The French connection

A sq km sandwiched between a hip shopping district and a dour commercial one, still retains a bit of 1930s Shanghai. Shi Junqian reports

If there is such a thing as a "hamlet" in Shanghai, it must be that "sleepy triangle", a square kilometer of tree-lined streets and low-rise houses tucked between the hip shopping district of Xujiahui and the button-down commercial strip of Huaihai.

Although sitting on one of the most valuable tracts of real estate in Shanghai, the old buildings, some dating back to the golden era of the 1930s, have escaped the wrecker's ball. There is a refreshing absence of monstrous housing complexes, crowd-drawing shopping malls or glass-and-steel office buildings that are common sights almost anywhere else in this city.