[1] Although open to the general public, it mainly serves high-ranking officials, social and scientific elites, and foreign diplomats and visitors, with a specialty in geriatric care.

Designed by the Hungarian-Slovak architect László Hudec and constructed by the firm Pan Rong Ji (潘荣记),[3][4] it is now protected as a Municipal Heritage Building of Shanghai.

[3] During World War II, a large number of European Jewish refugees fled to Shanghai.

It was not until 1970, when Yan'an Hospital was moved to Kunming, Yunnan Province, that the entire building was reverted to Huadong, with its northern wing open to the general public.

[3] Several celebrities, including Ba Jin,[3] Su Buqing[7] and Wang Danfeng,[8] spent their final years in the hospital.