This past weekend on my way to the fabric market on Lujiabang Road ( full of good tailors and very simple to have high-quality clothing made: just have your measurements taken, show them a design or choose from one they've displayed, and voila), I took a bit of a detour towards the South of Puxi to explore the less commercialized, residential areas of Shanghai.
What I found was larger-scale versions of previously-observed, small transitional urban pockets in which 10-20 year old residential towers are outlined with original or existing, two-story housing following the traditional Shanghai shikumen architecture connected by longtan (long rows of multi-family townhouses connected with long alleys).
It is in these small alleys and side-streets I was able to observe active daily life taking place in the form of heated card-games, produce stalls, bargaining, bike-repair stands set-up anywhere and everywhere, small clothing shops being sifted through, construction materials being transported by bike and wheelbarrow, cigarette shops catering to the large male smoking population of Shanghai, and many other products and wares on sale.
What is amazing about many of these rich cultural pockets is the amount of construction that surrounds them. One can only imagine what the city must have been like prior to high-rise construction: an intricate maze of alley and rowhouse, achieving a different type of scale and urban density than Shanghai's strange conglomeration of old, new, and under-construction, resulting in an overwhelming sense of isolation and disconnect rather than fluidity as one tries to navigate the city..
I've included pictures quickly taken from my bicycle to display only a sampling of the conditions described.
4.8.08
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2 comments:
I never thought Shanghai's metroplitanization is only a way of showing off. It is also a demand. People want to move into high-rise residential buildings because there are proper flushing toilets and gas for cooking, poeple want cars so they do not have to cycle on icy roads during winters or under burning the sun during summers; The jungle of office towers are still not enough to hold the exploding merchandise. Shanghai pulls down its own longtans, so will the longtan culture and lifestyle be pulled down. I know China has long been blamed for building repetitive sturctures and letting the culture be washed away. But life moves on... The task is not to preserve the disappearing culture but to feed people's need as well as letting a new culture grow, a culture that is still unique of Shanghai. --Phoebe
Hey Phoebe--
I am in complete agreement and hope my post didn't come off sounding anti-modernization. I simply wanted to document some of the changes taking place and the transitional moments that are identifiable within the city.
I came to China with assumptions regarding the idea of relocation in the name of modernization-- it now seems that everyone I've talked to is in favor of this, and I understand it from a different standpoint.
I completely understand the need for modernization- and even suburbanization-- most major metropolitan cities have gone through these growing pains, I just wasn't around to witness them.
Your comment is really poignant regarding letting a new culture grow that is still 'unique of Shanghai." If you want to write a post about this, I'd be happy to post it.
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