For us Shanghainese it's Renmin Guangchang, the meeting point for half the city. Until 1949 this was the racecourse of the Race Club, the foreign residents' club, with its grandstands and its betting. Then the track became partly square and partly park, and in the 1990s came the new Shanghai Museum, with its age-old bronzes, and the Grand Theatre. Come at the weekend: in People's Park you'll find the famous marriage market, where parents hunt for a soulmate for their children. All around, fountains, trees and the rumble of the metro running under your feet: it's the right place to start understanding Shanghai.
