Hongkou, Shanghai
Is suddenly looking not so ulu. Bloody 50RMB back from Hongkou after 12midnight is a bloody killer, but this place is a friendly surburb hidden, the key word is hidden. Hidden from crowds, and more importantly a sense of sincerity in Shanghai can be felt on the streets. Walking along dimly lit streets with friends that enjoy walking. Making friends with playful kittens and shopkeepers that squeeze the feline till it couldn't squirm or scratch; relegating stories of how she picked the then-pitiful critter up. Numerous roadside stalls selling chinese satay, noodles and other what-nots. Mini-road bridges and fairly old buildings. Some still casting their magnificent colonial vestiges of yesteryears, others keeping secrets of the inhabitants that have lived in them all their lives - but all awaiting a certain doomed destiny of modernization. Hongkou is like easter morning, many colourful surprises waiting to be found.
Then there's also this, which I maintain is small and not worth paying for entry unless there's a movie screening held concurrently (of which the selection has not failed me yet). Caught half of the screening which portrayed ordinary lives of Shanghainese who were born there, grown up together and still share the same kitchen. Telling it through change of relocation due to urban development into commercial properties. The director wanted to document these authenticity before Shanghai turned into Beijing (city centre full of commercial buildings, losing its distinct character). Reminded me of my conversation with a Beijing cab driver, who like all cab drivers, paint vivid tales of the ordinary man on the street. He shared with me that he was staying one and half hours out of Beijing, only the expats stay in the matchbox like apartments in within city centre. Seems like asian cities all around are facing the same problem. What to keep and what should be new? In its bid to look every like the 'modern', first-class city it should be; someone had callously or conveniently forgotten to turn back to see if they had left crumbs to enable other someones to walk backwards.
I've always loved old buildings, it has cracks to keep it listening out for stories for years.
Then there's also this, which I maintain is small and not worth paying for entry unless there's a movie screening held concurrently (of which the selection has not failed me yet). Caught half of the screening which portrayed ordinary lives of Shanghainese who were born there, grown up together and still share the same kitchen. Telling it through change of relocation due to urban development into commercial properties. The director wanted to document these authenticity before Shanghai turned into Beijing (city centre full of commercial buildings, losing its distinct character). Reminded me of my conversation with a Beijing cab driver, who like all cab drivers, paint vivid tales of the ordinary man on the street. He shared with me that he was staying one and half hours out of Beijing, only the expats stay in the matchbox like apartments in within city centre. Seems like asian cities all around are facing the same problem. What to keep and what should be new? In its bid to look every like the 'modern', first-class city it should be; someone had callously or conveniently forgotten to turn back to see if they had left crumbs to enable other someones to walk backwards.
I've always loved old buildings, it has cracks to keep it listening out for stories for years.
posted by Chinogypsie @ 2:35 AM
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