Jing'an Bakery — Shanghai's first joint-venture bakery — went bankrupt after 40 years

Jing'an Bakery opened in September 1985 as a joint venture between the Jing'an Hotel of Jinjiang International and a Hong Kong trading house — Shanghai's first Sino-foreign French bakery. Its baguettes, butter balls and butter rusks drew queues on Huashan Road; for two generations of Shanghainese it was the original bakery of the modern city.

On October 21, 2025 the Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People's Court announced that Shanghai Jin Jiang Capital — the company's own parent — had filed for its bankruptcy liquidation, citing debts it could not pay and a clear lack of ability to pay. Within days almost every store went dark: by October 26 only three company-run shops remained open, and one of them had nothing left on the shelves but mineral water.

The collapse landed in the worst stretch Chinese baking has recorded — the industry's closure rate reached 34.2% in 2024, and roughly 88,000 more bakery stores closed than opened in the year to mid-2026. A time-honored Shanghai brand is negotiating to take over some franchise locations, and prepaid cards are being honored at Red House and Lao Da Chang — the products may survive under another name.