Tale of two towns: Betrayal, solidarity mark Qibao’s past
Print Edition
UNTIL his death last year at age 78, Shen Weibin had lived in Qibao Town his entire life. A history professor at Fudan University, he had devoted his career to modern Chinese history, including the history of his own hometown.
On the first anniversary of his death last month, the book “Collected Works of Shen Weibin” was published.
“Qibao means ‘seven treasures,’ and Shen Weibin was the eighth treasure,” said book’s prologue, written by the local government.
Shen was born on North Street and later in the Baolong neighborhood on Yutang Street.
“His feelings toward the town are entirely different from those of visitors,” said longtime friend Wang Xiaojian, a Minhang writer and history researcher. “He witnessed so much change in the town over the decades. His feelings were complicated.”
Shen left Qibao only twice — once to serve in the army and once to attend college.
Before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, his family ran a small restaurant in Qibao. As a primary school student, Shen was interested in art and expected to pursue that in his studies and career.
But that dream was shattered after he graduated from junior high school and was turned down by an art school because of his eyes were defective in color recognition.
That defect, however, didn’t keep him out of the army. After demobilization, he studied history at Shanghai Normal University, returning to Qibao as a high school teacher after graduation.
In was in 1971, while teaching, he found himself suddenly denounced as a “counter-revolutionary” and was detained in a cell for several years.
“The incident made him realize that even in a small town like Qibao, relationships between people were complicated,” said Wang. “He didn’t know what he’d done wrong. To have been betrayed by someone in the town really shocked him.”
Shen decided to take advantage of the “jail time” to write something. On toilet paper, he began writing a history Qibao Town.
After his release, Shen was assigned to Fudan University as a lecturer. The university and Qibao were on opposite ends of Shanghai, and he had to spend two hours a day in buses commuting between home and work.
Colleagues and friends all expected him to pull up stakes and move closer to the campus. But he chose to remain in Qibao.
“In spite of everything, it was still his hometown and he loved it,” said Wang.
In the 1990s, when redevelopment of Qibao was under discussion, Shen took an active interest. One proposal sought the turn the old town into a tourist site; another sought to build a modern, new city in its place. Shen was angered by the latter idea.
“He loathed it,” said Wang. “He argued that it would be disastrous to replace the old town with a new one. ‘This is an old town, and once it’s removed, it would be gone forever!’ he said.”
Wang and Shen became colleagues in promoting a plan to restore Old Street in Qibao.
“He always wore a plaid shirt and jeans, and I often teased him that he didn’t dress like a history professor,” said Wang. “But he was very devoted to the work, and I respected him for that very much.”
Shen knew that archaic facilities in the town, like the lack of indoor toilets, needed upgrading. But he didn’t want to lose the old construction styles in the process.
“Every time he made suggestions, it felt like his ideas were not just for restoring the town but also renovating his own home,” said Wang.
In 2000, the plan for restoring Qibao Old Street was agreed. The structure of the old street was to be kept intact, while modern amenities were to be introduced to improve the living quality of local residents.
“I think it says something that Shen’s name is always linked with the town,” said Wang. “Even his colleagues with Fudan called him ‘Shen Weibin from Qibao.’ It reflected the deep love he had for the town.”
In the newly published book, the town government’s prologue called Shen “a cultural representative of the town.”
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