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Explore the region
About M50 Arts Community
The art district reuses an ensemble of industrial buildings from different decades of the twentieth century.
Galleries and studios occupy the former working spaces. The useful contrast is between the changing contemporary art inside and the industrial scale, brickwork and passages outside. Opening arrangements vary by individual gallery, so treat the complex as several separate visits rather than one museum.
The site began in 1937 as the Xinhe Cotton Mill (信和纱厂), founded at the Chadaijiao (叉袋角) bend by Zhou Zhijun (周志俊), who transferred machinery from a Qingdao cotton mill to Moganshan Road. It was briefly taken over by Japanese forces after the outbreak of the Pacific War, and after the founding of the People's Republic became a public-private enterprise, renamed Shanghai No. 12 Woolen Textile Factory and later Shanghai Chunming Coarse Spinning Factory. Production stopped in 1999 amid industry restructuring, and in 2001 the artist Xue Song (薛松) opened the first studio there.
M50 was formally established as a creative park in 2002, when galleries including ShanghArt (香格纳画廊) and East Link Art (东廊艺术) and artists such as Ding Yi (丁乙) and Zhang Enli (张恩利) moved into the former factory buildings. The park covers about 41 mu (亩) and retains more than fifty industrial buildings from the 1930s to the 1990s, said to be the most complete surviving cluster of national industrial architecture along Suzhou Creek. In 2019 its surrounding walls were removed, opening M50 into a street block linked to the creek, and it now houses more than 150 art and design organizations from over 30 countries and regions.
What to look for
- Industrial buildings from the 1930s to the 1990s preserve the site’s manufacturing history.
- Contemporary studios and galleries show the reuse of former industrial space.
Location & getting there
Getting to M50 Arts Community
Approach 50 Moganshan Road on the southern bank of Suzhou Creek.
- Confirm the selected entrance and current internal access before departure.
Combine your visit
A suggested sequence through the source-confirmed features.
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Industrial lanes and building exteriors
Industrial buildings from the 1930s to the 1990s preserve the site’s manufacturing history.
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Individual galleries and studios
Contemporary studios and galleries show the reuse of former industrial space.
The sequence is editorial. Check local access and connections between sectors; no walking time or same-ticket access is promised.
Find M50 Arts Community
M50创意园 · 普陀区
The pin marks the area, not the entrance.
More places nearby
Approximate straight-line distances between map pins, not travel distances.
1000 Trees 天安千树
Less than 1 km away1000 Trees is a terraced commercial complex beside Suzhou Creek in Putuo. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, it draws on mountain forms and the idea of hanging gardens.
View guide →Jade Buddha Temple 玉佛禅寺
Less than 1 km awayThe Jade Buddha Temple takes its name from jade Buddha figures brought to Shanghai from Myanmar in the nineteenth century. The original group includes a seated figure and a smaller reclining Buddha.
View guide →Shanghai Natural History Museum 上海自然博物馆
2 km awayShanghai Natural History Museum occupies a purpose-built home in Jing’an Sculpture Park. It moved here in 2015 from the former Cotton Exchange building, so old directions to East Yan’an Road refer to a different site.
View guide →Sources & visit information
The sources below support the place-specific description and arrival information. Suggested combinations are editorial planning ideas; confirm current opening, entry arrangements and transport services for your date.
Visitor information adapted and edited from Wikipedia contributors, “M50创意园” · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 93589630.
Background paragraphs translated and condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "M50创意园", Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 93589630.