I have written a lot about the old lanes and communities in the old parts of town which are being cleared of human life and demolished. Today I was walking around the old town, LaoXiMen in the area of YuYuan Gardens and saw two very attitudes of the city authorities to two lane communities.
The first maze of lanes was empty, boarded up and lifeless, rubbish piling up in places and chalk house numbers scrawled on the concrete blocks chipboard which block the entrances.
Here I was interested and saddened to see Zhongwangyima Xiang was derelict. How things must have changed for this alley since it proudly boasted it was featured in Street Stories Shanghai. I used to follow this blog but in fact it has been three years since she wrte her last post. Maybe she also got fed up of running out of charming lanes to write about
A guard stood at the entrance to the lane and I was sure he was going to stop me going in, but while he was turned away, I walk quickly past his chair and into the old community.
Above me on the spaghetti electrical wires hung no washing, no children running through the lanes and no ladies sitting outside their houses shelling peas or chopping beans.
After YuYuan I headed home via a very beautifully improved community proudly displaying its name on metal signs hanging above me as I walked under drying bedlinen and carefully washed soft toys. On a bright summer day it was a joy to walk through.
Fengyuli is charming and a sensitivly sanitised and improved lane. This has been done with the better lanes around the city especially in Jing’an area but could this not be done with those older narrower lanes? It seems such a shame that only these taller more impressive lane houses are saved where the older narrower and more charming and characterful communities are demolished.