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September 20, 2016

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Home » District » Minhang

Tides of change: ‘excited about the future, nostalgic about the past’

By Guo Mintian | September 20, 2016, Tuesday | Print Edition

EDITOR’S Note:

Human development in the past century has been dramatic, but it seems that the faster we go forward, the more we become interested in the past. Minhang, covering 370 square kilometers, is a tiny spot on the map, but it looms large as a bellwether of both change and nostalgia. Shanghai Daily has compiled the stories of Minhang locals to record the history of the district in a new series entitled “Minhang Geographic.” The stories are told in the voices of those sharing their memories. In this story, a resident who grew up in Xinzhuang recalls the changes that transformed the hometown of his childhood.

In 1988 when I was four, I left my grandmother’s home in the down­town Changning District to move to Xinzhuang with my parents. I lived there for 28 years until I went to the United States to study.

When I first moved there, Xinzhuang wasn’t part of Minhang. It belonged to what was then called Shanghai County. During the second half of 1991, rumors started circulating that Shanghai County would lose its identity in an administra­tive amalgamation.

Although I was only a child, memories of Shanghai County remain with me. My elementary school was called Shanghai County Experimental School, and its nameplate still hangs on the gate of the old campus.

Thinking back on my childhood, I also remember watching ants crawling around the front door in summer. I can still see street vendors selling straw mats in the neighborhood, the milk boxes and the little grocery stores where locals chatted as well as shopped.

Back then, the biggest store in Xin­zhuang was Haixing Department Store. No store in the area could compete with it. It was an exciting place to visit, but my family couldn’t afford most of the merchandise sold there.

At the intersection of Xinling and Xinsong roads was the old county seat. County facilities were all located there, including the post office, a stadium and a children’s palace.

On Children’s Day in 1992, I attended an event at the children’s palace. I don’t remember the event itself but I do recall the snaking long lines of people in the yard, moving forward inch by inch.

The area also had the best hotel in the county back then — the 2-star hotel Xin­jian Hotel. Every year during the annual session of the County People’s Congress, the hotel was bustling with activity and people.

In 1993, Shanghai County went into the history books. The county was merged into the old Minhang District, and Xinzhuang became the seat of the new district government.

My elementary school changed its name to Minhang District Experimental School. That felt a bit odd at the time, but it also marked a new beginning.

One of my happiest memories of that time was the white Xinzhuang Movie Theater, built to commemorate the administrative merger. The theater had two big halls and was one of the best cinemas anywhere around. I frequently went there to watch movies like “The Lion King” and “Toy Story.”

Of course, nowadays, nearly every shopping mall has fancy cinemas featur­ing modern technologies like 3D.

When I returned from the US, I went to a cinema on the fourth floor of Shanghai Sky Mall to watch “The Avengers.” After the movie ended, I was walking through the empty mall at midnight when, sud­denly, memories of the old Xinzhuang Movie Theater flooded back.

If the administrative demise of Shanghai County was the first step in Xinzhuang’s development, the extension of Metro Line 1 was the next.

Residential complexes mushroomed around the Xinzhuang Metro Station and the concept of “Metro line real estate” started to take root in commercial circles.

But in the beginning, the new station sat on almost empty land. There was only one bus between the station and nearby residential areas. I remember having to walk a mile or two to get to the station.

I still recall the summer afternoon when I walked out of the station into a dark, threatening sky overhead. Sud­denly, torrential rain beat down. The experience left me feeling off-stride for days.

In 1999, there was a National Day cel­ebration in the newly built north square of the station. It included fireworks and a performance of a show called “Golden Reputation,” starring Shanghai comedi­ans Wang Rugang and Li Jiusong. The two of them were very popular in TV sitcoms back then, and I was surprised to see such big-name stars appearing in Minhang.

Once development took hold in Xinzhuang, it accelerated at a breathless pace. After 2000, changes in lifestyle happened so fast that we hardly realized what was happening.

In the first half of 2003, I bought 30 cassette tapes in Xinhua Bookstore in the town. Later that year, I heard about a website called Joyo, now owned by Amazon, and I bought my very first CD album on it.

Soon Xinhua Bookstore fell out of favor and the once glorious Haixing Department Store jumped the shark. No one cared. Grander malls started to ap­pear in the area, which suddenly became as busy as a downtown area.

I don’t go to Xinzhuang much nowa­days, but when I do, I don’t recognize the place anymore.

The Shanghai Folk Musical Instrument Factory I once visited as a student is gone, replaced by a shopping mall. The children’s palace has been rebuilt as an emergency rescue center. Neighborhoods that were once new, such as Xinsong and Lumei, have now become the “old towns” of Xinzhuang.

The Xinhua Bookstore has shut down. The vendor who used to sell kebabs in front of the bookstore managed to ex­pand his business. I heard that he moved his booth to a store near the old Haixing Department Store and started to provide free Wi-Fi to customers.

Recently, an old friend of mine said he spotted the inscription “Shanghai County” on a manhole cover and it almost brought tears to his eyes.

The past has been washed away by a swift tide. Xinzhuang will no doubt un­dergo even more changes. That makes me feel both excited about the future and nostalgic about the past.

(Compiled by Lu Feiran) 

Minhang


 

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