Upcoming Walks & Events

AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2026

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WALK

Saturday August 29, 10am

Schools of Old Shanghai (new route)

RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

It’s back to school time, so we’re heading back—way back—to the schools of Old Shanghai. The hallowed halls that once educated the sons and daughters of Old Shanghai still stand—some still educating the youngsters of today, and we’ll see a fascinating mix, from a 19^th century joint venture school to an Art Nouveau French school, missionary-run institutions and schools for every community, from the International Settlement to the former French Concession to Hongkou. Who built them, ran them, and attended them? Come and discover the stories behind the bricks in Shanghai’s legacy of education.

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BOOK CLUB

Sunday August 30, 10.30am

August Book Club: I Love Bill and Other Stories by Wang Anyi

Wang Anyi is one of the finest Chinese novelists writing about the post-1949 era. The book club has read two of her novels previously—Song of Everlasting Sorrow, set between the 1930s and 1980s, and Fuping, set in the 1950s, and each has been a book club favorite. I Love Bill is a collection of two novellas and three short stories, set at the turn of the millennium, with nuanced portrayals of life during a time of vast economic and cultural change. 

In the title novella, a young artist’s life spirals out of control when she drops out of school to pursue a series of unfulfilling relationships with foreign men. A performance troupe struggles to adapt to a changing China in the mid-1970s. The head of an isolated village arranges a youth’s posthumous marriage to an unknown soldier, only to have the soldier’s former lover unexpectedly turn up. A fun trip takes an unexpected turn when two young women are kidnapped and sold off as brides. A boy’s bout with typhoid provides an intimate look at family life in Shanghai’s longtang alleys.

Book Club Rules: Buy (or legally acquire) the book, read the book, contribute to the discussion. For more on book club, including the 2026 books, click here. For the archive, click here.

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WALK

Sunday August 30, 3pm

The Summer Gelato Crawl: Heritage Architecture & Gelato

RMB 280 members, 380 nonmembers, includes gelato tasting

Back by popular demand!

The Great Gelato Boom of 2025 in one of the city’s most historic enclaves called for an investigation, and so the Summer Gelato Crawl was born. Join us this summer, for round 2~new gelaterias, new route!

Between a rainbow of gelato flavors, we’ll walk through lanes and plane tree-shaded streets in one of the city’s most architecturally intact neighborhoods and see the surprises that lie beyond the hipster hangouts. Art Deco delights, traces of pre-Concession Shanghai, hidden mansions, lush gardens, treasures tucked away in deep in lanes … and then more gelato!

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WALK

Saturday September 5, 10am

Beyond the Neon Lights: People’s Square

RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

In the heart of Shanghai’s old neon-lit entertainment district–now People’s Square–lies one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods. Forgotten, mostly. 

But here, beyond the neon lights, is a whole world: thriving lane neighborhoods and quiet ones, the legacy of a Shanghai’s richest man, the historic theater district, a bustling food street, Art Deco apartments, a park with a past.

A slice of Old Shanghai, in the shadow of future Shanghai.

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WALK

Sunday September 6, 10am

Deep Dive: Route de Sièyes: Yongjia Lu

RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

This charming, unassuming former French Concession street packs a century’s worth of history into its seven blocks, along with some of the finest historic architecture in the city.

Powerful Old Shanghai families built houses here, a bank housed its staff, and architects from France and China designed signature villas along this street—including what may be the last Art Deco house in Shanghai.

There’s the home of a famous painter and a forgotten singer, a patriotic musician and a world-famous wartime photojournalist, and much more, all along this pretty, tree-lined avenue.

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WALK

Sunday September 13, 10am

Hidden Lanes and Mysterious Mansions of the Former French Concession

RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

A walk through our neighborhood—Tina’s running route, in fact—that takes you behind the plane trees and beyond the influencers to the tranquil neighborhoods and twisting lanes, and mysterious villas that surround the architectural landmarks, and thieir surprising histories. Quiet plane tree dappled streets, some of the prettiest in the city, lined with icons of Shanghai architecture and the fascinating tales they hold.

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WALK

Saturday September 19, 10am

Shanghai History Series: The Japanese Occupation (1937-1945)

RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

Japan’s occupation of Shanghai defined an era and would leave its mark well into the future. In the next episode of our Shanghai History Series, we look at Japanese Shanghai beyond the military: how was the day-to-day Japanese occupation experienced by Shanghai residents? By the Japanese who had lived here for decades? Along the way, we’ll find traces of the Japanese legacy of the occupation years in architecture and stories along the way.

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WALK

Sunday September 20, 9am

Chinese Temples at Mid-Autumn Festival

RMB 250 members, 350 nonmembers

Discover the charming temples in Shanghai’s Old Chinese City—the oldest part of Shanghai–on one of the most important traditional festivals on the Chinese calendar.

These gorgeous houses of worship have served Shanghai’s oldest communities for centuries, and on Mid-Autumn Festival, people light incense and give thanks for a bountiful harvest (mostly metaphorically, these days!). We’ll visit nunneries, Taoist and Buddhist temples, and light some incense ourselves. Along the way, we’ll see the historic, rapidly disappearing neighborhoods these temples serve, and see how the oldest part of Shanghai is being transformed for a new era.

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BOOK CLUB

Sunday September 20, time tbc

September Book Club: Death in Shanghai by MJ Lee

RMB 100 members, 200 nonmembers

Shanghai, 1928. The body of a blonde is washed up on the Beach of Dead Babies, in the heart of the smog-filled city. Seemingly a suicide, a closer inspection reveals a darker motive: the corpse has been weighed down, it’s lower half mutilated…and the Chinese character for ‘justice’ carved into the chest.

The moment Inspector Danilov lays eyes on the dismembered body, he realises that he has an exceptional case on his hands. And when the first body is followed by another, and another, each displaying a new, bloody message, he has no option but face the truth. He is dealing with the worst kind of criminal; someone determined, twisted…and vengeful.

The Inspector Danilov series is one of our absolute favorites: for the characters, the plot, the history, and the authentic sense of place.

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