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Still looking up
Source:Global Times Published: 2012-9-16 16:25:03
Workers use sledgehammers to bring down an old structure in Zhabei district. Photo: Cai Xianmin/GT
Buildings along the Huangpu River in Hongkou district are being torn down to make space for the local authorities' plans for the North Bund area. Photo: Cai Xianmin/GT
A bicycle looks out of place at this demolition site in Dongjiadu area, Huangpu district. Photo: Cai Xianmin/GT
A relocation project in Dongjiadu in Huangpu district saw the place emptied except for these broken chairs which, in days gone by, neighbors used to sit on and chat with each other. Photo: Cai Xianmin/GT
Workers take a break among the debris of a demolition site in Hongkou district. Photo: Cai Xianmin/GT
Workers knock down the solid concrete walls of a building on Chang'an Road West. Photo: Cai Xianmin/GT
The six months during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai saw the city particularly quiet and clean with major construction projects halted. But nowadays the cranes are back at work, there are piles of bricks on the roadsides, and concrete trucks are queuing up along the streets, all part of the city scene again.
This is probably to do with the city's major development targets after the Expo. According to Huang Rong, the director of the Shanghai Urban Construction and Communications Commission, the six major plans for the city's urban construction and management work after 2010 included speeding up the construction of low-cost housing, improving the public transport system and renovating old districts in downtown Shanghai.
Huang emphasized that "no major projects tearing down old buildings and constructing new ones would be carried out in downtown areas." But it seems that it's impossible to realize the construction goals without stirring up some dust.
In the meantime, the city's underground transport has been expanding constantly. According to the latest plans, from 2012 till 2015 four new subway lines will be added - the Disneyland section of Line 11, Phase III of Line 3, Phase II of Line 10 and an extension for Line 2.
With these ambitious plans and many others, construction sites of different sizes are flowering again around the city. Some of the old buildings listed to be torn down have historical value for many and any talk of demolition has provoked fierce debate. None more so than the site of the Chin Woo Athletic Association, a martial arts school in Shanghai founded by Huo Yuanjia, a martial artist. It was reported by Labor Daily in August last year that this century-old site in Yangpu district would be facing demolition. But this announcement sparked so much debate and fury from the public, local authorities quickly denied there were any plans to tear down the four buildings involved.
But whether buildings are special for historical reasons or just because many generations of a family lived there, when these buildings do eventually vanish memories remain. And often, today, photographs, lovingly preserved.
The six months during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai saw the city particularly quiet and clean with major construction projects halted. But nowadays the cranes are back at work, there are piles of bricks on the roadsides, and concrete trucks are queuing up along the streets, all part of the city scene again.
This is probably to do with the city's major development targets after the Expo. According to Huang Rong, the director of the Shanghai Urban Construction and Communications Commission, the six major plans for the city's urban construction and management work after 2010 included speeding up the construction of low-cost housing, improving the public transport system and renovating old districts in downtown Shanghai.
Huang emphasized that "no major projects tearing down old buildings and constructing new ones would be carried out in downtown areas." But it seems that it's impossible to realize the construction goals without stirring up some dust.
In the meantime, the city's underground transport has been expanding constantly. According to the latest plans, from 2012 till 2015 four new subway lines will be added - the Disneyland section of Line 11, Phase III of Line 3, Phase II of Line 10 and an extension for Line 2.
With these ambitious plans and many others, construction sites of different sizes are flowering again around the city. Some of the old buildings listed to be torn down have historical value for many and any talk of demolition has provoked fierce debate. None more so than the site of the Chin Woo Athletic Association, a martial arts school in Shanghai founded by Huo Yuanjia, a martial artist. It was reported by Labor Daily in August last year that this century-old site in Yangpu district would be facing demolition. But this announcement sparked so much debate and fury from the public, local authorities quickly denied there were any plans to tear down the four buildings involved.
But whether buildings are special for historical reasons or just because many generations of a family lived there, when these buildings do eventually vanish memories remain. And often, today, photographs, lovingly preserved.
Posted in: Metro Shanghai