Shanghai maps, old and new

After Shanghaiist learned from Shanghaiist that street names changes are in the works, we thought it appropriate to post about something we recently found at a Chinese bookstore: a series of maps of old Shanghai.

The bookstore (Ji Feng in the Shaanxi Lu subway station) had maps from 1927, 1932, 1948, and 1956. Each map is printed on old-fashioned, yellowish paper and comes in a little folder with the date printed on top. Although we haven't scrutinized the maps in detail -- the characters are small, and kind of blurry -- you can see right away that while long, arterial roads like Nanjing Lu, Yan'an Lu and Zhongshan Lu as well as parks such as Zhongshan Park and Fuxing Park are identifiable, that many street and district names are not the same as they are now.

We suppose that these maps might be of some use to those doing historical research, though for the most part they're just things to collect, and at 9 RMB per map, why the heck not?

Speaking of maps, you might have heard that they just released information regarding the number 10 subway line, which will connect the city's northeastern districts with the Hongqiao airport -- and while we're on that topic, even though we hardly ever get tickets out of Hongqiao, it's just common sense to make the airport reachable by subway.