Once upon a time, way back in the days when the Song dynasty discovered oil in Hangzhou* and moved south, a nearby fishing community called Hutu (also sometimes called Hudu) found itself strategically situated and soon became home to several the bigwigs from up north. After a short time, the fishers became traders and the traders became pajama-wearin' xiao long bao-guzzlin' urbanites. All was peaceful for a time in Shanghai, as Hutu became known, but just a short ways away on the East China Sea evil Japanese pirates hatched nefarious plots of rape and pillage. And so in 1553 Ming officials decreed an enormous wall 5 kilometers in length and eight meters high to be built around the city. The wall had a 20 meter wide moat, soldier outposts, four gates, and six sluice ways. The people rejoiced and the pirates sailed back to Japan in search of ladders. more ›