Yesterday I was on my way to check out 1933 Shanghai 上海1933老场坊, a restored Art Deco slaughterhouse in Hongkou, when I stumbled upon a compact neighbourhood in the process of being torn down, part of an ongoing process of urban renewal in Shanghai. Every year more of these old areas are torn down, their residents forcibly evicted, new high-rises and shopping malls going up in their place. My time in Shanghai is too short to allow for any measure of expertise to grow—so all I have to share here are a few photos and some comments from a quick walk around (and through) the block.
From what I understand the traditional arrangement of connected townhouses along gated laneways is known as a longdang 里弄 in Shanghainese (or lǐlòng in Mandarin). A common style of home in such an area is known as a shíkùmén 石库门 (traditional: 石庫門), distinguished by a western-influenced gate and a small courtyard in front of the home. Apparently shikumen were not constructed after 1949 so if any of these buildings qualify—and I think the one with the three western-style entrances might—then they are somewhat older than they may appear.
Puzzling out the name of the place was a bit of a challenge. This block is essentially a triangle bounded by Hǎilún Road 海伦路, Wúzhōu Road 梧州路, and Hǎilā’ěr Road 海拉尔路. Google, forever misinformed about anything in China, identified parts of this triangle as Jiāngxiàlǐ 江夏里 and Jīngwěilǐ 经纬里, both names that follow the conventions for lilong. I only managed to find one Chinese language blog about the area to corroborate.
I haven’t had much luck finding out more about this place so that’s all I have to share this time around. For more about Shanghai’s rapidly disappearing neighbourhoods have a glance at two English language blogs here and here.
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