Lu and Julu Lu, which run parallel to and several blocks north of Huaihai Zhong Lu. Most notably, the former Russian Orthodox Mission Church still proudly features its blue dome along nearby Xinle Lu, although a securities exchange and disco called "St Peter's" now inhabit the premises.

The French may have long disappeared from the French Concession, but this area's acute sense of style lives on. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the multitude of fashionable boutiques and hair salons lining Huaihai Lu, which burst with business in the 1990s, among them the aptly named Yuppie's Hair Salon (tel 64456640), at no. 819, just east of Maoming Lu. Yuppie's attention to detail and pampering of the customer would put most Western salons to shame. You can be inexpensively spoiled with two (pre- and post-haircut) shampoos, extended half-body massage, and a haircut, all for around ¥70. Select your haircut from a touch-tone computer screen, and a hairdresser magically appears with three barber-boys by his side, who wordlessly assist the hairdresser.

The French Concession was equally notorious for its lawlessness and the ease with which police and officials could be bribed, in contrast to the relatively staid, well-governed areas dominated by the British. This made it ideal territory for gangsters, including the king of all Shanghai mobsters, Du Yuesheng, the right-hand man of Huang Jinrong. For similar reasons, political activists also operated in this sector - the first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party took place here in 1921, and both Zhou Enlai and Sun Yatsen, the first provisional President of the Republic of China after the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, lived here. The preserved former homes of these two in particular are worth visiting simply because, better than anywhere else in modern Shanghai, they give a sense of how the Westerners, and the Westernized, used to live.

Moving west, the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (Tues, Wed & Fri-Sun 8.30am-noon & 1-4pm, Mon & Thur pm only; ¥3) is the first preserved 1920s relic that you'll come across, south of Huaihai Lu, at the junction of Xingye Lu and Huangpi Nan Lu. The official story of this house is that on July 23, 1921, thirteen representatives of the Communist cells which had developed all over China, including its most famous junior participant Mao Zedong, met here to discuss the formation of a national party. The meeting was discovered by a French police agent (it was illegal to hold political meetings in the French Concession) and on July 30 the delegates fled to Zhejiang Province, where they resumed their talks in a boat on Nan Hu. Quite how much of this really happened is unclear, but it seems probable that there were in fact more delegates than the record remembers - the missing names would have been expunged according to subsequent political circumstances. The site today, preserved in its original condition since 1949, contains a little exhibition hall downstairs with English labels, detailing instances of the kinds of oppressions that inspired the Communist movement in the first place.

A few hundred metres west of here, beyond the gigantic north-south flyover and very close to Fuxing Park (daily 5am-5pm, ¥1), is Sinan Lu, where two of the heroes of modern China lived. At no. 39 is the Sun Yatsen Memorial Residence (Mon-Sat 9am-4.30pm; ¥8), with its large British-style lawn in the back garden, screened by mature trees and high walls. Sun Yatsen lived here from 1918 to 1924, and inside the house you can see his books, a gramophone, fireplaces and verandahs - all fantastically disorienting in contemporary Shanghai. Sun's widow, Song Qingling, stayed in the house until 1937. Just south of Fuxing Lu is Zhou Enlai's Former Residence (Tues, Wed & Fri-Sun 8.30-11am & 1-4pm, Mon & Thurs pm only; ¥2), at 73 Sinan Lu. This delightful house has a terrace at the back with rattan chairs and polished wooden floors, and its garden, with hedges and ivy-covered walls, could easily be a part of 1930s suburban London.

Several blocks west rises the stately Ruijin Guesthouse , on the corner of Fuxing Zhong Lu and Shanxi Nan Lu. This Tudor-style country manor was home to the Morriss family, owners of the North China Daily News. Mr Morriss raised greyhounds for the Shanghai Race Club and the former Canidrome dog track across the street. Having miraculously escaped severe damage during the Cultural Revolution because certain high-ranking officials used it as their private residence, the house has now been turned into a pleasant inn. Even if you're not a guest, you are free to walk around the spacious, quiet grounds, where it's hard to believe you are in the middle of one of the world's most hectic cities.

A good deal farther west, at 1843 Huaihai Xi Lu, about twenty minutes' walk northwest from the Hengshan Lu metro station, is Song Qingling's Former Residence (daily 9-11am & 1-4.30pm; ¥8), who lived here on and off from 1948 until her death in 1981. As the wife of Sun Yatsen, Song Qingling was part of a bizarre family coterie - her sister Song Meiling was married to Chiang Kaishek and her brother, known as "TV Soong", was finance minister to Chiang. Song Qingling herself was to remain loyal to China throughout her life, latterly as one of the honorary "Presidents" of the People's Republic, while Meiling - now reviled in the People's Republic - is still alive today, having made her permanent home in New York City. Once again the house is a charming step back into a residential Shanghai of the past, and although this time the trappings on display - including her official limousines parked in the garage - are largely post-1949, there is some lovely wood panelling and lacquerwork inside the house.