Tianzifang

In front of you opens Tianzifang, a maze of lanes mixing shikumen houses, small former factories, artists' studios, shops and cafés. It is the perfect place to end the route, get a little lost and have a drink.

1From working-class district to artists' quarter

These lanes were built mostly in the 1930s; the main core, Zhicheng Fang, dates from 1933. For decades it was an ordinary neighbourhood of homes and workshops. The Zhaojiabang creek, which ran nearby, was covered over in the 1950s. In the late 1990s, the street market moved into a covered building, and artists such as the painter Chen Yifei rented workshops and houses because they were cheap.

2A name with a pun

In 2001 the area was given the name Tianzifang. It is a play on words: it sounds like Tian Zifang, a figure from Chinese antiquity regarded as one of the earliest known painters.

In the mid-2000s, the area was slated for demolition, but residents, shopkeepers and artists campaigned to preserve it, and it was saved.

Today there are more than two hundred small businesses. Look up: many houses are still lived in, with washing hung out above the tourists. To pay, almost everyone in China uses their phone; before you travel, check whether you can link your card to a local app.

3What to look for

• The stone doorways of the shikumen, sometimes with the date carved in.
• The residents who still live on the upper floors.
• The signs of the old factories.