Shanghai Cultural Square is located in the center of Shanghai. It is bordered by South Maoming Road in the east, South Shaanxi Road in the west, Middle Fuxing Road in the north, and South Yongjia Road in the south. It covers an area of 47,639.0 square meters and has a building area of 64,476.4 square meters.
The cultural square was built in 1952 and was rebuilt from the original Yiyuan dog racing track. It has always played an important role in the social and cultural life of Shanghai people and is one of the important mass political and cultural activity centers in Shanghai. Since its reopening after reconstruction in 2011, Shanghai Cultural Square has adhered to integrating modern performances, art exhibitions, and cultural experiences. With musical performances as the main line and various fashionable and classic arts as auxiliary lines, and with the vision of ‘cultural paradise, blooming dreams’, it has strived to incubate and build an artistic stage for the development of musicals, lead the cultural and leisure business format, and create a cultural ecological landmark known to the public. In the past eleven years, the cultural square has held more than 2,700 performances, attracting more than 3 million viewers. It has held nearly 2,300 public welfare activities of various kinds, with a cumulative participation of more than 400,000 people. It has successfully introduced classic plays such as ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, ‘Elisabeth’, ‘West Side Story’, ‘Mozart l’Opéra Rock’, and ‘Notre-Dame de Paris’. It has produced many Chinese versions of musicals such as ‘My Bucket List’, ‘Rachmaninoff’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, and ‘Fan Letter’. The original musical incubation plan, which was the first to be launched in the country, has incubated and presented many original musicals such as ‘The Last Emperor of Southern Tang’, ‘Life and Death Lot’, and ‘Sorry, I Forgot’. The touring footprints cover the whole country. While striving to practice the development goal of ‘building a landmark public cultural and art center in Shanghai’, as a professional platform for musicals, it continuously explores the role of industrial integrator and holds the ‘Performing Arts World – Shanghai International Musical Festival’ every year, gathering industry, academia, and research resources, supporting excellent original works, and enhancing the audience base of the musical industry. At present, the cultural square has a main theater. The auditorium has three floors with a total of 1,949 seats. The stage opening is 20 meters wide and 11.5 meters high. There is an orchestra pit below. It is equipped with various stage mechanical devices with functions such as lifting, pushing, pulling, and rotating. It is the first professional theater in China to position musicals as a genre. Opening hours: The theater is open according to the performance time. Service facilities: Parking lot: [Gate 7] Reference price: 15 yuan/hour; Address: 225 South Shaanxi Road; For audiences leaving with the day’s performance ticket (with a performance duration of 120 minutes or more), they can contact the staff to scan the day’s parking discount QR code and enjoy a 30-yuan discount on parking fees.
