april-2012

The Bund is most
breathtaking at
night; (below) the
opening scene of
the Naomi Watts-
Edward Norton
movie The Painted
Veil features
The Bund
On location at
The Bund
Though most of the Edward Norton
fi lm The Painted Veil was shot in the
same extraterrestrial landscape of
Guangxi Province featured in Star
Wars Episode II: Revenge of the Sith,
the opening scene of Painted Veil is of
Shanghai’s most distinguishing feature
during its golden era — The Bund. Built
by colonial powers after the Opium
Wars of 1842, this row of graceful old
buildings alongside the busy Huangpu
River is featured in countless fi lms,
including Steven Spielberg’s Empire
of the Sun, the fi rst American movie
allowed to be shot in Shanghai since
1940. The Bund is a perfect spot for
daytime walking tours. Check out
Number 20 on the Bund — site of the
former Cathay Hotel (now the Fairmont
Peace Hotel) and The Palace Hotel
(now the Swatch Art Peace Hotel), the
most luxurious hotels of their day —
which was featured in John Cusack’s
Shanghai. But the most luxurious
hotel on The Bund today is the newly
built Peninsula, located at Number
32. The scene of Hugh Jackman
singing in Snow Flower and the Secret
Fan was shot in the hotel lobby, and
the fi nal scene with Giana and Li
Bingbing dressed in traditional clothing,
overlooking the Pudong skyline, was
shot from the hotel terrace.
M OVIE MAGIC IN CHINA
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