All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French

RIP Lane 185 Jinan Road

Posted: March 13th, 2015 | No Comments »

As long as this blog’s been going I’ve been occasionally posting on the long term destruction around the faux-old Xintiandi development in Shanghai. Anyone evenly fairly conversant with the way things work in Shanghai will know that eventually nothing in that area will survive and it’s been going down at a rate of knots for nearly two decades now. It’s a tragedy; it’s civic vandalism; it’s a city stripping itself of its heritage down to every last brick. Still, the awfulness of the destruction of Lane 185 Jinan Road No.2 off Fuxing Road (that’s formerly Rue Bluntschli and Rue Lafayette in the old French Concession) is heart rending. Sue Anne Tay, of the excellent Shanghai Street Stories blog, has published some great photographs of the lane before it meets the bulldozers imminently….

As she notes:

This is it people, those who have not had a chance to admire the few gems in Lane 185 Jinan Lu No 2 (济南路185弄20号) off Fuxing Lu (复兴路), south of Xintiandi, go while they are tearing it down. The first house, now taken over by the demolition office, has intricate wooden panels, ceilings and beams reflecting the Eight Immortals (八仙), bats and peaches. Down the lane is the elaborate and grand shikumen entrance House of Yi (yi is ease of pleasure) (逸庐). Lovely shikumen with hanging stone pavilions, elaborate motifs etc.

1

2

3

4

5



Leave a Reply