China Merchants Bank Building, Historical bank building on The Bund, Shanghai, China

The China Merchants Bank Building is a four-story Victorian building at No. 6 Zhongshan East First Road on the Bund in Shanghai. British architects Morrison & Gratton designed it for the American trading firm Russell & Company, and it covers 4,541 square metres. From 1897 it housed the Imperial Bank of China, founded by Sheng Xuanhuai.

The four-story building was designed by Morrison & Gratton for the American trading firm Russell & Company and dates from the mid-1880s or earlier. From 1897 it housed the Imperial Bank of China, founded by Sheng Xuanhuai; in 1913 the bank was renamed the Commercial Bank of China and was later controlled by Du Yuesheng. It was renovated in 2006.

The bank's Chinese name, Zhongguo Tongshang Yinhang, marks it as the first modern bank founded by Chinese rather than foreign capital, opened on 27 May 1897 by Sheng Xuanhuai, then director of national railway affairs. The building is also called Yuanfang Dalou. After the imperial regime fell, the bank was renamed the Commercial Bank of China in 1913 and later came under the control of Shanghai mobster Du Yuesheng.

The building sits along the Bund waterfront and can be reached by several public transportation options. You can best explore its facade from the street level to see its classical features and fine details.

The building began as a three-story colonial-style structure on the Bund, originally an auction house, before being rebuilt in 1906 to designs by F. M. Gratton of the British firm Morrison & Gratton, with 4,541 square metres of floor space. It later passed under the control of Shanghai mobster Du Yuesheng and was renovated in 2006.