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In pictures: The changing face of Shanghai

While Shanghai has experienced an economic boom, many remain struggling with poverty.

This area, little more than swamp and farmland two decades ago, has experienced rapid growth since the 1990s and is now considered China(***)s commercial hub.
By Dave Tacon
Published On 8 Dec 20128 Dec 2012
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“Seen from the river, towering above their couchant guardian warships, the semi-skyscrapers of the Bund present, impressively, the façade of a great city. But it is only a façade. Behind them is a sordid and shabby mob of smaller buildings. Nowhere a fine avenue, a spacious park, an imposing central square. Nowhere anything civic at all.”  
– WH Auden and Christopher Isherwood (A Journey to War)

Few modern cities have experienced such profound transformation as Shanghai. At the time of the publication of A Journey to War, in 1939, 75 per cent of Shanghai’s more than eight million residents lived in longtangs [lit “lane interiors”] – tiny laned houses based on English tenements.

Fifty years later, while war and revolution had banished the foreign powers who built the historic Bund, the majority of Shanghai’s residents still lived in such penghuqu [“basic houses”].
 
In the 1990s, however, Deng Xiaoping’s daring policies of economic reform brought a wave of change to the city, not seen since the days of international settlement.

Low-rise slums gave way to high-rise apartment blocks, while some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers rose in Pudong, opposite the Bund, dominating the Shanghai skyline and signalling its return as an economic powerhouse – this time on Chinese terms.
 
Yet Shanghai remains a city of contrasts. Despite the extraordinary growth and achievements of the Chinese economy, a gulf still exists between Shanghai’s richest and poorest residents.
 

An increasing number of Chinese are embracing consumer culture with seemingly unbridled enthusiasm as China(***)s population becomes increasingly affluent.
Few modern cities have experienced such a profound transformation as Shanghai.
An overpass lined with neon lights is the dominant feature near Sanmen metro station and its surrounding shopping malls.
Low-rise slums have given way to high-rise apartments.
Shangai remains a city of contrasts - not all the population enjoys urbane benefits, many keep struggling with crushing poverty.
Despite the difficulties, the value of the family is the pinnacle of society.
Some of the world(***)s tallest skyscrapers are in Pudong, opposite the Bund, dominating the Shanghai skyline.
Shanghai is regaining its reputation as one of the world(***)s most extravagant cities. Number 88, playground of the city(***)s "new rich", is one of its most decadent nightclubs.
A jogger runs along the Bund, past the Pudong skyline at dusk, enjoying the magnificence of the skyscrapers.
Despite the transformation Shanghai has experienced, many of the city(***)s residents live in "penghuqu" - basic houses.
A gulf continues to exist between Shanghai(***)s richest and poorest residents.
Not everyone can afford the high costs of basic services.


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