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Shanghai’s Rather Forgotten Dachang Airfield

Posted: June 28th, 2022 | 2 Comments »

Looking back at Shanghai’s history we mostly all remember Longhua (Lunghwa) Airfield (and the adjacent Civilian Internment Camp) to the south, Hongqiao (Hungjao) Aerodrome to the west, Jiangwan Airfield to the northeast, and the far flung Pudong much later. But rarely do people remember Dachang Airfield to the northwest around Baoshan (Paoshan). For a long time the airfield remained and was used occasionally as an emergency runway, a test runway and by the air force. As the Baoshan/Zhabei area rose up as a nest of hi-rises the airfield remained controlled by the airforce, annoying both the local politicians who wanted the land to build on (and so enrich thesmelves and their property developer cronies, such is the basic land/profit/Party nexus of Shanghai, and locals occasionally woken by randomly landing and taking off planes.

Of course visits to Shanghai are a bit tricky at the moment so I when i was looking at a 1985 guide to Shanghai the other day i wondered if Dachang has survived or been swallowed up with more Ballardian hi-rises? Anyone who knows please do drop me a line…


2 Comments on “Shanghai’s Rather Forgotten Dachang Airfield”

  1. 1 Shen said at 10:20 am on June 29th, 2022:

    Check this:

    https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E5%A4%A7%E5%9C%BA%E6%9C%BA%E5%9C%BA

    It’s said to have been officially closed by early 2021 . Other news and blogs about DaChang can be found at:

    https://www.163.com/dy/article/GQNAOLF10552E8NI.html

    https://www.sgss8.com/tpdq/18745298/1.htm

    Feel free to use Google translate to access the contents.

  2. 2 Paul French said at 4:28 pm on June 29th, 2022:

    thanks


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