A storyteller from nature

French planes like this one on Xinhua Road are just as symbolic of Shanghai life as the city's vibrant nightlife scene.[Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

The appearance of small buds on the branches and the infusion of color to the freckled trunks of Shanghai's ubiquitous plane trees are just some of the subtle ways Mother Nature announces the arrival of spring.

The Shanghainese people call these trees "French planes" because it was the French who introduced the species to the city. Historians say that it was the immigrants from France at the beginning of the 20th century who had planted these trees all over the former French Concession in an attempt to fight homesickness.

The locals have since been so enamored with French planes that apart from Shanghai's famous nightlife scenes, the city is today also known for its beautiful boulevards filled with these trees. Some say that it was also the charm afforded by these French planes that led Shanghai to being dubbed as "the Paris of the East".

The age of the trees on a street are usually indicative of the number of tales present in the area. Xinhua Road, where trees are more than half a century old, is one of the most storied places in Shanghai. The road was actually crowned as one of the city's most beautiful boulevards by the municipal government two years ago.

Although the two-lane street, which stretches roughly 2 kilometers in the city's Changning district, is just a three-minute drive away from the bustling Xujiahui commercial area, the serenity in this area always reminds locals of what the city was like 20 years ago before a major population explosion.

The area is still home to several two- and three-storey Western-style buildings that have now been covered with creepers, and these structures provide an enchanting juxtaposition to the local-style residential buildings, some of which were built almost a century ago.