North across the Waibaidu Bridge from the Bund, you enter an area that, before the War, was the Japanese quarter of the International Settlement, and which since 1949 has been largely taken over by housing developments. The obvious interest lies in the Hongkou Park area (also known as Lu Xun Park), with its monuments to the political novelist Lu Xun, although the whole district is a lively and architecturally interesting residential quarter.

 

Lu Xun Park (daily 6am-7pm; ¥1) is one of the best places for observing Shanghainese at their most leisured and relaxed. Between 6 and 8am in the morning, the masses undergo their daily work-out session of tai ji and other sports. Later in the day, amorous couples frolic on the paddle boats in the figure 8-shaped lagoon in the middle of the park and old men teach their grandkids how to fly kites. The park is also home to the grandiose and rather pompous Tomb of Lu Xun , complete with a seated statue and an inscription in Mao's calligraphy, which was erected here in 1956 to commemorate the fact that Lu Xun had spent the last ten years of his life in this part of Shanghai. The tomb even went against Lu Xun's own wishes to be buried simply in a small grave in a western Shanghai cemetery. The novelist is further memorialized in the Lu Xun Memorial Hall (daily 9-11am & 1.30-4pm; ¥5), also in the park, to the right of the main entrance. Here, newly expanded exhibits include original correspondence, among them letters and photographs from George Bernard Shaw.

A block southeast of the park on Shanyin Lu (Lane 132, House 9), you can also visit Lu Xun's Former Residence (daily 9am-4pm; ¥4). It's definitely worthwhile going out of your way to see this place, especially if you have already visited the former residences of Zhou Enlai and Sun Yatsen in the French Quarter. Lu Xun's sparsely furnished house offers a fascinating glimpse into typical Japanese housing of the period - on the outside, its staid brick facade, tightly packed in among similarly designed houses, strongly resembles the Back Bay District of Boston. Japanese housing of the time was a good deal smaller than European, but still surprisingly comfortable with balconies overlooked by palm trees. Lu Xun lived in this house with his wife and son from 1933 until his death in 1936.