A Bridge over the Soochow Creek – 1880s

Not exactly Sure where this bridge was – some where around where the Sichuan Road Bridge is today I think. I think this because of the water tower in the background which was on what is now Jiangxi Road (formerly Kiangse Road) where you can still see many older buildings originally erected by the Shanghai Water Department. Kiangse Road was also, of curse, Shanghai’s “Line”, a street of upper end bordellos and the madams of those bordellos (mostly American women) were known as the “Water Tower Women”. This picture is circa 1880 so you can see that the bridges are still largely wooden and the buildings lining the banks of Soochow Creek still comprador in style. Nice to see there’s a rickshaw waiting on the other side, around where now of course you can see the marvelous old General Post Office building.