Disappearing Shanghai

Near Baoshan Road there are a few inhabited old buildings, surviving in a vast scene of debris. Demolition continues devouring what still remains of the old Shanghai. This is an example of what has been happening in China over the last two decades. Under the economic reform of the 90´s, the government gave green light to cities to tear down old neighbourhoods and construct huge buildings and skyscrapers; soon the policy was expanded to rural areas. Real estate developers associated with local governments pushed through "modern urban plans for a better city" to force residents to leave their homes (even if they had lived there for generations), with financial compensation usually much lower than the true value. Millions of residents have been moved to modern buildings, resulting in social trauma: the loss of their homes, the disappearance of the neighbourhood and the loneliness of old people. But besides the urban disaster: century-old districts and traditional chinese settlements like the Lilong housing, Shikumen and Hutongs, with its alleys, lanes and courtyards (where neighbors met to eat and talk), everything disappear forever. Disappearing Shanghai. 2013 © Jorge Albella