I've been slow in adding any graphic interest to this site. And I am disappointed in myself for how rarely I carry my camera. There are all from a walk we took as a family on October 2nd.
This photo is in Xintiandi, a Shanghai tourist attraction we currently live very close to. Shikumen are the old lane houses, dating from the early 1900s, where many Chinese people live. Many are being raised by the government for high-rise apartments, displacing many from their native homes. Xintiandi renovated a section of shikumen into upscale restaurants, apartments and shops. It's lovely, and most people enjoy it. Westerners think it feels very Chinese. The Chinese think it feels very Western. Something for everyone, I suppose!
Exactly what it looks like - clean undies hanging off a street sign. Ours'll hang discreetly on a laundry porch, because we're rich Westerners.
Crickets - I haven't yet discovered their purpose. I've heard pets, foods, and fighting. And don't kid yourself - these containers are about the size of my fist.
A quickly disappearing lifetyle. These are the shikumen mentioned above. Lane houses, being torn down to build high-rises. We're standing in the middle of 1-2 acres of rubble, dotted with people's lives - broken bamboo chairs, bicycle tires.
A lane that has yet to meet the wrecking ball.
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