Coming Down Alert – Yuezhou Road in the Borderlands
Posted: May 31st, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Yuezhou Road (formerly Yoochow Road) along the two blocks between Baoding Road and Zhoushan Road (Paoting and Chusan Roads) is one of those great northern border roads that was close to the northern edge of the International Settlement, just north of the former Jewish ghetto and almost on the border between Hongkou (Hongkew) and Yangpu (Yangtszepoo) districts. It is now almost done for – the northern side of the street was entirely cleared in the 1990s to be replaced with a series of jerry built tower blocks that will last another decade if they’re lucky and the winters aren’t too harsh.Everything on the southern side blocks that isn’t already gone is now chai-ed and will be going in the next few weeks or months.
Some of the few remaining older low level buildings along Yoochow Road
with a few nice modernist entrance arches
There are also a few nice commercial structures (this one a merchant’s warehouse I believe) also remain…
But, as you can see, the western end of this building has been adorned with the dreaded chai sign indicating imminent demolition
some clearance has already revealed some interesting architectural details – though these structure (in quite good condition) are already truncated by a somewhat less attractive structure that is being thrown up behind
Paul,
I like your blog and appreciate your efforts to document the hidden gems of Shanghai’s past.
You really deserve a better camera, though. Or have you ever thought of working with some of the very talented Shanghai-based photographers to properly photograph these buildings before they come down?
Richard
I just stick up scrappy shots to catch stuff as I wander around during the course of my day. There are a few photographers who then pop along if they have time and take better photos – see Sue Anne Tay’s blog (on my blogroll) and some of the links she has to various photographers.