In this three-hour walking tour you will see many firsts of China: the first library, the first Catholic Church, the first educational institution, the first weather station, and the first Sino-foreign cultural exchanges.

Xujiahui means "Xu family junction" - more precisely, "property of Xu family at the junction of three rivers." The "Xu family" refers to the family of Xu Guangqi, China's most notable Catholic convert. He was the first Chinese baptized by famed Italian Jesuit, Matteo Ricci.

The first stop of the tour will be the Bibliotheca Zikawei, now a branch of Shanghai Library. Then to the St. Ignatius Cathedral, Siccawei Observatory, Guangqi Park and the Memorial. You will learn about Sino-foreign exchanges from the Ming Dynasty. The final tour destination is the  Tou-Se-We Museum. It used to be the Tou-Se-We Orphanage operated by the church, whose workshops supplied much of the religious art on Xujiahui's religious buildings.

DATE: