Get to know Jiading District
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- Administrative area
- District · 市辖区
- Part of
- Shanghai
- Chinese name
- 嘉定区
- Local areas
- District guide
Area & population
- Area in the source
- 463.55 km²
- Population · 2020 Census
- 1,834,258
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
Setting and landscape
The land is flat, a little higher in the north-east and lower in the south-west, and laced with more than 1,800 kilometres of waterways. The Yunzao Creek (蕰藻浜), Lianqi River (练祁河) and Loutang River (娄塘河) cross it from west to east and carry on through Baoshan (宝山) to the Yangtze and the Huangpu, while the Yantie Creek (盐铁塘), Hengli (横沥) and Xincha Creek (新槎浦) run north to south. The local Wu dialect is closer to that of Suzhou, Songjiang (松江) and Taicang.
History
Jiading was cut out of Kunshan County under Emperor Ningzong of the Song and named after his Jiading reign period; the new county office, county school and rammed-earth walls went up in 1218 and 1219 at the Lianqi market town, today's Jiading town subdistrict. In 1645 the Qing head-shaving order met armed resistance here. Troops under Li Chengdong (李成栋), a defector to the Qing, took the walled town and massacred its people, and two more massacres followed within weeks: the Three Massacres of Jiading (嘉定三屠).
The county passed from Jiangsu to Shanghai in 1958 and became a district in 1992. In the 1980s it gained the Shanghai–Jiading Expressway (沪嘉高速公路), begun in 1984 and opened in 1988 as the first expressway on the mainland, and a Volkswagen joint-venture plant at Anting (安亭) that began producing Santana cars in 1985.
What to see
The Jiading Confucian Temple (嘉定孔庙) was raised in 2013 to become the district's only national key cultural relics site. Shanghai-listed sites include the brick pagodas of Nanxiang Temple (南翔寺) from the Five Dynasties, the Ming gardens Qiuxia Garden (秋霞圃) and Guyi Garden (古猗园), the Ming Fahua Pagoda (法华塔) and the remains of the town wall. The pool at Huilongtan (汇龙潭) was dug in 1588 by the magistrate Xiong Mi (熊密) between the county school and the man-made Yingkui Hill (应奎山); a 1935 memorial there honours Huang Chunyao (黄淳耀) and Hou Tongzeng (侯峒曾), who led the 1645 resistance.
Food and local products
Nanxiang xiaolong buns (南翔小笼) come from Nanxiang town (南翔镇), and the district government describes them as thin-skinned, generously filled and full of savoury juice. Their making is on the national intangible heritage list, along with Jiading bamboo carving (嘉定竹刻) and Xuhang straw weaving (徐行草编). Shanghai's own list adds Jiangqiao mutton processing (江桥羊肉加工技艺), Malu (马陆) bamboo weaving and the brewing of Jiading's tulip wine (郁金香酒).
Highlights
- Jiading Confucian Temple 嘉定孔庙: Raised to a national key cultural relics site in 2013, the only one in the district.
- Guyi Garden 古猗园: Ming garden on the Shanghai list of protected sites; Jiading's first new-style school opened here in 1896.
- Qiuxia Garden 秋霞圃: Ming garden on the Shanghai list of protected sites.
- Huilongtan 汇龙潭: Pool dug in 1588 beside the county school; now a park with the 1935 memorial to the leaders of the 1645 resistance.
- Nanxiang xiaolong buns 南翔小笼: Soup-filled buns from Nanxiang town whose making is on the national intangible heritage list.
Sources for this guide
地理交通_走近嘉定_区情频道_上海市嘉定区人民政府 · Jiading District People's Government, Shanghai
嘉定区 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
南翔小笼_旅游资源_走近嘉定_区情频道_上海市嘉定区人民政府 · Jiading District People's Government, Shanghai
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-25.
Explore Jiading District
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Places to explore around Jiading District
Guyi Garden · 古猗园. Photo: 2015-02-23.Guyi Garden古猗园
Guyi Garden in Nanxiang combines a classical Jiangnan garden with a larger public-park setting. Its layout uses bamboo, ponds, pavilions and winding bridges to create a succession of enclosed scenes.
Read the place guide →
Dacheng Hall at Jiading Confucian Temple · 嘉定孔庙 Photograph date recorded by the source: 2022-07-03.Jiading Confucian Temple嘉定孔庙
Jiading Confucian Temple began in the Southern Song period and was rebuilt and enlarged under later dynasties. Its surviving layout includes the Lingxing Gate, Pan Pond, Dacheng Gate and Dacheng Hall.
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Shanghai Auto Museum building, Jiading · 嘉定上海汽车博物馆 Photograph date recorded by the source: 6 May 2012.Shanghai Auto Museum上海汽车博物馆
Shanghai Auto Museum stands in the Auto Expo Park at Anting, within Shanghai International Automobile City. The museum links vehicle design with the history of automotive technology.
Read the place guide →
Anting Old Street · 安亭老街Anting Old Street安亭老街
Anting Old Street follows a road–bridge–street pattern centred on Ming-period Yansi Bridge. The Anting River and Yong’an Pagoda create a clear sequence through this historic part of Jiading.
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Mahavira Hall at Yunxiang Temple, Shanghai · 上海云翔寺大雄宝殿 Photograph date recorded by the source: 9 July 2022.Yunxiang Temple云翔寺
Yunxiang Temple is a Buddhist precinct in Nanxiang with a long religious history and a substantially reconstructed present complex. Repeated destruction and rebuilding make it important to distinguish the continuing institution…
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Tanyuan garden pond and pavilion, Nanxiang · 南翔檀园池塘与亭榭 Photograph date recorded by the source: 8 February 2014, 14:11:24.Tanyuan檀园
Tanyuan is a reconstructed garden associated with the Ming scholar and artist Li Liufang. The present garden was rebuilt in 2011 after the earlier property had long been lost.
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Bainiao Chaofeng stage in Huilongtan Park, Jiading · 嘉定汇龙潭公园百鸟朝凤台 Photograph date recorded by the source: 3 July 2022.Huilongtan Park汇龙潭公园
Huilongtan Park is a historic pond-and-garden setting beside Jiading’s Confucius Temple. The pool’s history reaches back to the late Ming period, while the public park has been rebuilt and reshaped over later centuries.
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Qiuxia Garden seen from above, Jiading · 嘉定秋霞圃俯瞰 Photograph date recorded by the source: 16 November 2013.Qiuxia Garden秋霞圃
Qiuxia Garden in Jiading brings together the remains of several private gardens and a City God temple precinct. Its origins lie in the Ming-period garden tradition.
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The canal lined with traditional houses and red lanterns at Zhouqiao Old Street, Jiading · 上海市嘉定区嘉定州桥老街河道及沿岸民居 Source-recorded photograph date: 2022-07-03.Jiading Zhouqiao Old Street嘉定州桥老街
Jiading Zhouqiao Old Street (嘉定州桥老街) is a historic quarter in Shanghai's Jiading District.
Read the place guide →Plan your visit
Getting there
Jiading District is about 25 km in a straight line from central Shanghai. Search for 嘉定区 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →Build your route
Guyi Garden and Jiading Confucian Temple are about 10 km apart in a straight line. The linked place guides have entrance and visit details.
Continue with Shanghai →More in Shanghai
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 嘉定区 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Guyi Garden · Fayhoo · CC BY-SA 3.0. Converted to WebP and resized without changing the subject or cropping the source frame.
Photo: Jiading Confucian Temple · 钉钉 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Shanghai Auto Museum · Photolar10 · Photolar10 — Shanghai_Automobile_Museum.jpg — CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Anting Old Street · Source photographer · License not provided. EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Photo: Yunxiang Temple · 钉钉 · 钉钉 — 云翔寺大雄宝殿.jpg — CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Tanyuan · Brookqi · Brookqi — NanXiangTanYuan.jpg — CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0. The exact downloaded source bytes are separately retained and hashed. Prepared JPEG is proportionally reduced to a maximum 720-pixel long edge; full frame retained, no subject alteration. Final website rendition: full frame retained, proportionally resized to at most 720 pixels and converted to WebP. No additional retouching or subject alteration. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Huilongtan Park · 钉钉 · 钉钉 — 汇龙潭公园百鸟朝凤台.jpg — CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Qiuxia Garden · Fayhoo · Fayhoo — Qiuxiapu.jpg — CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Jiading Zhouqiao Old Street · 钉钉 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
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