You are not the only Shanghai resident hearing noises at night
As a Shanghai resident oft awoken or kept awake by drills, hammers and other things that go bump in the night (or early morning)*, Shanghaiist read this statement with interest: "According to the city's environmental rules, night construction is considered a violation of its noise clause." There's even a hotline you can call to complain about it: 12319. Shanghai residents have complained about nighttime noise at 10 percent of the city's construction sites (there are 19,081 official construction sites in Shanghai, by the way). The "noise clause" is rarely enforced, however, and when it is, developers would rather pay the 100,000 yuan fine than stop their 24-hour construction cycles. Not sure if the clause covers our new neighbors' habit of turning their TV up really, really loud.
* Before moving to our new lane neighborhood.
Photo from sylloge.com.
