The Art District had alluded me for years but I had a spare day and it was sunny so I got the metro up there and with the help of my trusty iPhone maps and the hindrance of my inbuilt sense of direction I ended up in a semi-industrial.
The empty buildings, construction workers huts and general dilapidation gave the area a miserable atmosphere but as I walked further down the street towards the fabled Art District proper, I was pleased to see street art.
What a pleasant surprise in this miserable place, all the bare walls were covered with graffiti and drawings which made the whole place considerably more palatable.
There’s not much graffiti in Shanghai but that which I have seen always seems to be in English. Does this mean that the graffiti artists are all English speakers or that it’s a lot cooler to use English than Chinese (the latter I think).
Whoever is doing it, I would like to thank them for making a very unattractive area a lot more pleasant. This graffiti sits well on Moganshan Lu, where you can find art galleries, artists’ studios and shops.