Shanghai Great World Carnie

Aside from some outstanding skyscrapers, Shanghai Great World Carnie is a building that must appear in a visitor's eyesight at some point with probably no much of your attention. Although it's critically located at the intersection of two arteries of the city, South Xizang Road and Yan'an Road Elevated Highway, the building looks inactive at present as it hasn't been in operation for a few years. 

This building, built in 1917,  was originally owned by Huang Chujiu, the boss of a famous pharmaceutical company. As an entertainment site, the business in the beginning was sluggish. Not until 1931 when Huang Jinrong, one of the bigwigs of gangsters in Shanghai, bought it and renamed it "The Rong's Big World", the business soared and it soon became the entertainment center for celebrities and common people in Shanghai.

After the liberation of Shanghai, the PRC government took it over in 1954. During 1955 to 1958, it was named "The People's Carnie" and then it shut down. In the end of 1970s it was reopened as "The Youth Palace". In 1987, its original name was retrieved and open to public. Since 2008, the Great World Carnie has undergone renovation and its re-opening time remains undefined.