Home » Feature » Art and Culture
Fabric market once thronged with locals
Print Edition
The Shanghai South Bund Soft-Spinning Materials Market, better known as the South Bund Fabric Market to foreign visitors, is one of the most popular destinations of both expats and foreign tourists.
“Now, it is very fancy. In my time, it was much cheaper and localized,” says 62-year-old Xu Jiaodi, who used to live in the area.
At the time, even the old outdoor market didn’t exist. It was just a street filled with lots of fabric vendors, she recalls. “I had my wedding dress made at one of the tailors. My three sisters and two cousins all had their dresses made at the same vendor.”
Shanghai tailors were famous and considered the best, and Shanghai was considered China’s most fashionable, just as it is today.
“Visiting the tailor was one of the few luxurious things we could do back in the day,” Xu says.
She hasn’t been to the new market for almost five years, since she considers the prices too high, “driven by foreign travelers.” Shop owners say around a third of their customers are locals.
Today’s market started in 2006, around the time the old Dongjiadu Fabric Market, only 500 meters away, was demolished to make way for a residential community. Most vendors moved to the better-equipped new venue.
The new market retained many old customers and continued to attract foreign clients drawn by low prices, variety, versatile tailors and wide use of English.
“For everyone who comes to Shanghai, it’s like you have to get something tailor-made, or else it’s a wasted trip,” says Australian language student Hayden Blain, who favors the market to get designer-style clothing at a fraction of what it would cost him back in Australia.
The fabric market is right in the center of Dongjiadu, or Dong’s Dock, an area populated as early as the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Shanghai became more prominent as a city and its shipping industry flourished. Docks along the Huangpu River developed rapidly.
The surrounding Dongjiadu area, dominated by the wood products workshops and stores, was one of the fastest-growing since it was close to both the river and the train station in the south.
In late 17th century, wealthy businessmen started free regular ferry service from Dongjiadu to Tangqiao area in Pudong. As the demand grew, it became a commercial route for paying passengers and cargo.
In the early 20th century, the dock was already a major water entry into Shanghai, carrying around 10,000 ferry passengers a day. An official ferry line started in 1933, running every six minutes.
In the 1980s, shortly after China’s reform and open-up policy started, dozens of small shop owners and street vendors rushed into Dongjiadu area. Soon two large markets were formed, the fruit market and the fabric market, both gradually becoming well known city wide for high quality and low prices.
“Hearing about the new fabric market makes me feel nostalgic about the old times, long before the fruit market was demolished along with many old lanes and residential areas,” Xu recalls.
(Nicole Chang contributed to this story.)
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
