Taken @ west jian guo road,shanghai
This is my new neighborhood. This is the very nice block built by some French architects in 1930. You could see its French name and the year they built. Since I live in the French Concession, I quite like observe the old/new houses on the streets. Because of the so big event, everywhere now you could smell the dust -workers are busy painting/refreshing the old houses in the old areas. But while I smell those dust on my way everyday, I quite miss the feeling on the unchanged streets that some laundry were hanged out of the windows swinging in the air, sometimes you smelled some nice dishes now and then. You could feel there was life. But now every streets are cleaned / painted /decorated with some fake “old-style” surface, people were forced to move out. Somehow I cant feel its alive any more.
How to keep the history while trying to develop? I believe it is not a very easy problem to solve. I hope someday I still could find the nice Shanghai Linong life here. 
That’s so pretty! I’m going to be in Shanghai this summer, and a lot of guidebooks have talked about the French Concession. Is it worth seeing?
Great to see a bit of the history of the city. This blog captures a bit of everything of Shanghai life
What a nice shot! Thanks for your vivid description of the life there. Miss the years back home.
How to preserve the historical things when we are developing. I don’t know. It’s a tough question. But I guess maybe the government zoning ordiance may help – set certain area that old buildings can not be torn down and no new building can be put up, unless it keeps the old style conforming with the theme there.