History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
The "Greater Shanghai Plan" was the first large-scale urban planning in modern Shanghai, originally from Dr. Sun Yat-sen's 1919 hand-written "Founding Strategy".
Greater Shanghai Plan Map
In March 1927, the National Revolutionary Army entered Shanghai and established the Shanghai Special Municipal Government. In order to gain a firm foothold in Shanghai and break the monopoly of the urban center between the Shanghai Public Concession and the Shanghai French Concession, the Nationalist government set up a special design committee in November of the same year to concentrate a group of experts to discuss the urban construction of Shanghai.
Aerial view of shanghai municipality. The buildings shown were completed in March 1937
In July 1929, after discussion and voting by the municipal council, the area around The flat Jiangwan, which is adjacent to the New Commercial Port in the north, the concession in the south, and the Huangpu River in the east, was designated as the downtown area of Shanghai. In June 1931, the municipal building officially began construction.
Shanghai Municipal Government Building (now the Administrative Office Building of Shanghai University of Sport)
Interior design with a combination of East and West
Carved beams painted in the Chinese style
Ceiling of the auditorium of the Municipal House
Statue of Sun Yat-sen in The Municipal Square
On October 10, 1935, the Municipal Stadium, which can accommodate 60,000 people, was completed, and more than 2,700 athletes from 38 provinces and cities, including Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia, participated in the Sixth National Games, with a million spectators.
Aerial view of Shanghai Stadium (design renderings)
After the completion of the Shanghai Municipal Stadium Gate (now Jiangwan Stadium)
Shanghai Sports Ground East Commandery
Shanghai Stadium West Stand
Shanghai Sports Ground West Commandery
Shanghai Municipal Gymnasium
Basketball court and stands inside the Shanghai Municipal Gymnasium
Shanghai swimming pool
Inside the Shanghai swimming pool
By the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, five major public buildings had been built in the downtown area: the municipal building and the office buildings of various bureaus, the municipal hospital and the municipal health laboratory, the municipal stadium, the gymnasium and swimming pool, the municipal library and the municipal museum, with a total construction area of more than 60,000 square meters.
Panoramic view of Shanghai Municipal Hospital and Health Laboratory
Shanghai Municipal Hospital after completion
Aerial view of Shanghai Municipal Library (design renderings)
Shanghai Municipal Library after completion (now the new Library of Yangpu District)
Aerial view of Shanghai Municipal Museum (design renderings)
After the completion of the Shanghai Museum (now the image building of Changhai Hospital)
Inside the Shanghai Civic Center Museum
On August 13, 1937, the Songhu Anti-Japanese War broke out, and the Japanese army attacked Shanghai on a large scale. On the same day, the Shanghai Municipal Government office was moved from the downtown area of Wujiaochang to the original municipal government office of Fenglin Bridge, Xujiahui. Naturally, the Japanese army was deeply disgusted by China's plan to seek autonomy, and indiscriminately bombarded some of the buildings that had been built in Pentagon Field to vent their anger.
The city hall building, which was damaged by Japanese artillery fire, was in ruins
After being bombed by the Japanese, the Shanghai Museum was in tatters