Shanghaiist: Residents protest on Taikang Lu

nanheyangrouchuan

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:56:22 +0700

@ Lili, China smells bad.

WatchBagDVD

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:01:39 +0700

But the "foreigner" factor in Taikang Lu definitely makes a difference... I mean, it's analogous to primarily white yuppies moving in on the heels of primarily white artists into what had previously been a Latino or African-American neighborhood in many American cities, but still... there's a big difference when you factor in China-specific "outsider" issues. But I do think that a lot of the basic economic dynamics and feelings on all sides tend to be the same.

T

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:09:58 +0700

I dunno robdotr - that does sound an awful like gentrification issues that are happening elsewhere globally - I mean I am sure that there's millions of projects all of which have good intentions at the beginning - but the issues you list could easily have come from midtown Houston/3rd Ward (which I lived through) or say, the Mission District in San Francisco or Brooklyn/Harlem in New York. Sure, each area has unique issues - but it's not all that unique.

WatchBagDVD

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:30:06 +0700

Thanks for that inside info, robdotr. I guess things are never "the same basic story," really. I really respect the effort to make of Taikang Lu a more organic and grass-roots kind of urban space. I hope the problems with the neighbors can be successfully resolved.

robdotr

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:20:06 +0700

I've been involved in business and community aspects of Taikang Lu for almost 4 years so feel a bit qualified to comment on what's happening there. It is a lot more complicated than the "same basic gentrification story." After taking into account the chaos of redeveloping the South side of the street (mass-relocation, protests, alleged corruption/intimidation/etc.) that resulted in it being leveled to build a shopping mall and metro station, a different choice was made for the North side - the status of which has been in limbo for the last 4 years. In this case it was about an experiment that overlooked the fact that the neighborhood is over 90% zoned residential and giving residents an option to sub-lease buildings to which they have occupation rights. Businesses can move in and do not need to get formally licensed. This give residents the chance to become landlords and earn a good monthly income *if* they 1. want to and 2. have a desirable location. Obviously #1 and/or 2 are not present for everyone living on Taikang Lu and leads to feelings of inequity. There's also been an incredible level of change to the residents' environment because of the fast pace at which these conversions have happened and the rate at which tourist traffic has increased in the last 3 months. Also, looking at a lot of the [poor] renovations that have been done and the [lack of] quality of several of the business, one wishes that there had been a better selection process in who got in but as tends to happen, market forces of supply, demand and competition are coming into play and will hopefully help correct some things - rents are going up, bad businesses are failing and some sort of new equilibrium is reached. As someone who has been regularly working there for several years, I too find it annoying and disruptive at times so I can empathize with wanting some peace and quiet.

WatchBagDVD

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:54:19 +0700

Earth people, New York and California Earth people, I was born on Jupiter

EL JEFE

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:43:21 +0700

Some people criticize things no matter where they are. It's called having a brain.

EL JEFE

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:42:18 +0700

I agree with Comrade Lee: we were all better off in 1982.

LeeLi

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:34:13 +0700

nanhy what i said to watch shit all day applies to you as well. you are just the same kind !

LeeLi

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:31:57 +0700

watch shit all day all you know is going to Xintiandi ! fucken dumb, Xintiandi is way behind the trendy places to club now in shanghai !! it became a place for the tourists many years ago !! but well, a dumb fuck like you have no sense of what is NEW and what is OLD ! Same goes to the image you have with China !! you still living in the PAST !!

LeeLi

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:28:41 +0700

watch dvd all day = a forigner living and working in China, and is critising China and Chinese everyday. what a sucker of the earth! tell me where you come from, you are a disgrace of your country !

WatchBagDVD

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:00:36 +0700

I guess at least it's somewhat better a model of "progress" than either simply leveling a neighborhood and putting up another giant retail-office-residential complex or doing a high-end international brand-name theme-park simulacrum like Xintiandi.* But yeah, it's definitely the same basic gentrification story. *Not that I don't spend a few RMB at Xintiandi now and then.

nanheyangrouchuan

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:52:33 +0700

@ T, Especially when you consider how many middle aged and older people live around there.

T

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:50:41 +0700

this isn't a china story, it's a gentrification story. not that taikang lu is harlem above 135th or Houston's Fifth Ward or anything, but it's the same story. Yuppies coming into a neighborhood, upsetting everyone with their cafes and art galleries and design studios and saying they really like the neighborhood, and then slowly making it so expensive that the original residents can't afford to live there anymore.* *I'm just as guilty in partaking in gentrification related cafe-sitting and scrennplay writing as the next urban-ist reader, but one does cringe at the stomping all over the current residents in the name of "progress"

vibroverbus

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:20:25 +0700

i was there with my afraid too. my very afraid.

Jake Newby

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:04:10 +0700

@hotshotdebut The banners were there from lunchtime (at least) and the police started taking them down about 2pm. The whole incident lasted around an hour

nanheyangrouchuan

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:17:25 +0700

The middle aged people must be harmonized!

ryeguy98

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:42:58 +0700

Send in the stormtroppers!

hotshotdebut

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:04:47 +0700

What time did it happened? I was there with my afraid around 3.