Tianzifang

A dense grid of lilong alleys off Taikang Road that filled up with studios, galleries and bars from the late 1990s without ever being cleared or rebuilt. Where Xintiandi was demolished and reconstructed, Tianzifang was simply occupied.

The result is narrow, crowded and messy, and people still live above the shops — you will walk under their laundry. It is the more interesting of the two and the less comfortable.

What it costs

⭐ Free. It is a set of public alleys.

When to go

Afternoons and evenings. ⚠️ It is genuinely narrow — at peak weekend times the main alleys move at a shuffle and it stops being enjoyable.

Mornings are quiet and many shops are shut, which is a fair trade if you came for the architecture rather than the shopping.

Getting there

Dapuqiao station on line 9, exit 1, and the entrance is across the road. It is a short walk from Xintiandi.

If you only have an hour

Get lost in it deliberately — the alleys interconnect and the map is not much use. Look up constantly: the upper floors are unchanged, and the gap between what is happening at street level and what is happening one storey above it is the whole character of the place.

What people get wrong

⚠️ Photographing into people’s windows and doorways. Residents live here and have been complaining about exactly this for fifteen years.