My Shanghai Streets
cctv.com 02-02-2005 11:13
Everybody has a perfect place tucked deep in our hearts, a place to anchor our homesickness when we drift far far away from where we set out; a place to come back and register who we really are. For me, that place is Shanghai. Welcome to the lanes and alleyways that witnessed my earliest childhood, and welcome to the Street Special of Travelogue!
Shanghai skyline has changed drastically from my memory. Now everywhere it reads the engine of Chinese economy and financial powerhouse of East Asia. But between the dizzying traffic, beneath the imposing high-rises, you will still find a critical piece of the Shanghai jigsaw - blocks of old shanghai residences (that delegated its past and witness the present).
Shanghai is always the first place to take in western influence, for example, Shikumen Nongtang. First built in late 19th century, the single residence is of traditional courtyard housing style, but they were arranged one next to another, like the western duplex or condos.鈥
The alleys and lanes formed by rows of Shikumen houses are known as Nongtang in local Shanghai term. Nongtang is a residential style unique to Shanghai.
During its peak, nearly 80 percent of Shanghainese lived in the micro society of Shikumen Nongtang, which totaled over 20 million square meters.
Only a few years ago, Nongtang still housed a majority of the city's residents; although they are disappearing at rapid speed, replaced by highrises for more space and modern convenience.
From the design of a stone gate you could probably tell that this area belongs to second generation of Shikumen houses. Only in second generation Shikumen houses, can you find western ornaments such as arch, triangular, rectangular shape. Another characteristic of the second generation Shikumen house is its balcony.
Balcony is usually nowhere to be found in traditional Chinese residential buildings.
Literally meaning stone gate, Shikumen houses experienced three stages in terms of construction periods and architectural design. The gate frames at the early stage were plain and simple Chinese traditional style without too much decoration.
Later, Western classic festoon were adopted in the design of gate lintels and the gate frames with Muslim and Ionic ornaments most frequently used.
The third stage of Shikumen houses is the Shikumen highrise apartment buildings.
Of course, these stages and styles overlapped significantly.
Like architecture everywhere else, Shikumen Nongtang also serves as a mirror of social life. They were classified into upper, middle and lower corners, correlating to the economic and social status of the tenants.
Very cozy, basking in the sunshine. If the main roads of Nanjing Road and Huaihai Road are like the backbones of Shanghai, then alleyways are definitely the veins and arteries that supply the blood.
To understand where Shanghainese came from, get a peek inside the courtyard in Nongtang.
Serving mainly the middle-class families, the space of the Nongtang houses were limited for economic reasons. Therefore the small courtyard in the front and back end of a house became extremely important for tenants.
Not only making the house look more spacious, providing ventilation and lighting, it also provides a public venue for tenants to connect with one another since a house was in most cases occupied by several families.
The Chinese saying of 鈥淕ood neighbours are more helpful than relatives afar鈥 is all the more true in Shanghai Nongtang.
The intimate relationship between neighbours such as this group of shanghai opera lovers are a direct result of the compact living.
Large Nongtangs housed people of all sorts of trades and personalities, so frequent contact occasionally would result in disputes. Growing up in such delicate society, Shanghai people were trained to be smooth at dealing with people.
Mr. Li used to live in this Nongtang. Actually, he told me he just came back for the 60-year reunion of his elementary school couple days ago.
I believe anybody who鈥檝e spent couple years in a shanghai nongtang can fully relate to Mr. Li鈥檚 attachment toward Nongtang.
Shikumen Nongtang, sometimes can be the most romantic place despite its loud and worldly happiness.
Most of the dancers here are over 50s in their retirement. Apparently, they've survived and thrived in the compact Nongtang, and are living a life much larger than the space allowed.
This is typical Shanghai, tap dance meets Shikumen Nongtang.
Meat Bun Store
My mission today is to treat my uncle, a local Shanghainese with a typical Shanghai breakfast.
Shanghainese can be very particular when it comes to food. After over a century of western influence, you can still find an eatery such as Fengyu meat bun store on almost every street corner.
One thing that really stands out in my earliest memory about Shanghai is its snack food. And speaking of snack food, this Shengjian mantou looks pretty good 鈥
Duolun Road鈥 /b>
I鈥檝e always wanted to do this since I was very little 鈥 just venture into any lanes and alleys with no directions at hand and no destinations in mind. Since all the lanes and alleys are connected one way or another, you never know what kind of hidden treasure you may run into that is not marked out on Shanghai travel map.
鈥淓xcuse me, What is this road?鈥
鈥淭his is Duolun Road.鈥 /font>
Duolun Street in the north end of the city is another place that sort of condenses the old Shanghai lifestyle.
鈥淪o this is a museum of chopsticks, let鈥檚 go inside and take a look!鈥 /font>
The museum of chopsticks houses more than 1,700 pairs of chopsticks made from different materials such as wood, bamboo, metal, ivory, jade and plastic.
From here, you can learn that Chopsticks of Tibetan nomads are paired up with knives, or that Shanghainese use a full set of tableware of over ten items to eat crab.
It took the owner, Mr. Lan Xiang over 20 years to collect these chopsticks. Some of them go as far back as the Tang dynasty around 1,500 years ago. Here, chopsticks are no longer tableware, they are one fragment of history.
Mr. Lan said, 鈥淭his is how to use chopsticks, hold the index finger still, just use the middle finger to leverage it鈥︹
I guess I cannot make the tallest chopsticks. I鈥檓 only 1.70 meters and this pair is 1.998m!
Duolun street is revamped to promote the cultural heritage of the city. In addition to chopsticks museum, there are strange stone house, coin museum, old newspaper collection, and many other niche collections that worth close examine.
According to Mr. Liu, Nanjing clock is the first chime clock ever made by China.
Originating in east China鈥檚 Nanjing City in the mid-19th century, they became popular in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the following 70 to 80 years.
Every single part of the clock was handmade, even the hairspring or the tiny gears. So in the past, if one part was ever missing or broken, the safe bet was to have the clock smith who made the original part fix it. Otherwise the new part may not fit into the clock.
Today very few Nanjing clocks remain. The majority of the clocks on display here were made from 100 to 140 years ago.
Another rare piece is the Nanjing clock with inscription. What鈥檚 more, the clock has a unique design - no clockwork spring, no battery - it takes the advantage of gravity to power the clock.
Duolun Road also showcases many age-old buildings of distinguished architectural styles, French Neo-classic, Spanish garden villa, English or Japanese.
Some of the old residence houses were turned into other usage, for example, the Old movie cafe.
It鈥檚 definitely a great place for nightlife. You can get to watch free black and white movies while enjoying drinks at the coffee tables.
You can pick from about forty movies of the 1920s to 1930s for your enjoyment in this small cafe. The movies come in free, as long as you order something from the bar or menu.
Wouldn鈥檛 it be nice if we could just get away for a brief moment from daily drudgery and enter the glamour world of movies?
Shanghai saw the advent and booming of Chinese movie industry in early 20th century. It was even dubbed as the Hollywood of the East at the time. Movie stars such as Ruan lingyu, Zhouxuan, became the idols of millions of fans.
Some of the movies produced back then are still classics even by today鈥檚 standard. After all, there is something about a movie that cannot be replaced by the zillion dollar special effects.
Shanghai used to be the largest vanity fair of the east in 1930. Sitting in the old movie cafe, surrounded by memorabilia of that time period, it makes me really wonder what it would be like if we could take a time machine and travel back to the colonial period of Shanghai.
The decadent and flamboyant lifestyle of old Shanghai is a recurring spice in the movies and literature about Shanghai. It was a time when Shanghai was known as the Paris of the East, the paradise of high-rollers. However, a paradise only for the tip of the pyramid, the majority was struggling at the bottom of the social ladder.
The prosperity of today鈥檚 Shanghai is more attainable for average people like you and me, just take a stroll along one of the shopping streets in a warm and balmy night of Shanghai.
Shanghai girl has been the synonym of hip and fashionable, but look at my hair, it鈥檚 so provincial and ugly, and I鈥檓 in desperate need for professional help!
As most of the Shikumen houses were replaced by highrises everywhere in Shanghai, there are fewer places to feel reminiscent. But fortunately for us and to the happiness of those preservationists, we can still find a lot of well-kept old residences in Shanghai, for example, Song ChingLing former residence.
The western style villa house was built in 1920s by a wealthy overseas businessman. Madam Song Chingling moved here in 1948.
After marrying Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of Chinese democracy, Madam Song played a vital role during many critical moments of the Chinese political turbulence last century.
Madam Song was among the first in China to have received a western degree together with her two sisters. They went to Wellsley in United States.
They definitely made a great couple, right? Not only the assistant of Dr. Sun during his fight toward Chinese democracy, she is also his beloved wife. She married Dr. Sun at the age of 22, and 10 years later, Dr. Sun passed away. During the rest of her 56 years of life, she never got married again.
Through the years without the accompany of her dearest husband, she drew strength from her huge compassion toward the welfare of women and children, and her passion toward world peace. In this simple and plain living room, she met many distinguished leaders from all over the world to promote the causes she believed in.
Zhang Ailing鈥檚 apartment
Shanghai legends breath through the legendary daughters of Shanghai. Eileen Chang is another such character. As a matter of fact, her writings have become a cultural symbol of old shanghai as much as Shikumen Nongtang.
Nobody is at home. I really wouldn鈥檛 want to be the tenant of this apartment coz the apartment used to belong to Zhang Ailing, one of the greatest writers in 1940s Shanghai.
Ms. Chang dazzled generations of readers with her magical grasp of language and poignant story-telling style. She completed most of her greatest works on the apartment at sixth floor.
She was the wiz kid, a timeless legend of Shanghai literature world in 1940s.
Eileen鈥檚 enjoyed most observing the alleys and roads of her neighborhood and turned them into her brilliant essays and novels. Even today, her works are considered the best at presenting Shanghai culture.
To Chang, the thrill of life sometimes comes as simple and easy as from eating the salted peanuts bought from street peddlers, or wandering around her neighbourhood.
Life is a splendid gown, with louses crawling all over. Aileen made this statement at the age of 18. She pretty much testified to the statement throughout all her works and her life. Bailemen area is the place where she often hang around dressed up in such outlandish style, almost stopping the traffic.
Chang鈥檚 literature success in her early twenties was almost a miracle in Shanghai, which gave her every right to act and dress in eccentric if not outrageous way. However, like in many cases, a miracle doesn鈥檛 last long for many reasons. Chang died alone in her Los Angeles apartment thousand miles away from her dearest hometown Shanghai.
Chang鈥檚 work is an inseparable part of old Shanghai, together with Shikumen Nongtang, black white movies and old shanghai pop songs.
My memories about Shanghai are like old pictures printed on a background with criss-crossing lines. Those lines are the streets, roads, lanes and alleys of Shanghai. They are not fixed; they are constantly moving like the threads on a looming machine, creating ever-changing picture. Thanks for sharing with me my memories of Shanghai, I鈥檓 Xiaolan, See you next time!
Editor:Chen Source:CCTV.com
