The 475-meter-long road in Shanghai is a hidden dragon and crouching tiger.

Sometimes I feel like I have to step on the time to go shopping in Shanghai, and I often do it when the sun comes out, probably because I love the comfort of the sunlight and the shadows.

I really like to walk under the sun, walking along the streets to taste the old Shanghai road, quiet streets, there are traces of the old house, pick up the piece of sycamore leaves, it is easy to get a great sense of fulfillment, let me flooded with sugar sugar content super high smile.

Things are always outside the expected, catching the sun when there is no sun, want to go out to sweep the streets, but in the cloudy day encounter sycamore leaves withered also have a lot of fun. The actual East Lake Road is not an exception. I came to this small road on a cloudy day.

Donghu Road is very short, only 475 meters in length, which is loaded with stories but extraordinary. Southeast - northwest direction, the northwest head is the petty Changle Road, the southeast head is connected to the prosperous Huaihai Middle Road, if you walk in Huaihai Middle Road, maybe accidentally will miss, miss this small road written with mysterious stories.

Donghu Road, built in 1902, was originally called Du Mai Road, named after Du Mai, the French governor in Vietnam, and was renamed Donghu Road in 1943. Donghu Road was once a famous high-class residential area in Shanghai, and the houses deep in the alley are all independent gates and courtyards, leaving the houses and the stories in the houses with a touch of mystery.

The Mysterious Grand Mansion

The most focused on the whole road is still the 7 Donghu Road, deep in the courtyard is the famous "Grand Mansion" in the Shanghai Bund, although it has been opened to the public, but it still does not reduce its mystery.

"Grand Mansion" is a French Renaissance-style garden house built in 1925. Built in 1921, it was designed by the French. The south side of this garden residence is a triangular Chinese-Western courtyard with light-white walls, giving it a calm and noble feeling. The rows of tiger windows on the brown roof have red frames.

The brown and cream chimneys standing on the roof are hidden in the green trees, which seems to me to have a bit of a fairy tale flavor, probably related to the large green lawn that can be seen at a glance. The south elevation of the building has a cascading columned open porch in the center, slightly out in front at both ends, and a second story porch with baroque, double pilasters and other decorations. The main entrance on the east elevation is a Tashkent columned portico.

The fa?ade is divided into three sections, localized clear water red brick walls with water-brushed stone as decoration at the window eaves and sills. The window lintels are decorated with a pattern of carved floral bands, the roof has baroque scrolls, and Ionic double columns stand side by side with the windows.

The garden house, which was a locked garden house until 2002 and was once mistakenly rumored to be Du Yuesheng's mansion, was in fact owned by Ray Joseph, a Jewish businessman, and was used as a private residence from its construction until 1949, when it was last owned by an Englishwoman named Hannah Joseph.

After the liberation, No. 7 Donghu Road was once the residence of the "Soviet Cultural Office in China". It was later returned to the city government, and many senior leaders stayed here.

No. 17 Donghu Road

The Youth Newspaper Office at No. 17 Donghu Road is a Western-style townhouse built in 1921. Eclectic style, red tile slope white walls. Daughter wall of the gable is made quite rich, the building as a whole is completely symmetrical, facing the garden of the south elevation is the main elevation, horizontal three sections, vertical three sections of the composition is clear, the central concave, the two ends of the elevation to make a continuous coupon column composition, and the use of simplified classical giant columns. The columns between the windows and the corner columns are both square and round, forming a clear symmetry. The other elevations are natural in form, with rich composition and roof variations, and they seem to be the houses of large families in the past.

This good-looking building is also a few changes of ownership, once in the Belgian Consulate, and later became the private residence of senior officials of the Kuomintang, after the liberation of the East China Transportation College and the Central Conservatory of Music in Shanghai, and later used as the Shanghai First Medical College of the internal medicine dormitory for girls.1964 spring, the former 43 Fumin Road, the Youth Newspaper Office to move into the present.

Lane 56, Donghu Road

This is not just an ordinary lane, it was once home to a number of prominent figures, hidden talents and crouching tigers. Shanghai's socialites, politicians, and prominent families have all lived here, such as the owner of the familiar brand Hengyuanxiang and his descendants.

The residence at No. 22, Lane 56, Donghu Road, was the former residence of the famous Peking Opera master Gai Baitian in the 1950s, where he practiced his art. Gai's skillful acting formed the unique art of Gai's school, which was famous in the north and the south, and he was known as "the first wushang in Jiangnan" and "live wusong", and he was one of the "Three Peking Opera Masters" together with Mei Lanfang and Zhou Xinfang. He, Mei Lanfang and Zhou Xinfang are listed as the "Three Masters of Peking Opera".

Located in the East Lake Road, Lane 56, No. 39, a white 4-story apartment building built in 1940, was once the Soviet experts live, is now the East Lake Hotel Building 3. Lane 50, the former owner of Zheng Guang He lived; Lane 16, the former owner of the cigarette factory lived.

Donghu Road, No. 70 is now the East Lake Hotel, was once the Du Yuesheng public house, which is said to be the mansion Du Yuesheng did not live for a day. East Lake Hotel used to be one of his residences, which also used to be a bank, Du Mei Road 26 is Du Yuesheng not long ago newly purchased a small house, beautiful, courtyard water and wood, elegant and chic, after buying because met the outbreak of war, he has not lived a day left Shanghai.

Shanghai has a lot of roads, many small roads are hidden in many old houses and loaded with great stories, each story may be a record of the last era and epitome, perhaps this is the charm of Shanghai.