Exhibition Centre.

Shanghai Exhibition Centre

Shanghai


The hulking monolith of the Shanghai Exhibition Centre was built in 1955 as the Sino-Soviet Friendship Mansion – a friendship that soon turned sour and even regressed to the brink of war in the 1960s. The Stalinist-style architecture is based on St Petersberg's Admiralty Building, with neoclassical columns and a skeletal spire topped by a communist red star. The best view of it is from Yan'an Rd, where it's fronted by a stirring bronze socialist-realist monument and red-star stained-glass windows.

The site of the Exhibition Centre was originally the gardens of Jewish millionaire Silas Hardoon. You're allowed to wander its grounds and photograph the buildings. Architecture lovers will appreciate its monumentality and bold, unsubtle Bolshevik strokes. There was a time when Pudong was set to look like this.

Transportation

  • metro: Jing’an Temple

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Shanghai attractions

1. Mao Space

0.21 MILES

Located within the former short-term 1920s residence of Mao Zedong, this somewhat paradoxical pop-art gallery offers an intriguing insight to modern China…

2. Mao Zedong's 1920 Apartment

0.22 MILES

Though Mao Zedong only lived at this two-storey apartment for a few months in 1920, it's here the seeds were laid for the formation of the CCP. Within is…

3. Moller House

0.22 MILES

One of Shanghai’s most whimsical buildings, the Scandinavian-influenced Gothic peaks of the Moller House could double as the Munsters’ holiday home…

4. Salvador Dalí Sculpture

0.29 MILES

On the corner of ritzy West Nanjing Rd sits Nobility of Time, a bronze sculpture created by Salvador Dalí, who constructed this signature dripping clock…

5. Changde Apartment

0.32 MILES

A great example of art deco architecture, this 1933 apartment building is the former residence of Eileen Chang (Zhang Ailing; 1920–95), the celebrated…

6. Sun Court

0.39 MILES

This multistorey apartment building was completed in 1928. Although it was named after real-estate mogul Sun Chunsheng (1899–1974), the Chinese translator…

7. Jìng'an Park

0.41 MILES

Across from Jing'an Temple, this atmospheric landscaped garden is 33,600 sq metres in size and a nice little oasis in the city. Stroll past flowerbeds,…

8. Former Residence of Liu Changsheng

0.42 MILES

Inside a red-brick villa, this museum details the rise of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC). It's the former residence of underground CPC leader Liu…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "china/shanghai/jingan/attractions/shanghai-exhibition-centre/a/poi-sig/369593/1325937",
      "destination": "Shanghai",
      "continent": "Asia",
      "country": "China",
      "city": "Shanghai",
      "position": "superzone"
    }