The area around Dapuqiao Station along metro Line 9 always has a high volume of traffic because of its commercial and tourist surroundings, which include the SML Center at No.618 Xujiahui Road and Tianzifang at No.210 Taikang Road.

With 140,000 square meters of commercial space, the seven-story ASE Center has fashion, clothing, food, entertainment and digital electronic product sales.

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Tianzifang is an arts and crafts gathering place that attracts many people with its classic architecture, cafés and art spaces.

The Global Times recently went to explore some of the lesser-known attractions and newly-opened shops around the metro station.

Shanghai Museum of Public Security

Emerging from exit 3 of Dapuqiao Station and walking west to Ruijin Road South for about 10 minutes will bring you to the Shanghai Museum of Public Security (SMPS) (No.518 Ruijin Road South 6472-0256) hidden among rows of high-rise residential buildings.

Built in 1999 and covering 8,500 square meters, the four-story SMPS is the first museum to focus specifically on public security in China.

The building is subdivided into 10 rooms, each of which looks at a different facet of public security, including criminal investigation, public order, transport, jail, firefighting and equipment. More than 10,000 exhibits record the history and evolution of public security in Shanghai since the city first established its police authority in 1854 during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

In the criminal investigation room, some graphic photographs chart murder cases from Shanghai, including a woman who was choked to death in a bathtub and a man who was killed by being axed repeatedly over the head.

In the equipment room, many historical weapons are displayed, ranging from antique knives and knuckle dusters to a more sophisticated arsenal of machine guns and handguns.

The centerpiece is a Browning 6.35 mm pistol used by Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925, a revered revolutionary leader who played a pivotal role in overthrowing imperial rule in China). Made in Belgium, the gun was given to Sun by his teacher, James Cantline (1851-1926) when he was studying medicine in London in 1895.

Another remarkable gun also in this room is made of gold and used to belong to Huang Jinrong (1868-1953, the chief of Chinese detectives in the former French Concession and simultaneously the leader of the underground Green Gang. Also made in Belgium, the gun folds into a small egg shape for easy concealment. The introduction card beside it says that the gun chamber can hold six bullets at one time.

Admission to the museum is free. It opens from 9 am to 4:30 pm (from Monday to Saturday).

Liuli China Museum 

Coming out of exit 1 and walking along Taikang Road for about 5 minutes brings you to Liuli China Museum (No.25 Taikang Road 6467-2268), just opposite Tianzifang. Originally the Shanghai Clock & Watch Plastic Fittings Factory, the two-story building became a museum for liuli, or colored glass, in 2010. 

Liuli China Museum Photos: Hu Bei/GT

The distinguishing feature of the museum is that the walls are comprised of 12,000 unique liuli bricks. Each is handmade, and no two are alike.

The museum displays elegant liuli from around the world. In the museum, there are antique liuli artifacts from ancient China and also contemporary art pieces made using liuli. With bright colors, vivid shapes and delicate designs, these liuli artworks attract many passersby.

Lectures and workshops about liuli arts and crafts are also regularly held in the museum to stimulate visitor awareness of the art of liuli and nurture a learning environment through communication.

The admission is free and its opening time is 10 am to 5 pm (closed Mondays)

Hay

Hay, the internationally-popular home furnishing brand from Denmark, opened its first Asian retail store at No.176 Taikang Road (5448-9835) in January. It is just next to the entrance of Tianzifang.

Hay

Founded in 2002, their furniture and accessories have simple, clean and nature-inspired shapes and colors. They revive Nordic classical design aesthetics and manufacturing processes developed in the 1950s and 1960s and also have a contemporary context.

The design of the store in Shanghai also shows the same philosophy. The shop façade is not too big and the internal decoration style is similar to a Northern European wooden house. A large white upright column stands in the middle, displaying various products in a three-dimensional way.

Their best selling items, an armchair and matching revolving stool, are placed to receive the greatest attention. As well as their regular wooden furniture, the shop also sells colorful back cushions made from a wool fabric, which is used at many public places in Copenhagen, including the train seat cushions there.

La Woo

La Woo (Room 115, No.3 Tianzifang) is a tiny shop specifically selling hand-made woolen felt items. Entering this shop, visitors can see a group of young girls making items on the site, circled by colorful woolen felt toy animals, table mats, phone carriers and berets. Instead of using regular woolen yarns, they choose from different colored authentic wool, which they roll into balls. They then use special needles to felt the wool.

La Woo

La Woo currently has seven shops in Shanghai and other cities including Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province and Dalian, Liaoning Province.

Editor's note:

This year is the 21st anniversary of the opening of the Shanghai metro. The subway has facilitated more than 13 billion journeys during its 21 years, and half of Shanghai citizens cite the metro as their favored mode of transport. To commemorate the anniversary, each week the Global Times will take an in-depth look at one metro station and its surroundings. In the case of downtown stations, we will focus on points of interest within walking distance; while for suburban areas, we will cast our net a little wider.