2025Longtang Exploration in Shanghai|trip.com

To experience Shanghai's most authentic local life, wander through its labyrinthine longtang alleys—these maze-like lanes preserve the city's truest character. Between weathered brick walls, laundry sways in the breeze alongside climbing vines, composing living tableaus of daily rhythm. Beneath aged lintels, the soft Wu dialect of chatting neighbors mingles with children's laughter, creating the distinctive symphony of longtang life. The Shikumen architecture exemplifies East-meets-West ingenuity, where ornate cast-iron balconies harmonize with rustic blue-gray tiles. Around corners, the aroma of artisan coffee drifts from trendy cafés neighboring old-fashioned tobacco shops—a poetic contrast telling Shanghai's story of past and present. In shadowy arcades, master craftsmen uphold ancestral trades, while the sizzle of authentic Benbang cuisine echoes from communal kitchens where flavors simmer in well-seasoned woks. Here, time-worn stone steps bear the polish of generations, and faded doorplates whisper tales of change. The longtang is an open, three-dimensional scrapbook—one that lets every visitor touch the living texture and human warmth of Shanghai.