China, Shanghai, Nanjing Road, tai chi, exercises, people before opening the shops. Evening tai chi group exercising on Nanjing Dong Lu, Shanghai. Nanjing Road (Chinese: ???; pinyin: Nánj?ng Lù) is the main shopping street of Shanghai, China, and is one of the world's busiest shopping streets. It is named after the city of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province neighbouring Shanghai. Today's Nanjing Road comprises two sections, Nanjing Road East and Nanjing Road West. In some contexts, "Nanjing Road" refers only to what was pre-1945 Nanjing Road, today's Nanjing Road East, which is largely pedestrianised. Before the adoption of the pinyin romanisation in the 1950s, its name was rendered as Nanking Road in English. The history of Nanjing Road can be traced back to the year 1845. At that time it was called “Park Lane”, which stretched from the Bund to He’nan Road. In 1854, it was extended to Zhejiang Road, and eight years later, once more extended to Xizang Road. In 1862, it was named formally “Nanking Road” by the Municipal Council, which administered the International Settlement. In Chinese it was usually referred to as the Main Road (???). Around 1930 it was a bustling street with at least one reported casino (probably at nr. 181).[citation needed] In 1943 the International Settlement was annulled, and after World War Two the government changed its name from Nanking Road to "East Nanjing Road", meanwhile they also renamed the former Bubbling Well Road "West Nanjing Road", and the general name of the two roads became "Nanjing Road", comprising five kilometres total length.