Recorded February 22, 2010 at 9:18 a.m.
Mandy had lived in a small house on Huai Hai Lu her entire life until November 2009 when her house was demolished. Mandy had contacted me after hearing about the Growing Up With Shanghai project on TV and thought it would be interesting to document her memories in the area around her now demolished home. She had mentioned her Grandfather was very knowledgeable about the history of this area of Huai Hai Lu but he was unavailable for the walk- there only in spirit by some scribbled notes on a folded piece of paper.
Mandy was a bit nervous in the beginning, relying mostly on her notes to guide her dialog. However, when we finally reached her old house she became more candid, emotional, and spontaneous. Walking down the narrow alleyway that was the entrance to her old neighborhood, it seemed as if we walked into another world. Just beyond the flashy street facades, lay a wasteland of demolished and half-demolished buildings. The few that were left standing still had residents.
This is a great document of pre-Expo Shanghai and the changes that were happening to the city we saw and the parts of the city we didn’t. It has been one year since the recording and nothing still has been built on the site. Mandy and her family have since moved into a residence further down on Huai Hai Lu.
One thing I found interesting about her transcript was that she would mostly refer to a location by its previous name and not what was there now.
* Please note that site of her old house is no longer accessible.
Photos by Shen Yi.
Here is an excerpt from the translation:
Next to ‘Dian Dang’ is a little Tea store. A little bit further is a little ‘Nong Tang’ called ‘Ping An Li’ [平安里]. There used to be a ‘Tiger Stove’ [老虎灶] which was used for boiling hot water. People all live around here. Let’s walk forward into ‘Ping An Li’. This place is connected to where I used to live. We used to walk in and out from this entrance. However, because of Expo, this place will be demolished. All of it. This really breaks my heart.
[17:23] There were some families who were really reluctant to leave but they all ended up moving out too.
[17:30] Now all the houses are gone and all you see is rubble on the ground. I passed by here a couple of days ago and took some pictures. Because the Expo is starting, the Shanghai Government has stopped all constructions. I heard that this place would be a temporary parking lot. I also heard that after the Expo, they will make this place an exit for the subway. (Sighs)
[18:36] This used to be a basin for some family, now it is all gone. The living conditions here were not ideal at all. Each house was about 8–9 square meters but would have accommodate 4–5 people. Isn’t it scary? On the top floor, an extra little room would be built to accommodate even more people.
[19:00] Here is a room that used to belong to a young girl. You can see all the David Beckham posters. Ha ha…
[19:16] My house used to be located right here. Now it is completely gone. This is so sad to see. Now all you see is heavy machinery demolishing this place. There are some ‘newer’ houses that have not yet been demolished. I think the negotiations for their house has almost reached to a final agreement. The negotiators are usually very tough! Around here next to the road used to be a bunch of relatively cheap houses. Starting from my house, all the houses were English-style with high ceilings. I think the high ceilings in old houses like ours was rare. The height for my house was at least 3 meters and we had a fireplace. I remember using the fireplace when I was young but we didn’t use it anymore after I got older. Some bugs started coming out of the fireplace so we sealed it. The address for my home was #706 Nong, Huai Hai Zhong Lu and the back of it connects to ‘Ping An Li’. This is why ‘Ping An Li’ means a lot to me. Those days passing by the ‘Tiger Stove’ are still so vivid in my mind.
My father had been living here since he was born, over 60 years. One day I asked him, “Our house is gone, do you want to come back to see?”. He said “No!”. I think this must be really hard for him.
[20:59] We are now stepping on these piles of rubble. Do you see? These houses just vanished like this…
We just saw a family still living in ‘Ping An Li’. How much courage this must take! All of the others are gone, and I don’t think this environment is even suitable for living anymore. My family actually lived here for a while until we felt that we could no longer stay. There were a lot of people here already banging and destroying the walls. There was dirt and smoke every time you opened the window. We moved out around November [2009]. This old couple are still here today–3 months longer than us! I wonder if it is because the developers could not make a deal with them.
The back of this ‘Nong Tang’ goes to ‘Xiang Ming Middle School’ [向明中学]30. If you walk out from here you would reach ‘Bei Lin Apartments’ [柏林公寓]. Just past the ‘Bei Lin Apartments’ is the ‘Xiang Ming Middle School’. My father told me that there used to be an iron gate here that separated this area from ‘Xiang Ming Middle School’ but the gate was sealed when I was young. All I saw was iron fences. You could see kids playing Ping–Pong and other games. I remember when I heard that the Huai Hai Lu area near Rui Jin Lu would be demolished I told those kids that ‘Xiang Ming Middle School’ would be demolished. The people who had graduated from ‘Xiang Ming Middle School’ over 10 years ago were all tearing up. They are really surprised about this. Later I saw the ‘Xiang Ming Middle School’ moving to ‘Dong Feng Middle School’ [风中学] which is across from here. I am not sure whether they will use the old building of ‘Xiang Ming Middle School’ again.
[23:06] It’s so weird. When we left from ‘Ping An Li’ we could see a guard sitting here. Not sure if he is here for his last shift or just waiting for that old couple to move out of here. Across from here used to be the ‘Xin Hua Book Store’ [新华书 店]. It was a huge store but in recent years a ‘Me & City’ opened up in here and the store front became smaller and smaller. Before liberation, this building used to be some private residence. There was an iron gate here and you could see cars going in and out of here. I heard that before China’s liberation, between ‘Xin Hua Book Store’ and the ‘Da Dong Restaurant’ [大同酒家] that I mentioned earlier, was a store for men’s clothing. I think it was called ‘Lindsay’s’.
Huai Hai Lu
This comprehensive book package includes the uncompressed audio file, a PDF containing transcripts, maps, and photos of the location that can be enjoyed on- or off- location. For more information click the link below.
Releases (Click on an image to see more.)
