This is a tour I went on, as the name suggests, in the former French Concession of Shanghai.
I cut and paste directly from Wikipedia:
The area covered by the former French Concession was, for much of the 20th century, the premier residential and retail districts of Shanghai, and was also the centre of Catholicism in Shanghai. Despite rampant re-development over the last few decades, the area retains a distinct character,
The only way I can tell I'm in the French Concession is to look and see if there are the big plane trees by the side of the road. Yes? French Concession. No? I could be anywhere.
I signed up for a professionally-led group tour, for a change, so I knew I couldn't get lost. They tried to lose me, but I kept finding them.
The French Concession has some really pretty buildings.
Once again, I feel like I am just scratching the surface and that there is still so much to learn and see.
This, by far, was my best ever "touristy" outing in Shanghai. We went to Fuxing Park, famous for several reasons. One is that it is in the former French Concession, where the Chinese were once excluded, along with dogs (nice). Another reason is that this park has dozens of people gathering every morning to sing, dance, play cards or literally shake their maracas.
This woman was leading a group of singers and musicians. She brings these huge scrolls of music with lots of notations and everyone sings and plays along. She saw our group coming (really?!? you mean a bunch of white Westerners is really that noticeable in Shanghai?) and had everyone play and sing "Jingle Bells" as the next song. I, of course, sang along lustily in English. It was great!
Leaving the singers, we came next to the maraca shakers. This was incredible, all ages, races and abilities were participating. You've never seen such enthusiasm! BYOM (Bring Your Own Maracas) Next time I will!
Doncha ya know there were Hello Kitty stickers on her maracas.
Hello Kitty...omnipresent everywhere...
There was dancing...I am thinking of one friend in particular who is a really good dancer and has even competed. She would really enjoy this fun, relaxed atmosphere.
Everybody was sweating like crazy because it was so stinkin' hot outside, even at 9:45 a.m. in late September. This is why they get there so early and finish at 10:00 a.m. They don't care about the temperature though.
Look how many people there were!
Once again, I really want to go back and participate instead of just observe. I actually got a little verklempt watching this. O.K., more than a little verklempt, truth be told. I know that comes as a huge surprise to my friends and family. This was the most inclusive event I have ever seen. I was really touched, genuinely moved. It didn't matter where you were from, your skill level, your language, your physical ability, everybody was welcomed and celebrated.
Here's a classic
Some of these men had the prettiest, big paper fans. Again, a very friendly bunch.
We left Fuxing Park and came across this building on the corner. It is now a middle school.
It houses the only photo of Mao Zedong (you may know him as Mao Tse-tung) and all his political cronies before he came into power in 1949. Our guide knows the security guard so he let us take pictures. See if you can recognize Mao.
Yep, that's him in the green suit standing next to the tiny old man in the grey outfit.
Street scenes from the same area. There is a dearth of cars here because only delivery vehicles are allowed.
I like that.
Love the palm trees. So bizarre. I do not associate palm trees with Shanghai.
Speaking of bizarre...tucked away behind these beautiful buildings are the so-called lane homes.
They come in two varieties. The two storey ones are called lilong and the three storey ones are longtang. We did a lot of poking around alleys. The culture of these lane houses and their neighbourhoods is fascinating. It's a whole different world behind those big, enfolding walls.
Again, I cut and paste blatantly from someone more knowledgeable than I:
Longtang is such a place that provided the residents more chances to communicate with each other. In the Longtangs, people always meet together, all the residents are closely associated and conglomerated, thus bringing forth a strong sense of localism, safety and family-likeness. The main social activities in Longtangs are those of the old people and children. In a Longtang they were never neglected as they are nowadays in other places. The special space arrangement in the Longtang can provide people places for the old people and children to carry on public activities. Some of the old people are keen on doing public welfare activities, for example, doing the cleaning work, taking care of each other and looking after the children. Such activities, carried on spontaneously, have more human sense and interests of life.
Yes, someone lives here, an old lady who has lived here for years. Many of these homes are inhabited by elderly people who, for practical and/or sentimental reasons, do not want to move. Some of them have even been offered large sums of money by real estate developers.
To say that these houses are simple is a gross understatement.
Of course, they used to be in better condition. The alleys are clean and there is still huge pride of ownership and a wonderful sense of community, palpable even to an outsider like me.
This is a public, very local "newspaper" at the entrance to one of these lane home communities. Someone, with beautiful penmanship, writes the latest news on these boards for everyone to read.
Looking down the main entrance alley. People live here with their businesses out front. There are fruit and veg stalls, a barber shop, a variety store. Down another alley, I peeped past a half-opened door and saw a rudimentary hair salon. If you're elderly and can't get out to the big city, you don't have to. Everything is here and you have your neighbours to watch out for you and chat with.
You even have your pets.
I hope you can make out the cricket.
No, it's not Jiminy!
Details
The classic stone lintel that make these longtang houses shikumen longtang (remember that word from the blog on Xin Tian Di?)
Some of the longtangs have been fixed up. I don't think the lilongs as much because they are tiny and there isn't much to work with. This gentrification reminds me of Cabbagetown in Toronto, but on a much smaller scale.
I hope you enjoyed your tour of just a small part of the French Concession. There will be a French Concession Tour, Part II! Again, this is something you have to see live to really experience, but I hope you at least got a feel for the unique atmosphere of this area.
1 comment:
Very cool. Love it.
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