Model Neighborhood

The back of our apartment looks out onto a traditional Shanghainese neighborhood, built in the Shikumen style.  This means two- and three-story row houses built along narrow alleyways connected to the main road via a gate.  Meandering back into one of these neighborhoods is a quick way to get a feel for “authentic” Chinese life.  Here we find laundry crisscrossing neighbors’ windows; children playing chase or kicking balls through the maze of alleys; women chopping fresh chicken by the light of the sun streaming through open doorways; men huddled around wobbly folding tables, cigarettes and cards in hand.  In the Shikumen alleys, locals go about their business largely unaffected by the recent wave of cosmopolitanism that has hit their city.

our view of the Shikumen rooftops

Except that soon, the urbanization of Shanghai will indeed affect them greatly.  Shikumen-style residences used to account for about sixty percent of the housing in Shanghai, but as the population expands and land becomes more valuable, high rise apartment buildings are the new norm.  Slowly, these beautiful and vibrant Shikumen neighborhoods are being taken over, their tenants relocated, the small local shops shut down, and the buildings razed, replaced by massive apartment complexes -- such as the one where we now live.

new skyscrapers looming over an abandoned Shikumen neighborhood

Walking nearby, Matt and I noticed these scaled models of our neighborhood sitting out on the sidewalk as some delivery men discussed how to move them into a nearby condo showroom.  Upon examination, we noticed that our Shikumen neighbors had all disappeared, replaced by fancy looking shiny buildings and an athletic field.  I later found out that this is a planned international school being built to accommodate the recent influx of foreigners into our posh urban neighborhood.

 

this model suggests our future view (in red) will be a bit different

I wonder if any of the people who live in the Shikumen houses had happened upon this sidewalk, and had paused to notice the models.  I wonder if they realized the conspicuous absence of their current neighborhood.  I wonder how much notice the government will give them before they have to abandon their homes.  I wonder how many people have already predicted their future – after all, this is one of the only traditional developments left in our area – and moved elsewhere.  I wonder if these relocated families prefer their spacious apartments with modern upgrades on the edges of sprawling Shanghai, or if they miss their traditional Shikumen homes in the buzz of the city center.  I wonder if this is why every day I notice more and more laundry lines pulled down, boards placed in windows, and roofs collapsed in disrepair.  I wonder about what is to be gained, and what will forever be lost, once our new "model neighborhood" becomes a reality.