Duolun Road - 多伦路
1.Shanghainese name – Dulen Lu.
2.It was known as Darroch Road when it was part of the American Concession, and took its name after Reverend John Darroch – a publisher of religious tracts.
3.So famous in history that it is known as “Duolun Historic Street” in many guidebooks.
4.It is located in Hongkou district and was laid in 1911.
5. It is just 550 metres long. Both ends of the L-shaped road join to North Sichuan Road near Lu Xun Park and Hongkou Stadium.
6. It was built by the Shanghai Municipal Council, the municipal authority of the Shanghai International Settlement. It was an "extra-settlement road", built outside the boundaries of the International Settlement, but over which the Settlement authorities had extraterritorial jurisdiction.
7.Duolun Road is representative of the historic architecture of the 20th century in Shanghai. A number of larger private residences were initially built by Chinese industrialists, and many were later purchased by political and military personalities.
8. The golden age of the road was in the 1920s and 30s, when it attracted writers and other prominent residents, giving it a reputation as a vibrant center of thought and literature.
In the early 20th century, many writers and celebrities lived in the area around Darroch Road. Among them were famous writers such as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Ye Shengtao, and Wang Zaoshi, as well as members of the influential League of Left-Wing Writers including Ding Ling, Sha Ding and Qu Qiubai.
9. In 1943, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the puppet government collaborating with the Japanese occupation changed the road name to "Duolun", after a county in Inner Mongolia.
10. Prominent private residences include the Islamic-style influenced former residence of H.H. Kung (the husband of Soong Ai Ling); No. 210, which was for a time the home of Bai Chongxi (and Pai Hsien-yung); and the French neoclassical former residence of Tang Enbo.
