Originally established in 1897, the Bank of China relocated its headquarters from Beijing to Shanghai in the 1920s. Although the bank has occupied this address since 1923, the present building was only begun in 1935 and was originally designed to be the tallest building in the city at 33 storeys high. The Sino-Japanese War interrupted construction and it finally opened in 1942, its front door guarded by a magnificent pair of art-deco lions.
It's the only Chinese-designed building along the Bund.