Qingpu District 青浦区

Setting and landscape

Qingpu sits in the lower reaches of Lake Tai (太湖) and on the upper reaches of the Huangpu River (黄浦江). The land is flat: rivers criss-cross the east, while the west is a cluster of lakes and ponds. Water covers 112.46 of the district's 668.54 square kilometres. Dianshan Lake, in the north-west, is shared with Kunshan; of its roughly 62 square kilometres, 47.5 lie inside Qingpu.

History

People lived here about 6,000 years ago. Excavations at the Songze site (崧泽遗址) found rice grains, livestock bones and burials, and in April 2004 a skull of a man aged 25 to 30 from a Majiabang-culture (马家浜文化) grave there was nicknamed "the first Shanghainese". The Songze site, the Fuquanshan site (福泉山遗址) and the Qinglong town site (青龙镇遗址) are all national key protected sites.

Qingpu County was created in 1542 with its seat at Qinglong town (青龙镇); the name joins Qinglong with the five creeks, or pu (浦), that flowed into the Wusong River (吴淞江) in the east of the county. Pirate raids wrecked the seat and the county was abolished in 1553, then restored in 1572. In 1573 the magistrate moved the seat to Tanghang (唐行镇), today's Yingpu Subdistrict (盈浦街道), and a city wall followed in 1576. Qingpu passed from Jiangsu to Shanghai in 1958 and became a district in 1999.

What to see

Qingpu Museum (青浦博物馆) displays finds from the Songze and Fuquanshan sites; its new building, completed in 2004, is shaped like a butterfly in the outline of the district. The Songze Site Museum (崧泽遗址博物馆) presents the "first Shanghainese" alongside what it calls Shanghai's first village, house, well and rice.

Zhujiajiao (朱家角) is an old Jiangnan water town, and the China Tourism Academy placed it on a list of ten historic towns favoured by inbound visitors, the only Shanghai town on that list. The district government describes its Fangsheng Bridge (放生桥) as the largest and longest five-arch stone bridge in Shanghai. Kezhi Garden (课植园) is the town's largest estate garden and occasionally hosts garden performances of the Kunqu opera The Peony Pavilion (牡丹亭); the Qing post office (朱家角大清邮局) dates from the Guangxu reign. By Dianshan Lake, the Grand View Garden (大观园) and the Oriental Land (东方绿舟) park are recent additions.

Highlights

• Fangsheng Bridge 放生桥: Five-arch stone bridge in Zhujiajiao, called the largest and longest in Shanghai by the district government.
• Songze Site Museum 崧泽遗址博物馆: Shows finds from the Neolithic Songze site, including the skull called "the first Shanghainese".
• Qingpu Museum 青浦博物馆: Butterfly-shaped building of 2004 displaying finds from the Songze and Fuquanshan sites.
• Kezhi Garden 课植园: Largest estate garden in Zhujiajiao, used as a stage for garden Kunqu performances.