62 year old Guangzhou man is New York City's Sad Panda
China: Nine nations in one?
Electrolist: Berlin 8-bit retroblaster tonight
Interview: Rich Medina funks up the Shelter
Thanksgiving turkey conundrum? The solution: Taobao
Apparently, the above photo is of Shanghai's Xujiahui area. Wang Jian Shuo estimates it was taken sometime in the late 1980s, but he said it didn't look too much different there as recently as the mid-1990s. We're assuming the photo is of the main intersection in Xujiahui, but too be honest, we can't find anything recognizable in the photo. We couldn't even tell it was Shanghai when we first looked at it. Not really surprising, since this is how Xujiahui looks now:
Got any other old Shanghai pics? Send them our way: tips(@)shanghaiist.com
Xujiahui: It keeps growing and growing and growing and ...
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
post to facebookComments (7) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Latest Video
Contribute
Latest Tip:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/18/book-change-has-come
[more]
From a reader:
"I think you got it right. Top right on your picture you can see the campus of Jiaotong which is still there on Huashan Lu through the arch off the street. Therefore you identified correctly. It all changed when Grand Gateway was first constructed which cleared the large area between Jiaotong and the circle."
Yes, clearly Xu Jia Hui. Good, old times...
There is a picture-book available in most of Shanghai's bookstores... Exactly what you guys are looking for. I forgot the name of it but it's kinda small (yet thick) and rectangular-shaped. Anyway, everytime you turn the pages, on the left page you can see a full-page pic of a place in Shanghai taken before the late 90s, while on the right page you can see a picture taken at exactly the same place, same angle, but more recently (year 2000+). And this goes on for many, many pages (I guess about 100 places).
It is indeed truely amazing to see the difference almost everytime you turn a page. Unbelievable! I remember for example a picture of Pudong taken from the Bund in like the late 80s... It's like... a desert! While on the right you see the actual TV Tower/Jin Mao/Aurora landscape. Incredible.
You GOT to get that book. I bought it as a present for my mom but I actually want to get it again for myself. It's only about 80rmb.
Another way to view how quickly places are changing here: take a look at the satellite pics from google earth... (earth.google.com)
http://iaodb.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Shanghai/
looking at then and now pix of shanghai is always bittersweet. the b4 pix always provokes my childhood memories and it saddens me that it's all gone. but the new pix makes me proud of the fact that shanghai's "moving forward"... w/etf that means. at least wut's there now doesnt look bad.......
David
the book you mean is Xu Xixian and Xu Jianrong's A Changing Shanghai from Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House - RMB68
On Sunday I bought the last copy of A Changing Shanghai at Garden Books. Definitely worth the money. While the photography is pretty pedestrian, some of the before-and-afters are remarkable. I was disappointed that Luwan and Jingan districts only warranted a combined three photos, though. I'd love to see before pics of the Xintiandi area.