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.

Wandering around the vicinity of Jiangsu Road Station on metro Line 11 in Changning district, it can feel as if one is playing hide-and-seek with the people and stories behind the old buildings on Jiangsu Road and Yuyuan Road. Every few steps, you'll come across another place that has a rich story behind it.

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Jiangsu Road

Formerly named Yidingpan Road before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Jiangsu Road is a main north-south street in the east of Changning district.

Built in 1936, An Ding Terrace (284 Jiangsu Road) consists of a continuous row of 18 two-story garden houses.

As the name suggests (an ding means peaceful and calm), the whole lane gives off a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere, especially around sunset.

Elderly residents can often be found chatting contentedly at the entrances to the lane, giving an atmosphere that's a sharp contrast to the noise and bustle of nearby streets.

The houses have gabled roofs and central chimneys. Exterior walls are inlaid with pebbles. The heavy green leaves of palm, pomegranate and camphor trees spill over the walls of inner courtyards and circle around doors and windows.

Building 5 is the former residence of Fu Lei (1908-66), famous translator and art critic. He lived in the building from 1949 until the year of his death.

Fu committed himself to translating French literature from 1933 onward. Among the over 30 works that he translated are pieces by Voltaire, Balzac and Rolland.

While at this residence, Fu also wrote letters to his son, the world-renowned pianist Fu Cong, who was studying in Paris at the time.

The letters, written from 1954 to 1966, were published in a book that became a bestseller in China.

Shanghai No.3 Girls' High School (155 Jiangsu Road) is the only public high school for girls in Shanghai. The address has been at the center of female education in the city since 1881, when St. Mary's Hall was established here by the American Episcopal Church under its first principal Huang Sue.

McTyeire High School was founded alongside St. Mary's Hall in 1892 by John Allen, an American Methodist missionary in Shanghai who is better known in China as Lin Lezhi, and Laura Haygood (Hai Shude), its first principal.

Shanghai Municipal Education Commission took over the two schools in 1952 and merged them to form Shanghai No.3 Girls' High School. In 1935, Hungarian-born architect Ladislau Hudec was commissioned to build a theater for McTyeire High School.

This Gothic style building, which was originally known as Richardson Hall, is now the main teaching building of the school.It faces a beautiful greenbelt, while the stained glass window in the lobby is still intact, harking back to its glorious past.

Shanghai No.3 Girls' High School has produced generations of successful women, hence its reputation as "the cradle of talented women."

Alumni have included the Soong Sisters - Soong Ching Ling (wife of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China, 1912-49), Soong Mei-ling (wife of Chiang Kai-shek) and Soong Ai-ling.

An Ding Terrace on Jiangsu Road Photos: Hu Bei/GT and CFP

Yuyuan Road

Known locally as the "gardens and lanes museum of Shanghai," Yuyuan Road is lined with heavy plane trees, and is tranquil in comparison with many of the busy streets in the city.

On the west side of Yuyuan Road stands a stunning Gothic mansion hidden from passers-by behind a tree-lined wall.

This four-story concrete framework house with its south-facing garden is now the Children's Palace of Changning District (No.31, Lane 1136 Yuyuan Road, 6252-4154).

It was originally built in 1930 by Wang Boqun (1885-1944), a powerful Kuomintang official, for his second wife as a romantic retreat. Now, the palace holds after-school classes in calligraphy, painting, music, dancing and other skills for local and foreign children.

Inside the building, the black antique ceiling fans still function, while the preserved fireplaces, exquisite wooden décor on the ceilings and the blue-and-white tiles are a reminder of the building's original purpose. The building is open Tuesday to Friday from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm, and Saturday to Sunday from 9 am to 4:30 pm.

Built from 1925 to 1931, Qishan Village (1032 Yuyuan Road) has rows of brick-and-wood garden houses. Many well-known people have lived here, including scientist Qian Xueseng (1911-2009) and writer and translator Shi Zhecun (1905-2003).