We walk on Wukang Road in Shanghai, the French plane trees on both sides of the road blot out the sky and cover the sun, old western style villas are numerous.
Wukang Road was originally called Route Ferguson, built in 1907, it can be said that it is a historic road in Shanghai. This is known as a “Celebrity Road” that concentrated one hundred year modern history of Shanghai.
There is no rigid planning on the whole road, each house has its own unique appearance, Spanish style, French Renaissance style, German Baroque style…
There are many restaurants and coffee shops that have been converted from old houses at the roadside, when people are tired with walking, they can sit inside, drink a cup of coffee, and calm down their mood, watching the pedestrians coming and going outside the window, that kind of comfort gives people the sense of being forgotten by time.
The whole road is full of vitality because of the green decoration, the sun continuously through the gap between the leaves of the parasol tree, on the ground is shown on a piece of mottled, which coincides with the roadside old houses, Wukang Road is showing the most beautiful golden years.
Most of houses along the street were built during the colonial period, European-style columns and small terraces can be seen everywhere, the blue bricks and green leaves reflect each other, the white, beige, and gray facades is filled with quietness and elegance, which creat a life attitude of the Shanghai noble persons.
The sunlit small courtyard, the aroma of coffee surrounds us, it is good to sit here in a trance.
A hurrying pedestrian, her colourful clothes fit in with this old building, I feel that Wukang Road is most suitable for walking alone, I look about as I walk along, I occasionally stop for a while, I silently look at the footsteps of hurrying pedestrian, and experience my peace of mind.
The most famous on Wukang Road is Wukang Mansion. Wukang Mansion is like a large ship in the sunset, it is in the shape of a fan along the street corner, the whole building is built of crimson bricks, every household has large lattice windows, the arched doors on the ground floor of the apartment resemble the Colosseum, these elements make people their heart leap up.
Wukang Mansion, formerly known as the Normandie Apartments. It was designed by the Hungarian-Slovak architect László Hudec and completed in 1924, now it has become a street photography holy place for the artistic youth. People flock from all over the world to visit Wukang Mansion. This building is certainly worth visiting, no matter which angle you shot, 360 degrees, with no dead angle, no matter how you shoot it, all good-looking.
Almost every building is hung with a “historical building” nameplate, although people may not all understand the origin of these history, just experiencing the accumulation of years is enough to make people amaze the world change.
Although it is a historical buildings, it is not blindly vacant for viewing. Most of the buildings put aside their condescending manner and assimilate into the Shanghai people’s life, they are within reach, many foreign-style houses and apartments reveal a deep sense of human feelings and fireworks flavour.
A different form of housing are the sections of unique expression, on sunny day, we take a turn on Wukang Road, let the sun shines into the history, let the sun shines into the life.
