Can I walk into Shanghai's lane-house neighbourhoods, and how do I not be a nuisance?

A lilong is a gated compound of terraced houses, with a main lane and smaller side lanes. Jing'an Villa and Bugao Li are fully residential and may have card-access gates or a doorman. Tianzifang mixes shops and homes; Zhangyuan and Xintiandi have been emptied and rebuilt as open retail areas. This atlas identifies each type and says when we could not find official access rules. In those cases, walk the main lane only if the gate is open and nobody stops you. Respect gates, signs and guards.

The behaviour that residents complain about, in order: photographing laundry and people; stepping into courtyards and doorways to 'see inside'; blocking the lane mouth with a tripod or a group; ringing bells and knocking on plaque houses; and noise after nine at night. None of it is illegal; all of it gets gates closed. Jing'an's district government cleared Jing'an Villa's lane shops in 2013 after residents' complaints — the shops left, the residents stayed, and the gates went in. Wukang Building's residents adopted their own covenant in 2023: outsiders entering the building must register and photography must respect privacy, and it is posted at the door.

What is fine: walking the main lane at a normal pace, looking, taking a photo of the architecture without people or washing in it, buying something from a shop that opens onto the lane. Mornings and late afternoons are lived-in and interesting; lunchtime and after dark are private.

Plaque houses ('former residence of…') along Wukang Road, Sinan Road and Anfu Road are mostly private homes or offices. The plaque is the visit. The ones you can enter are listed as museums in this atlas with their hours; the rest have a gate and a bell that is not for you.