The Lanes of Old Shanghai

Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to share with you my latest outing to take a walk through the old Shanghai lane homes. The "lanes" refer to alleys of the city where many of the poor live. Why go there? Well, they are a small piece of history in this town that doesn't really have much history left and it is also a revealing look into its current culture.

Our tour guide was Gang Feng Wang, a rather successful photographer who was raised in the lanes of Shanghai. The lane houses were built around the 1920's and are of European design as this was when many westerners were settling in the town. Originally the houses were built and occupied by only the weathliest families, both Chinese and Western. They have mulitple stories with many rooms big enough to house a family which may have had multiple wives, children, and several servants.

But in 1949 when the Communists took over, the wealthy families fled China, taking only what few valuables they could carry. Even if they did stay and managed to avoid imprisonment (or worse), their houses became the property of the state who divided up the property among multple families so that now they had to share their big luxury home. In many cases, families were alotted just a single room to live and sleep in and they shared the kitchen and bathroom with their "neighbors".

Inevitably, these lanes became the cramped slums we see today. We actually walked into some of the homes (friends of our tour guide) to have a look around and it was shocking how cluttered they were as each family has so little space. Even though they didn't have much, there was hardly any room to put the things they did have. One house we went into was obviously once very grand with a huge foyer and big fancy staircase. But at the top of the staircase, the big landing overlooking the entryway was a turned into a make-shift panty and kitchen with rickety tables to hold all of the families' food and hot plates for cooking. The years of accumulated grease from frying had blackened the beautiful carved cieling.

There is hope for the people living there today thanks to the rapid development of Shanghai. Big developers are buying up property around the city and tearing down these old lane homes to make room for high-rise office buildings, hotels, and other commerical money-makers. A large part of the investment the developers put into these ventures is in buying out the current residents that are being displaced. They get 350,000RMB (about $50,000) per person to vacate - that is a huge windfall for these people who have never seen that much money in their entire lives. It is their ticket out of this life in the lanes, and those that haven't been bought out already are anxiously waiting for their salvation.

The only people who seem to care that a huge piece of history is being systematically demolished are the western expats and tourists. We are dismayed that nothing is being done to try to preserve and restore these architectual monuments. But the Shanghaiese seem to have no sentimentality for old things and there is no money to be had in restoration. Shanghai prides itself on being modern and progressive and so it is a case of go see it now before it is gone.

There is at least one lane that has been designated a heritage site and will not be sold for demolition. You can't help but feel a little conflicted about that - yes, we are saving a piece of history for generations to come, but it is just a building after all, and now the people living there have no hope of ever getting out.