Coming Down Alert – Seward Road East and Sinkeipang Road in Hongkew

Over Chinese New Year the last corner buildings (the north east corner to be precise) at the heavily bulldozed and widened junction of Dong Changzhi Road (Seward Road East) and Xinjian Road (Sinkeipang Road) in eastern Hongkou (Hongkew) were smashed into. Xinjian was a narrow, and actually originally rather insignificant, road prior to road widening to allow for greater traffic access north-south. Seward Road East ran into the Jewish Ghetto and was home to several Jewish businesses in the 1930s and early 1940s including Freundlich Tailors at 899 and the  Harpuder block ice business at 978.

The loss of this corner is especially sad because a number of blocks in the vicinity, including the one just gone, and others still remaining (but obviously now highly vulnerable) nearby were only recently refurbished to a pretty high standard with new interiors, UPVC windows with double glazing, roof tiles, new communal rubbish bins, security entry gates and repainted exteriors. That was only a couple of years ago as part of the general Shanghai tart up for EXPO.