Shanghai Municipal Gaol – Then and Now

The Shanghai Municipal Gaol, or Ward Road Goal (Ward Road is now Changyang Road), dates back to 1903. It’s still a prison of course – Tilanqiao Nick – and you can wander around it, on the outside at least, and see the decent modernist structure from the front (Kunming Road side) or the back (the Changyang Road side – and where you can see the long visitors queues of several days of the week). The basic structure of the gaol we see today was finished about 1935 – there’s been some modern adjustments to the western side of the prison but not that much else has changed. Inside is a juvenile block (not sure that’s still in use), a hospital, an administration block, workshops, a kitchen and laundry block, and an execution chamber (not sure they still do executions here either), all surrounded by a thick, five metre tall wall with guard-towers. Anyway there’s a longer history here.

So here’s the gaol in the 1930s – complete with Sikh guard (they don’t use Sikhs anymore needless to say!) and the words Shanghai Municipal Gaol etched on the stone work above the entrance. That’s been scrubbed off since as you can see from the pictures of the same spot today below. If anyone’s been inside I’d love to know what’s there and what’s not?