A river that flows with local culture

Many world-class cities are endowed with a first-rate river.

Shanghai has two.

Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River are tributaries of the metropolis' appeal.

Suzhou Creek in particular is worth exploring.

The "mother of Shanghai", as it's also called, serves as an umbilical linking the city's past and present.

It snakes 17 kilometers from the Waibaidu Bridge downtown to western Shanghai's outer ring road. The bridge is an icon that appears in many movies that were set in the city.

Dozens of couples flock to the bridge every day for wedding photos.

The "garden bridge", as it is also called, marks the point where Suzhou Creek begins and intersects with the Huangpu.

It flashes with colored lights at night.

The 106-meter-long bridge - the first large one built in the city - was designed by a British company and built in 1873.

It no longer serves as a traffic artery - nearly 40 other bridges have been erected over the waterway. But it stands as a pedestrian corridor for tourists.

It's a Shanghai tradition for a grandmother to carry a 1-month-old grandchild across a bridge as a blessing to indicate that the newborn has navigated all the twists and turns so far and will be safe and happy throughout life.

Suzhou Creek's banks hosted the textile mills, chemical plants and factories that propelled Shanghai's 1920s industrialization.

They produced modernization - and pollution.By the 1930s, the water was devoid of fish and no longer suitable for taps.

Things started to turn around in the 1990s.

Factories were replaced by sought-after highrises.

Changning district hosts a 5-km waterfront that has become a popular place to walk and sit on lawns. A boardwalk runs along both banks.

As 29-year-old resident Xiao Xu puts it: "Jogging on different sides offers different feelings. The north side is next to the water, while the south is next to highrises, which makes it like running through a jungle."

Presumably, she means the concrete kind.

zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 12/30/2016 page20)