IN time for World Expo next year Beiyu Road at Beixinjing Town in Changning District will be turned into a folk street where visitors will experience the fun and culture of Shanghai of the 1920s and 1930s. Fei Lai takes a stroll through memories and dreams.

The traditions and culture left by our ancestors are an often intangible part of the way we enjoy life today. Shanghai, a modern city busy preparing to provide the world an unforgettable experience at the World Expo 2010, is also remembering the customs and culture of old Shanghai which it will proudly show off to the visitors from home and abroad.

Beiyu Road at Beixinjing Town in Changning District will be turned into a folk street, a place where the atmosphere is so real, visitors might well believe they have entered a time machine and gone back to the Shanghai of the 1920s and 1930s.

"A typical street from old Shanghai will be reproduced here, and it will offer everything from stores of old brands to shop assistants wearing quaint costumes, from traditional cuisines to old ways of attracting customers," says Song Congjun, vice director of the Beixinjing Community Office.

"People will be able to experience the real old Shanghai moving about them rather than being lifeless and still. The experience will begin the minute visitors take one step into the street -- that's what we are endeavoring to achieve."

When the street is completed next year just before Expo, it will be an ideal starting point for newcomers as well as local residents who want to learn more about the folk culture and tradition of this definitively modern city.

Merging traditional food, clothes, architecture and lifestyles, the street will become an open window through which people can taste the charms of old Shanghai.

Running 800 meters, the road will be divided into three sections. The northern part is where people can experience art, while the southern part is a well-planned green area.

It will be highlighted by 29 stores in the old Shanghai styles selling traditional articles and cuisines.

Ten will be old-fashioned boutiques selling bamboo and wooden wares, chopsticks, bedding, silks and satins and lanterns.

Three restaurants and five snack bars will offer the genuine local delicacies that constantly delight the taste buds in the city.

As well as small stuffed buns, dumplings, fried plain buns and wontons which are well known, the street will offer a special goat soup which is best taken with wine. It was once a very popular dish in the town and old people always say that eating the goat meat in summer is good for the body.

The street will also have chess and poker rooms and two teahouses where people can enjoy the essence of the mah-jong and tea culture.

Shopping may well become an artistic pursuit. The fabric stores will present folk dyeing techniques with a variety of patterns and colors. Xijiao Peasant Painting, which is believed by many locals to have been around for about a century, will be for sale.

Anyone who is interested in traditional Chinese medicine can head to Zhihetang, a famous old drugstore, which will tell visitors about using herbs and their benefits.

The souvenir shops will offer old calendars, posters featuring famous singers and movie stars from old Shanghai and music.

"The street itself is a museum. Every element is being reproduced to create a touch of reality," says official Song from the Beixinjing Community Office. "Even small articles such as road signs, shop signs, litter bins, night lights are designed in the old Shanghai style."

Three times a month, temple fairs will be held at the venue. On traditional Chinese festivals like the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lantern Festival and Spring Festival, special performances and celebrations will be held to brush up on the old customs.

As well special events like a kite-flying festival, tea festival, porcelain festival and bamboo festival will be arranged.

"It is actually a stage where local folk artists can showcase their skills and performances," Song says. "We want students, artists and craftsman to bring their creative works and ideas with a focus on folk customs and culture."

Take Metro Line 2 and get off at Beixinjing Station to get to Beiyu Road. With easy access, the local government believes the venue will satisfy people's dreams for a true touch of old Shanghai. Folk flavors and more at Changning Center Fei Lai

Perhaps you don't want to wait until next year to enjoy an old Shanghai experience. Here is an option. You can sample the flavors of old Shanghai any day at the Changning Folk Culture Center, where you can find a 50-meter traditional Shanghai street.

Covering more than 200 square meters, this Beixinjing Town attraction will stir long-forgotten memories for older residents and open a door for the younger generation to learn about the past.

Here 25 small shops have been faithfully reproduced, selling cigarettes, rice, cloth, snacks and meat.

The shop assistants are mostly volunteers from communities in Beixinjing. Dressing in old Shanghai costumes, they speak the Shanghai dialect, which adds a colorful sound to the scene.

Visitors can look over a barber's shop, a bathhouse, a local bank, a tavern, a fortune-telling stall, a pawnbroker's and a shoeshine stand.

"One of the highlights is the interaction between the shop assistants and visitors," says Gu Fuguo, the director of the Changning Folk Culture Center. "People can also rent traditional costumes here and take pictures wherever they want."

A traditional stage is set up at the street for folk operas and performances even of xiaorehun. Xiaorehun, a talking and singing story-telling art is believed to have originated from street newspaper sellers in Hangzhou at the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). They would dramatically read out loud the choicest bits from newspapers. It used to be popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai.

Usually, it involves two performers with a gong -- it is also known as "small gong story-telling." Gu says the art form is now facing extinction.

"Folk art like xiaorehun needs to be protected. It is a treasure for the future generations," he says. "The center shoulders the responsibility of promoting folk customs, folk art and culture."

For folk culture enthusiasts, the center is great. Salons on dancing, calligraphy, painting, shadow play, flour doll making and a variety of operas are held regularly.

"Folk culture should be something that expats in Shanghai have an interest in," Gu says. "We look forward to having more foreign friends visit here. English guides will be available to translate."


Changning Folk Culture Center

Address: 201 Tianshan Rd W.

Tel: 5218-9085