Goodbye to Old Shanghai

There is a photographer in Shanghai, Gangfeng Wang, who is actually quite famous in our little community here and beyond. He grew up in Shanghai amongst the Shikumen houses off of Wuxing Lu. He gave us a walking tour of a very large city block that will be torn down within the month as it was just bought by Hong Kong developers for $2 billion. We found out the developers are not actually buying the land - they are leasing the land for 50 years. So they will tear down the old - quickly. They will build the modern new buildings - quickly. They will start earning their money back and then some - quickly. In the end, the Chinese government will get the land and buildings.

The photographer walked us through the alleyways and eventually into people's homes. He explained how the homes used to belong to one family and then were divided after 1949 so that many families would have access. In all of the shikumen, the first floor was a worn down kitchen where there were five to six "stoves" and five to six gas meters for the five to six tenants. The remaining floors were former bedrooms where families of five to six would live in each room. The most amazing part of the day was everybody we ran into was extremely happy. It could have been because of the intense negotiations going on between the tenants and the government, but everybody was happy from the postman to the milkman. It was amazing to see and it's something I'll never forget.

Maddie did not go with us on this day as it was a taxing four hour walking tour. In the end, she probably would've handled just fine if I brought enough snacks, but I had heard about how there was no plumbing in the homes and thought that may send her over the edge! So I write this for Maddie and will continue to share with her the pictures and future moments of saying goodbye to old Shanghai.