Buildings along the Suzhou Creek, also known as the mother river of Shanghai, can always remind people of the passage of time. Today’s Suzhou Creek has become the venue of the first Head of the Shanghai River Regatta which will be held this weekend, and along the route, there are several city landmarks. 

Starting from the Puji Road pedestrian bridge, the route goes across 14 bridges along the Suzhou Creek, and ends at the Waibaidu Bridge, and landmark buildings like Jinyuan Memorial Plaza, Shanghai General Post Office Building and Broadway Mansions.
Located in the Sihang Warehouse War Memorial Site, the Jinyuan Memorial Plaza is on Jinyuan Road in Jing’an District. During the late period of the Battle of Songhu in 1937, Sihang Warehouse became the last stand for Chinese forces as the Japanese fought to take over the city. The road is named after General Xie Jinyuan, who led an iconic battle there. Xie led around 450 men in a week-long defense of the warehouse and purposefully spread the word that 800 men were stationed in order to scare the Japanese. Since the release of the Chinese film “The Eight Hundred”, the Memorial Museum and the nearby Xizang Road Bridge have become a tourist attraction.

Going eastwards, you can see the Shanghai General Post Office Building, north of the North Sichuan Road Bridge. With a majestic look, it follows the British classical architectural style and has a luxurious and solemn interior. The hall on the second floor, in the last century, was famous as the No. 1 Hall in the Far East. In 1924, British architect R.E Stewardson designed the building that was to be the headquarters of the Shanghai Post Office. It is now home to the Shanghai Post Museum, Shanghai Post Office and Sichuan Road Bridge Post Office.  

Nearby the finishing line is situated the Broadway Mansions, which is now a five-star hotel with 22 floors. Built in 1934 on the former site of an electric tramcar company, it is a grand Art Deco style structure. It is said that in the past, cars could drive to the roof which could hold as many as 100 cars.  

The urban landscape culture has been integrated into the design of the route. As the finishing point of the Shanghai River Regatta, the Waibaidu Bridge (also known as the Garden Bridge) offers the athletes a great view of how the tallest three buildings (Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, and Shanghai Jinmao Tower) in Lujiazui fit with the bridge.