Telling tales of Shanghai
- Source: Global Times
- [08:41 August 17 2010]
- Comments
Shanghai love affair
In 1986, Johnston was transferred from Shanghai to Paris. While some at the time might have considered this a step up, Johnston applied to be reposted to Shanghai shortly after arriving in France. "I was told there was no way that I could be reposted back, but I still tried. In those days, and probably still today too, Shang-hai was the premiere destination for Foreign Service Officers in China and there was a very long waiting list to be posted here," she said.
After waiting three years, it didn't seem as if she would return to Shang-hai, but the turmoil of the summer of 1989 would change that. The Ameri-can embassy and consulates across the country were evacuated and the waiting lists evaporated. By the fall, the State Department was hunting high and low for people who knew China and the Chinese language. Johnston was a natural choice.
"That was probably my favorite time in the city, right after I returned in 1989. Strangely, that was like the only time that the city didn't seem to change much: I was living near where I used to live, the Chinese staff of the consulate was all the same; people ate at the same restaurants. The only difference though was the lack of for-eigners. I could wander down Nanjing Road or Huaihai Road and not see a single foreigner. In those days, normal Chinese citizens weren't allowed to enter the five-star hotels reserved for foreign guests. I used to like walking into the lobbies and beautiful din-ing rooms and seeing them empty, a single maître d' or waiter standing and waiting to serve people who would never arrive," Johnston said.
Losses and gains
When Johnston first arrived, the Bund was considered like any other part of Shanghai, as opposed to the tourist and luxury shopping area that we know today.
"Although it has been a staple of stories about Shanghai for over a century, virtually nobody used to go to the Bund, certainly not tourists… It just wasn't geared for sightseeing, especially considering that Pudong was mostly farmland back then. That changed slowly through the 90s, and began to change more quickly after the old Nissin Shipping Building opened as M on the Bund in 1999," Johnston said, referring to the well-known up-scale restaurant.
She said that another major change has been the loss of shikumen from the complexion of the city. These build-ings were once the dominant type of housing for Shanghainese, making up about 80 percent of housing before World War II. The building featured a mixture of traditional Yangtze Delta architecture with Western elements.
Preservation of the shikumen is a hot button issue for many historians who point out that these unique build-ings have been the biggest victims of modernization over the past three decades. Johnston takes a pragmatic view, trying to balance the needs of modernization with a desire to pre-serve the heritage of the city.
"On one hand, tearing down shikumen is perfectly natural. No one wants to live in an old apartment with poor electricity, poor plumbing, and no air conditioning. Also, with so many people coming here from across China and around the world, those old, smaller houses are not realistic for new population pressures. However, these buildings are part of the heritage of Shanghai and when they're gone, they're gone. You can't bring them back, and then what is left of the old heart of the city?" she asked.
When asked about how long she plans to stay in Shanghai, she wryly said that it depends on the govern-ment. "My visa runs out next year. I know that they've been issuing fewer and fewer visas to foreigners over the age of 60, so they might not renew mine… If it were up to me though, I'd rather die here than go through the headache of moving all my books and antiques back home," she said.
