Shanghai Jiangwan Wujiaochang

Shanghai Jiangwan Wujiaochang

The Wujiaochang area was originally a wilderness east of Jiangwan Town in the northern suburbs of Shanghai. In the 1930s, to compete with the foreign concessions, the Shanghai Municipal Government developed a new district downstream along the Huangpu River, constructing many roads, including these five major thoroughfares built at that time. Before the War of Resistance, classical Chinese-style buildings such as the municipal government office, museum, library, and Jiangwan Stadium were constructed northeast of Wujiaochang, with plans to establish this area as the new city center of Shanghai. During the war, the Japanese continued development here, building structures like Hengchan Corporation (now the Nanjing Political College Branch). Later, the area primarily evolved into an educational and cultural district, with nearby institutions including Fudan University, Tongji University, the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai University of Sport, the Nanjing Political College Branch, and Changhai Hospital. After 1990, a number of shops gradually opened near the intersection of the five main roads.

The Wujiaochang Interchange Project is a key control node in the construction of the Shanghai Inner Ring Expressway. It is the only roundabout traffic system in the city, featuring an oval sunken plaza (roundabout) built in the middle of the five roadways intersecting “like a pentagon”—Handan Road, Xiangyin Road, Huangxing Road, Songhu Road, and Siping Road. The first level (the lowest level) of the Wujiaochang multi-level transport system is a vehicular underpass beneath the sunken plaza, connecting Huangxing Road to Songhu Road. It is 21 meters wide, reaches a maximum depth of 14 meters, and accommodates four lanes of two-way traffic. The second level is a 4-meter-deep, 100×80-meter oval sunken plaza that integrates landscape, greenery, leisure, and transportation, reflecting a harmonious spatial environment between humans and nature. The third level consists of ground-level roads adopting the roundabout format, 20 meters wide with four circular lanes. The fourth level is an elevated road that connects to the Handan Road underpass to the west and extends eastward to the Xiangyin Road expressway. It is 30.5 meters wide and accommodates eight lanes of two-way traffic. Pedestrian flow on the ground is directed through five pedestrian underpasses, using bi-directional escalators and staircases to access the sunken plaza, thereby eliminating pedestrian crossings on the surface roads.

The landscape decoration project of the Wujiaochang Roundabout Interchange and Sunken Plaza was overall designed and art-directed by young Chinese artist Zhong Song. The late master of visual arts, Chen Yifei, served as the artistic advisor. The Beijing Jingye Architectural Design Institute was responsible for the engineering design. The project was organized and implemented by the Yangpu District Wujiaochang Municipal Sub-Center Development and Construction Office (Shanghai Beidao Land Co., Ltd.), and constructed by Shanghai Greenland Construction Co., Ltd. The plaza is arranged from the inside out with a central map, central plaza, greenery, pools, water curtains, and a surrounding corridor. The entire structure uses fair-faced concrete as its base tone, presenting a simple, atmospheric, highly modern, and artistic feel. A circular water curtain with a 4-meter drop changes forms to the rhythm of music, as if “dancing.” Under the lighting, it appears bright and graceful, adding vitality and spirit to the plaza. The nearly 300-meter-long inverted musical water curtain, jetting from top to bottom, is the first of its kind in China and abroad. Its control system utilizes patented intelligent music fountain control technology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Transportation Routes

Address: Intersection of Handan Road, Xiangyin Road, Huangxing Road, Songhu Road, and Siping Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai

Transportation Guide: Buses 55, 59, 61, 90, 99, 102, 133, 139, 168, 307, 325, 329, 405, 538, 559, 713, 749, 812, 817, 819, 842, 850, 854, 910, 937, 942, 991, as well as Daqiao Line 3 and Daqiao Line 3, can all reach this destination.