The Bund

Site in Shanghai, China.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
Breakneck	Dan Wang	backdrop	The text describes the colonial-era bank houses, insurers and clubs around a bend of the Huangpu, now topped with Chinese flags, facing the Pudong skyscrapers.

Breakneck — Dan Wang (2025)

Source: Readwise highlight

Neoclassical buildings made of elegant stone on the west bank of the Huangpu face off against Shanghai’s iconic skyscrapers on the other bank, which are once again Asia’s tallest buildings, only now encased in glass.

• Role: backdrop
• In the book: The text describes the colonial-era bank houses, insurers and clubs around a bend of the Huangpu, now topped with Chinese flags, facing the Pudong skyscrapers. Later the Huangpu divides the lockdown into eastern and western halves, with bridges and tunnels blocked.
• Why it matters: Gives the colonial-versus-modern frame of Shanghai and the river line used to stage the lockdown; the Bund is not named, so this is inferred from the description.