People's Square (Shanghai)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

People's Square, Shanghai

The Shanghai Racecourse in 1912

In this 1933 map of Shanghai, the race course is shown on the left in green.

People's Square (simplified Chinese: 人民广场; traditional Chinese: 人民廣場; pinyin: Rénmín Guǎngchǎng) is a large public square adjacent to Nanjing Road in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, China. People's Square is the site of Shanghai's municipal government headquarter building, and is used as the standard reference point for measurement of distance in the Shanghai municipality.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] History

Prior to 1949 and the establishment of the People's Republic of China, what is now People's Square was a part of the horse racing course of Shanghai. After gambling and horse racing were banned by the new Communist government, a part of the race course became the People's Square, which included a large avenue and spectator stands for use during parades.

In the 1990s, major changes were made to the square. The Shanghai Municipal Government was moved here from the former HSBC Building on the Bund, also the Shanghai Museum was moved here from its previous site in a former office building. More recent additions include the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.

Other parts of the race course still remain. The clubhouse buildings became the Shanghai Art Museum, while part of the race track became People's Park, a public park.