"Massenet is a French composer, and as soon as I step out onto the street, his operas, Le Roi de Lahore, and Werther, spring into my mind." So wrote Zeng Pu (1872-1935), a prominent writer and translator of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). He continued: "Late in the afternoon as I stroll over the tightly-knit shadows of the tree-lined boulevards, the tragic scenarios of Le Cid, and Horace et Lydie, unfold on my left, vis-à-vis the Rue de Corneille. And on my right, from the Rue de Moliere, the cynical laughter of a Tartuffe or a Misanthrope seems to reach my ears … my steadfast determination to stay in this area is solely rooted in this eccentric exoticism of mine." (Tartuffe and The Misanthrope are perhaps the French playwright Moliere's most famous works.)

Francophile writer

What's unusual about this typically Gallic scene is that Zeng never set foot in France, and the Rue de Moliere he refers to is today's Xiangshan Road in Huangpu district. The Rue de Corneille is now Gaolan Road, while the former Rue de Massenet (Sinan Road) was named in honor of Zeng's musical hero.  

Running from Fuxing Park to Ruijin'er Road, and intersecting with Sinan Road, Xiangshan Road is probably one of the shortest thoroughfares in the city. The 328-meter-long road was built in 1914 and named after the playwright. In 1943 the name was changed to Xiangshan Road.

And when the Global Times visited the street on a sunny winter's afternoon recently, the scene was uncannily reminiscent of that described by Zeng nearly a century ago.

The road is notable for its absence of shop signs, dominated by high, mottled walls, deep and quiet courtyards and old yellow-painted villas, many with heritage plaques affixed to their exteriors.

The likely reason for changing the street's name was to honor Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925, the founding father of the Republic of China, 1912-49) who lived in a two-story building at No.7 with his wife, Soong Ching Ling. Xiangshan was the name of the village in Guangdong Province where Sun was born.

Today, the house is still distinguished by its red walls, red roof tiles, long corridors and exterior archways, all strongly reminiscent of the European architectural style vogue at the time.

Patriotic supporter

The couple lived here from 1918 to 1925, the house having been purchased for them by a patriotic Canadian-Chinese who supported Sun's revolutionary causes. After Sun's death in 1925, Soong continued to live in the house until 1937 when the Japanese army occupied Shanghai.

In 1988 the building formally opened to the public as the Former Residence of Sun Yat-sen. And as this year is the 120th anniversary of the birth of Soong Ching Ling, there is an ongoing exhibition being held featuring mainly books and possessions that Sun and Soong owned while they lived here.

The Former Residence of Sun Yat-sen is open from 9 am to 4 pm every day, and the admission fee is 20 yuan ($3.21) per person. Please call 5306-3361 for details.

No.6 Xiangshan Road is the former residence of Sun Fe (Sun Yat-sen's son, 1895-1973) and also Cardinal Kung Pin-Mei (1901-2000), who was the Roman Catholic bishop of Shanghai in China from 1950 until his death. It is a French-renaissance garden residence with a three-story building and a small courtyard behind the building.

The 27-year-old Zheng Yang now rents the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building which he uses as studios while living in a smaller building behind the main house. A professional photographer from Anhui Province, Zheng moved to Shanghai three years ago to pursue his career.

"A room on the first story near the entrance to the building was formerly a private Catholic chapel for Kung while he lived there, but now it's deserted and I use it as a storage room," he said.

Zheng told us that the main reason he wanted to live in the house was because of his idol, the writer and painter Mu Xin (1927-2011). Zheng took many photos of Mu during the last years of his life.

"Mu never actually lived on Xiangshan Road but he was very familiar with it because in the 1940s he was a student of the painter Lin Fengmian (1900-91) and he had to walk down Xiangshan Road to reach Lin's house on Nanchang Road," said Zheng.

Zheng's photography gallery is open every day from 2 pm to 9 pm (135-8588-9119).

Celebrity portraits

Here visitors can see portraits of celebrities from both China and abroad, including the Portuguese footballer, Luís Figo, the Taiwanese singer Chyi Chin, and the South Korean actor, Lee Joon-gi.

Meanwhile, No.32 Xiangshan Road houses a coffee shop called Easo Room.

The shop owner, Yuan Yuan told the Global Times that she started the business four years ago because of the road's "quiet and peaceful environment."

Coffees retail for between 30 and 40 yuan and every week the store hosts regular events such as film screenings, book exchanges and photography meetings (136-8199-3833).

Outisde, one old man, surnamed Sun, commented: "most of the older residents on Xiangshan Road are reluctant to move away, and these houses are very valuable now."

This 65-year-old has lived on Xiangshan Road for almost 60 years. He explained in recent years many real estate developers have tried to persuade Xiangshan Road residents to move out, because they would like to renovate the buildings for commercial use.

"Some people did move out, but most of us chose to stay," he added.