Sitting on Kaixuan Road in Changning district, Hongqiao Road Station brings you to the western end of Huaihai Road, a major commercial street in downtown Shanghai, and is an interchange station between line 3, line 4 and line 10.

M-Town

M-Town

Walking along the bridge that connects line 3 and line 4 to line 10, commuters will spot the newly opened M-Town (676 to 686 Huaihai Road West, 6886-6066).

Opened in September last year, M-Town consists of six two-story buildings with a glass dome that caps the whole place. The Art Deco complex now hosts more than 20 shops, restaurants, cafés, hair salons and spa centers.

In addition to Starbucks and McCafé, where commuters can grab a quick bite, M-Town also offers several quality dining options.

The line might be long but no one complains about the wait for fresh oysters at Xiaohei Haoqing's flagship location on Dingxi Road. Now you can avoid the queues by going to its new branch in M-Town (No.6, 1582 Kaixuan Road, 5278-8920).

A half dozen grilled oysters start from 49 yuan ($8) and you can choose between a salted black bean or minced garlic topping. Open until 2 am, the place is famous for late night dining and the seafood congee is one of the eatery's most popular items for party-goers to tuck in to post-boozing.

For those looking for a quiet place to while away an afternoon, Chastory (Room 1-02, 676 Huaihai Road West, 3256-0812) offers an extensive selection of tea-based drinks. Various flavors of egg tarts, ice cream and other sweet treats are available.

The bookshelves inside the tea house display hundreds of books for customers to peruse, including fiction, nonfiction and illustration. The tea/reading room offers a cozy ambience for friends to catch up or business partners to meet up.

A creative market is regularly held at the lobby of M-Town on weekends, offering handmade crafts, homemade cakes and exquisite jewelries and accessories.

A map of Red Town

Red Town

Coming out of M-Town and walking east on Huaihai Road West for a couple of minutes, you will find Red Town (570 Huaihai Road West) on your left.

Built in 2005 on the former site of Shanghai No.10 Steel Factory, Red Town is regarded as a textbook example of an old industrial complex being converted into a modern creative zone.

Shanghai Sculpture Space (SSS) (www.sss570.com, 6280-7844 ext. 218 or 219), which sits at the entrance of Red Town, is the heart of this arty hub and is free to visit.

The sculpture space opens from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 5:30 pm and currently showcases more than 50 sculptures by Chinese and international artists.

Housed in a former steel factory, SSS boasts ultra spacious display rooms which allow large-scale artworks to be presented, such as a 5-meter-long standing steelyard.

Sculptures on the lawn in Red Town, including sculptures of leggings painted with various national flags. Photos: Zhu Jialei/GT

Adding to the relaxing environment are the art studios and bookshops open inside the space. You will likely see visitors reading books in the aisles or kids with paint brushes and palettes running across the hall.

Lei Art Studio (6280-1737) inside the sculpture complex offers weekend art classes for children in painting, drawing and the traditional Chinese art of jianzhi (paper cutting).

Visitors looking for fresh air and sunshine will appreciate the lawn in front of SSS, which displays large sculptures including a steel statue of Albert Einstein, an integration of an abacus and a computer and sculptures of leggings painted with various national flags.

Dedicated to nurturing contemporary Chinese art, Minsheng Art Museum (Bldg F, 570 Huaihai Road West, 6282-8729) holds regular exhibitions, screenings, events and lectures.

Sculptures on the lawn in Red Town, including an integration of an abacus and a computer

Acclaimed Chinese poet Xi Chuan will be at the museum this Saturday to share his experience and thoughts on Chinese poetry. Xi Chuan started to write poems in the 1980s and his works have been translated into English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Japanese.

The reading session starts from 7:30 pm and reservations are required.

Dining options in Red Town are not as plentiful as they are in M-Town, but there are some restaurants and cafés to fuel an afternoon of art appreciation. 

Las Tapas (Room C6, Bldg 59, 570 Huaihai Road West, 6415-9567) is one of the popular restaurant's four branches in the city, serving authentic Spanish cuisine.

Sculpting in Time Café (B111, 570 Huaihai Road West, 5258-8218) originated in a small Beijing hutong near the campuses of Peking and Tsinghua universities in 1997. After years of nurturing, and absorbing, the intellectual influences of those prestigious institutions, the café has now spread to several spots in Shanghai, including the branch in the creative cluster of Red Town.

Sculptures on the lawn in Red Town

In addition to shelves lined with books and designer notepads, the café is decorated with a retro toy theme. Characters from popular animated films are dotted around the place with Buzz Lightyear sitting on a bookshelf, while Doraemon and his friends greet customers with big smiles from a shelf of magazines.