At the corner of East Yan’an Rd and Middle Xizang Rd stands Great World , a place for acrobats and nightlife stars that was opened in 1917 to rival the existing New World on Nanjing Rd. In the 1930s it was taken over by the gangster Pockmarked Huang and became a six-floor house of ill-repute before eventual rehabilitation under the communists during the Mao years. Renovations continue, but there’s no word as to when it will reopen or what the future function will be.
