HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
River of Life Whuangpu / Woosung
Shanghai’s 15 mile link to the South China Sea is via the Huangpu (“yellow bank”)
River. The much smaller Suzhou Creek joins the Huangpu in the heart of the
present day city at the northern end of the Bund and runs in an east-west direction,
linking Shanghai inland to the ancient city of Suzhou and beyond to Lake Taihu.
Shanghai was founded in the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279) and became important
as a port from 1291 based on its conduits for trade with the surrounding regions
which were China’s richest for cotton and agricultural production.
Surprisingly, given the different sizes of the two rivers today, the Huangpu used to
be a tributary of Suzhou Creek. Maps from the 11th century show the Woosung (as
Suzhou Creek was then called) to be an
immense sheet of water up to 5 miles wide
and the Whuangpu (as the Huangpu was
then known) was then an insignificant canal
linking the village of Lungua directly to the
sea.
But following an enormous flood in 1403 the
Emperor embarked on an extensive dykeand dam-building programme and diverted
waters from the Woosong and in this
process the Whuangpu was widened and
deepened too. By 1569, the Woosung had
contracted significantly and the Whuangpu
became the larger river.
After the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, China
was forced to open to international trade
and Shanghai became a key port. At that
time, international communities were
allowed to self-govern in separate areas of
the city and Suzhou Creek formed the
boundary between the British concession
(on its south bank) and the American
settlement (on the north). Both concessions
were merged into the International
Settlement in 1863 and, when the Japanese
invaded Shanghai in 1937, the river once again formed a boundary, this time
between the combined international settlement on the south and the Japanese
concession on the north.
When foreigners arrived in large numbers in Shanghai, the Woosung became
known as Soochow (or Suzhou) Creek after Suzhou, the ancient city in Shanghai’s
neighbouring Jiangsu province.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
River of Life Huangpu
Shanghai (meaning ‘above the sea’) stands just 15 miles south of
the mouth of the River Yangtze. It is a gateway to an estimated 400
million people who live within that great river’s catchment area and
Shanghai’s growth and subsequent international importance is due
largely to this strategic trading location.
Today, the 114km-long Huangpu is Shanghai’s major shipping
conduit. In the city, it is an average of 400 metres wide and it
divides the city into two regions. The historic centre of the city, the
Puxi area, is located on the western side while the new Pudong
financial district has developed on the eastern bank.
Shanghai is the largest city in China in terms of population and one
of the largest urban areas in the world, with over 20 million people
in its extended metropolitan area. As a result of its dense
population and limited fresh water supply, Shanghai draws much of
its water for domestic and industrial use from fairly far upstream. In
fact, 80% of the city’s supply comes from the upstream Huangpu,
where the river is polluted to such an extent that it requires
extensive treatment plus boiling before consumption. Historically,
before the city built river intakes, much of the Shanghai’s water was
pumped from wells. But after land in the city centre sunk by 1.7m
from 1921 to 1965, the leadership recognized the importance of not
drawing groundwater from the marshy subsoil beneath the city
proper.
Throughout history, the Huangpu has been a constant flood threat
and Shanghai has had to build 318km
of flood walls to protect the city. The
new elevated embankments along the
Bund, built in the 1990s, are a recent
addition to Shanghai’s flood defenses.
However, a more radical solution is
currently being explored. Shanghai
has come up with a proposal to build
a dam on the Huangpu in the northern
Baoshan District.
Shanghai’s urban plan is impressively
green and, encouragingly, riverside
walkways and urban parks are seen
as a vital part of these new schemes.
Much of Shanghai’s urban
redevelopment is based around the
twin axes of the Huangpu River and
Suzhou Creek. Old docks and
factories, many of them chemical and
textile operations, have been removed
and relocated into outlying suburbs to
make way for prestigious new buildings designed by the world’s best architects and
high-density housing tower blocks. Many of these schemes are being rushed to
completion in time for 2010 when Shanghai hosts the World Expo.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
Polluted River River Rehab
Originating from Lake Taihu, some 127km
from its confluence with the Huangpu, Suzhou
Creek has historically been considered
Shanghai's most polluted waterway.
But it wasn’t always that way. In the early part
of the 20th century Suzhou Creek was a
delightful park-lined waterway. But it
deteriorated following the Japanese invasion
in the 1930s. Slums and industrial sweatshops
sprang up on what had been beautiful
parkland, to be followed in the post-war period
by heavy polluting industries. Year after year,
the waterway became increasingly glazed
over with black dirt and began emitting an
appalling foul smell that old-time residents
have never forgotten.
In 1985, a report pointed out that every day,
Shanghai was dumping over 2 million tons of
pollution into the stream and that its waters
were one of the most contaminated in China. It revealed that if left unchecked, by
the year 2000 the level of pollution in food chain and its knock-on effect on cancer
would push up death rates in Shanghai to amongst the highest in China. This
report was such a shock that the municipal government initiated radical plans to
clean the river.
In 1998, authorities launched the Suzhou Creek Rehabilitation Project, a 12-year
programme to improve the water quality, flood defenses and wastewater
management. The first step was to close and relocate the polluting factories.
However, even having done this there was little improvement in the water quality.
This was because the river bed itself was severely contaminated and pollution was
still entering the Creek from 35 branch streams, from domestic sewerage, from runoff from streets and from agricultural seepage.
The solution was to cut off, in turn, the tributary streams and divert their water into
canals for treatment. This allowed the stream bed to be dredged and contaminated
silt to be removed. This material was then made into bricks for the construction
industry. Meanwhile, eco-friendly bacteria and oxygen were introduced into the
waters which ate up organic substances. The water was then pumped and filtered
through six successive beds to reduce its contamination to an acceptable level
before being reintroduced back into the now scoured stream.
The estimated cost of returning Suzhou Creek back to the state that nature had
intended is estimated at approximately £1.2 billion. But such expenditure seems
justified given the vast potential for economic regeneration in this decaying area.
Originally, all the abandoned factories and old warehouses along Suzhou Creek
were set be demolished in favour of constructing modern high-rise buildings.
However, following initiatives by artists in the late 1990s, some pockets of the
riverside have been designated as protected heritage zones and here the
warehouses have been conserved, providing workshop and gallery spaces for
artists together with boutiques and bistros that give it an edgy, bohemian
atmosphere.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
Resourceful River Old Shanghai
In the 16th century, Japanese forces and
complicit Chinese pirates, who for centuries had
plagued the coast of China, attacked the city
with increased frequency. In response, the
residents built a 2½ mile city wall around their
settlement. It was 24 foot high and was
surrounded by a 30 foot ditch. Within the city
there were five major streams with many smaller
tributaries. The footpaths and roads tended to
follow the line of these waterways, with over 100
bridges crossing them throughout the city.
These tidal waterways caused severe problems.
When heavy rain combined with high tides
flooding could result. By the early 20th century
the streams were filled in or covered over and
replaced by roads.
After 1681, the threat from pirates and other
enemies was considered to have passed and
the ban on international trade was lifted.
Some of Shanghai’s most important
streets developed along the river bank
outside the city wall where commercial
activities flourished. To combat flooding,
wharves were built connected to the
mainland above the high water mark.
From this time, a vehicle ferry connected
to Pudong on the opposite bank.
Boat owners were among the most
prosperous and numerous merchants in
Shanghai in the 18th century, commonly
owning 30 to 50 boats each. Only the
largest merchant ships serving the
China coast dared to navigate the
treacherous currents at the mouth of the
Huangpu and Yangtze, while most boats
plied the local rivers and waterways. The
most elaborate boat, built in 1715,
belonged to the Commercial Boat
Association (Shang Chuan Huigan) – its design was so elaborate that foreigners
often mistook it for a temple.
Shanghai’s status as a major world port had long been threatened by the
treacherous Woosung sand bar that forced modern sea-going ships to offload their
cargo onto ‘lighters’ for the remaining 15-mile journey to Shanghai. Up until it was
finally dredged in 1910, these shallow sand bars at the mouth of the Yangtze
inhibited external traders from entering China. Sailing junks draw water between 5
to 10 feet and for them the sand bars were no problem; the issue was with foreign
iron-built ships that drew water 20 feet or more. For almost 100 years, Chinese
officials refused or ignored foreign petitions to dredge the bars, only relenting in
1905. When the sandbanks vanished Shanghai took her place as one of the
world’s great trading cities and the Yangtze, linked to the metropolis by the
Huangpu, became an international highway into the very heart of China.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
Working River Opium
In 1757, the Emperor declared Canton
(present day Guangzhou) to be the only port
open to foreigners, providing the city with a
monopoly on trade with the West. On the
other hand, the East India Company had
exclusive rights to British trade in China.
Britain had hoped to raise considerable
income through the export of British wool
and cotton products to China. Instead,
imports of Chinese silk and tea into the UK
were greater leaving an inequality in their
balance of trade. The answer to Britain’s
problems was opium, which Britain imported
from India and sold to China.
The Chinese began to blend opium and
tobacco and smoke the mixture in the 17th
century. The habit was such a problem that
authorities made the first attempt to ban the
drug in 1729. Trade continued through
unofficial channels and by the beginning of
the 19th century with the drug now being
smoked pure, it was being imported into
China in huge quantity. The British were the
major importers – by the 1830s opium made
up half the goods that the British sold in
China.
Corruption and unfair trading fuelled a
rapidly deteriorating relationship between
the Chinese and foreigners in Canton,
providing the impetus for foreign merchants
to seek alternative inroads into China’s vast and untapped commercial potential.
Back in the UK, sensing huge profits to be made, extensive lobbying resulted in the
East India Company’s trade monopoly with China being abolished in 1834. The
problem most businesses still faced however was how to get a toehold in the
Orient.
The infamous Opium war with China (1840-3) was brought about by the Emperor’s
failed attempt to halt the illegal smuggling of opium into Canton by foreign ships.
The resulting Treaty of Nanking of 1842 legitimized foreign trade, including the
trade in opium, in Shanghai and four other key ports. Later treaties established
rights for foreigners to buy land and for their misdemeanours to be judged under
their own, rather than under Chinese law. This principle of ‘extraterritoriality’ on
Chinese soil lasted until 1943.
From this situation two cities emerged: a chaotic Chinese city within its ancient city
walls and a western city, inhabitated mainly by Chinese. The western part of
Shanghai was one of the most modern "European" cities in the world. New
inventions like electricity and trams were quickly introduced, and westerners turned
Shanghai into a huge metropolis. British and American businessmen made a great
deal of money in trade and finance. But trade in opium was all pervasive. In 1890
there may have been 15 million addicts in China and thousands of people, from
dealers to financiers, involved in supplying them.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
River City The Public Gardens
The triangular piece of land at the confluence of
Suzhou Creek with the Huangpu has long been
of key strategic importance in Shanghai. Initially
a fort was located here to ward off foreign sea
vessels. In the 19th century, when Shanghai
was opened to trade by the Treaty of Nanking,
the British chose it as the location for their
consulate.
By the 1860s the British Consulate gave up the
corner of land at the northern end of the Bund
for a Public Garden and by 1968 the newly
landscaped gardens, set out like an English
park complete with bandstand, were open to the
public. From its earliest days however, the
gardens were barred to most Chinese. The
1903 regulations posted on the garden gates
stated that ‘no Chinese are admitted except
servants in attendance upon foreigners’.
Today, the Public Gardens are largely paved
over and are known as Huangpu Park. It is the
site of the high-rising Monument to the People's
Heroes. The structure was built by the Shanghai
municipal government in the 1990s to
commemorate revolutionary martyrs as well as
those who have lost their lives fighting natural
disasters. The structure stands 24 metres tall,
and is built in the stylised shape of three rifles
standing against each other. The surrounding
paved area is used by locals for morning
exercises.Many think that the Monument is an
eyesore and detracts from the elegance of the
Bund.
Beside the Public Garden, straddling the former
British and American Settlements, is the Garden
Bridge over Suzhou Creek. Before its
construction, the residents of Hangkou, mostly
American at the time, relied on a ferry to take
them across the creek. Constructed in 1856, the
394 foot wooden drawbridge could be raised to
allow larger boats to pass, and there was a
small toll to pay for those who wanted to cross
on foot which caused resentment within the local Chinese population. In 1871 the
wooden bridge was replaced by an iron one which collapsed before completion.
Another wooden bridge followed in 1873 and this one was free to cross.
At the turn of the century the advent of cars and trams necessitated a new bridge
and following an open competition a steel structure called Waibaidu Bridge was
opened in 1908. It is by no means a pretty structure and was expected to have a
lifespan of 40 years, but it is still in place today and, despite impressive new
designs now spanning the Huangpu, it is Shanghai’s most famous bridge.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
River City The Bund
From the latter half of the 19th century,
the Bund was the very core of foreign,
and in particular British, life in Shanghai.
The name ‘bund’ is of Hindu origin and
signifies an artificial causeway or
embankment.
There were 52 grand buildings in
different architectural styles built along
its esplanade front. The top floors
housed the most spacious and luxurious
apartments and its elite inhabitants
wined and dined at The Shanghai Club.
Bands played in its English-style
garden, whilst the nearby Lyceum
Theatre hosted Gilbert & Sullivan and
home-grown British farces. The Bund
housed the finest restaurants, bars and
ballrooms and the latest Paris fashions
were on display in nearby Sassoon
House. Not only did the Bund provide
the comforts of home, it also looked like
home. Number 12, the former Hong
Kong Shanghai Bank, was the grandest
when it opened and was described as ‘the finest building east of the Suez’.
The Shanghai Club was located at Number 2. Affiliated to gentlemen’s clubs in
India and other parts of the Empire, it was an exclusive domain administered by
strict codes of social and personal conduct. The Club was famous for its ‘Long Bar’
which stretched over 110 feet. Established club members gathered at the
waterfront end of the bar whilst newcomers to Shanghai, known as ‘griffins’, were
relegated to the other end. According to Shanghai tradition, newcomers were
griffins for one year, one month, one week, one day, one hour, one minute and one
second. After that, they became fully fledged Shanghailanders and the longer they
stayed, the further up the length of the bar they progressed. The Club prided itself
on its exclusivity; Chinese were not permitted to enter nor, except on rare
occasions, were women.
The Cathay Hotel, at number 20, opened in 1929 and became legendary for its
excellent cuisine, luxurious accommodation and lavish entertainment. It was
Shanghai’s premier Saturday night venue with everything from musical folly to
classical concerts, from tea parties and pompous balls to fabulous fancy dress
parties. In 1949, the Cathay was requisitioned by the Communist Party and, having
been used as an office block for years when much of its amazing décor was
vandalised, it reopened as the Peace Hotel in 1956.
With Pudong on the eastern bank of the Huangpu emerging as Shanghai’s new
business and financial centre, the Bund has now had to find a new civic identity
and it is being developed as a world class showcase for the arts, gastronomy and
shopping. But this is proving to be a challenge with the 11-lane highway that
currently bisects the space between the river and the buildings. On the riverside
there is an elevated walkway, built in the early 1990s as a flood defense, with fastfood outlets and tacky souvenir shops; whilst on the other side of the motorway
there are world-class restaurants and international designer-shops.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
River City Decadence &
Communism
The 1920s and 1930s were Shanghai’s most decadent era
and even today the name conjures up images of wicked
glamour and sophistication. The city, known as "the Paris of
the East", was the hot spot of the Far East, a teeming port
near the mouth of the Yangtze where East met West and
decadence reigned. High rollers, film stars, fashion victims
and entrepreneurs of all kinds crowded the grand hotels,
ornate banks, trading houses, docks and nightclubs. The
city’s name became a verb: to be ‘shanghaied’ was to be
kidnapped and whisked away to a life of high crimes and
misdeameanors, all done with style.
During this period, almost 20,000 Russians, many of them
Jews, fled the newly-established Soviet Union, took up
residence in Shanghai and in so doing, created the city’s
second-largest foreign community. Many of these destitute
‘white women’ bacame night club dancers and prostitutes
which fuelled Shaghai’s exotic and decadent reputation.
The Japanese bombed Shanghai in 1932 and there was
further conflict in 1937 which resulted in the Japanese
occupation of parts of Shanghai outside of the International
Settlement and the French Concession. The International
Settlement itself was occupied by the Japanese in 1941 and
remained occupied until their surrender in 1945.
During World War II, Shanghai was a centre for European
refugees. It was the only city in the world that was open
unconditionally to Jews and as a consequence, the foreign
population rose from 35,000 in 1936 to 150,000 in 1942.
Germany wanted Japan to exterminate the Jews of
Shanghai, but Japan only put them into a ghetto. The
Japanese were harsher to the British, Americans and Dutch.
They slowly lost their privileges and had to wear a B, A or N
to designate their nationality when walking in public places.
Their villas were turned into new brothels and gambling
houses. In 1943, the British, Americans and Dutch were
force-marched into concentration camps.
After the Communist Party took control of Shanghai in May
1949, most foreign firms moved their offices from Shanghai
to Hong Kong. One of the first actions taken by the
communist party was to clean up the portion of the
population that were considered counter-revolutionaries.
Mass executions took place with thousands slaughtered in
the hands of the communist party.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Shanghai developed as an
industrial centre. Even during the most tumultuous times of the Cultural Revolution,
Shanghai was able to maintain high economic productivity and relative social
stability. However, this came at the cost of severely crippling Shanghai's
infrastructure and capital development.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
River City The Dragon Awakes
Since 1988, Shanghai has undergone one of the fastest economic
expansions the world has ever seen. Its population is officially 13.5
million, although unofficial figures put the population at closer to 20
million and it seems certain to recapture its position as East Asia’s
leading business centre, a status it held before World War II.
Shanghai’s massive investment in infrastructure and buildings
through the 1990s was astonishing in scope. New communication
systems, the city’s first subway and first highways, the world’s two
longest single-span bridges, a new airport, 1,300km of roads,
improved water systems, more than 4,000 high rise buildings and
better housing, hotels and public facilities were all planned and built.
Shanghai’s transformation was undertaken with an almost
revolutionary zeal, changing permamently the face of the city in a
matter of years, no more so than in Pudong, Shanghai’s modern
development area. Since 1993, the world’s best architecture firms
had been invited to submit masterplans for the development of
Pudong.
Some of these masterplans gave a coherent vision for the growth of
a new city built to address climate change – a looming
environmental crisis of which the world was only just becoming
aware. However, city officials rejected the masterplans and Pudong
was developed in haphazard fashion and some commentators think
that this lack of a coherent urban plan is setting up massive congestion, pollution
and social problems for the future.
Whereas in the 19th and 20th centuries buildings
on the Bund came to symbolise Shanghai, the
character of the 21st century city is reflected on
the other side of the River Huangpu in Pudong’s
skyline, and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in
particular has become the iconic building of new
metropolis. At 468m in height, it is Asia’s tallest
building. It houses a luxury hotel, restaurant and
public viewing gallery. After dark this whole skyline
is dramatically transformed with monumental
illuminations, state of the art architectural lighting
schemes and digital advertising screens that cover
the whole façade of some of the skyscrapers.
Shanghai continues to be at the cutting edge of
urban development and is focusing considerable
resources on staging the World Expo in 2010. For
st
the six months from 1 May in that year, the
spotlight will be on Shanghai and the city is
expecting some 70 million visitors. The Expo site,
which is impressively ‘green’, is located between
Nanpu Bridge and Lupu Bridge along both sides of
the Huangpu River (see illustration on the left).
The chosen theme is ‘Better City, Better Life’ – it
will be the first World Exposition to focus on the
theme of the city and the site makes much of its
waterfront location.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
HUANGPU RIVER
& SUZHOU CREEK
River of Culture River Races
Started in 2002, the Suzhou Creek dragon
boat race is one of Shanghai’s greatest
annual sporting events. More than 30 teams
compete on the 250-metre watercourse from
the Changhua Road Bridge to the Jiangning
Road Bridge.
The ‘Duan Wu Jie’ or Dragon Boat Festival,
also called the Dumpling Festival, is held on
the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (May).
The two main elements are dragon boat
races and the eating of rice "dumplings",
known as ‘zongi’.
The sport is widely known as a
commemoration of the death of Qu Yuan, a
poet and revered official during the Warring
States Period (475-221 BC). Qu had
protested against the corrupt court of his
native State of Chu and was stripped of his
office as a minister of state. Sent into exile
by the king and his political foes, Qu
wandered the countryside, unhappy and
dejected. The collapse of the State of Chu
following the invasion by its stronger
neighbours was the last straw for Qu. He
despaired and finally flung himself into the
Miluo River in what is now Hunan Province.
When local fishermen learned of Qu's
suicide, they desperately raced out in their
boats, trying to save their beloved poet, beating drums to
scare off the fish that they thought would eat his body.
They also dropped rice dumplings (‘zongzi’) in the water
as a sacrifice to his spirit. The scene of the fishermen
racing out to save Qu is reenacted every year in the form
of dragon boat racing.
Paddlers race in boats that are always colourfully
decorated with dragon designs. The sport requires team
members to move in unison, combining strength and
teamwork in a boat. That's why each boat carries a
steersman (cox) and a drummer, along with the paddlers.
These days, there are dragon boat crews and races all
over the world.
The new yacht museum in Changfeng, one of nine
museums being built along the creek, will include displays and other information
about dragon boat culture. These new attractions and many others will benefit from
plans to build piers along Suzhou Creek and reintroduce ferries and pleasure
cruises. The intention is to develop tourism and further reinvigorate Shanghai’s
long-neglected waterway.
Huangpu River & Suzhou Creek was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2008
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org