Old Shanghai slaughterhouse

Pavel Dvorak (@dvorakpaveljr)
Just my photojournal
3 min readMay 2, 2018

1933 Old Millfun was originally designed as a slaughterhouse, but it almost never served its original purpose. Medicine and drugs were produced in this futuristic bulding, later it served as warehouses. Today, it is the center of creative companies that have their businesses here. It is also a recreational area full of cafés and restaurants. And at the same time, it is one of the most popular places forShanghai instagramers.

The building was designed by English architects and built by Chinese investors. At first glance you can recognize it as one of the most original buildings of its time in Shanghai. And I dare to say it is still today. Coarse concrete walls functioned as thermal isolation, the stack of stairs and bridges served as a security element for the transport of animals for execution. Despite its purpose, the building is very decorative. Practical architectonic feature is for example placement of windows facing west towards the Buddhist sacred ground to facilitate reincarnation for the animals. It was also in the Shanghai wind direction, which created a natural draft and carried odorous smell out of the building.

If you have are visitingShanghai and all the major sights you have already seen, this place definitely belongs to the list for “off the beaten paths”places in Shanghai. It is close to the M50 center of modern art, and so these two inspiring places can be combined into one visit. The surroundings of the slaughterhouse itself are very interesting and these photos can be taken from the roof.

Address: 10 Shajing Lu Haining Lu Hongkou District — 虹口 区 沙 泾 路 10 号, 近 海宁 路

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