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Reimaging the gates of the old city
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Soon after Shanghai opened its port to foreign trade in 1843, foreign concessions were built to accommodate the increasing foreign population. The old city of Shanghai, in its southern sector, became a counterpart of the concessions in the north.
The old city almost overlaps with former Nanshi District, which was later merged into today’s Huangpu District. The original walls of the old city were built in 1553 to defend against Japanese pirates, who robbed and killed along the coast.
Six city gates were built in the same year, the Dadongmen (Great East Gate 大东门), the Dananmen (Great South Gate 大南门), the Laoximen (Old West Gate 老西门), the Laobeimen (Old North Gate 老北门), the Xiaodongmen (Little East Gate 小东门) and the Xiaonanmen (Little South Gate 小南门), followed by three more — the Xiaoximen (Little West Gate 小西门), the Xiaobeimen (Little North Gate 小北门) and the Xinbeimen (New North Gate 新北门) in 1909.
City gates have always been among most crowded and fastest-developed areas in China. In the old days, the bigger the city, the more numerous the gates. Most cities have four gates, one in each direction, and large cities often open a smaller gate for each of the four to accommodate the great inflow and outflow of crowds.
All of Shanghai’s original gates are long gone, but public bus No. 11 still runs through all the original sites and keeps the old station names of the gates.
The Laoximen, at the corner of Fuxing Road E. and Zhonghua Road, is commonly considered the original site and heart of Shanghai, because it has always been the site of the Old Town.
The area developed especially fast as a counterpart to the crowded foreign concessions and became one of the most-visited places in Shanghai. It was filled with temples, shopping malls, cinemas, parks and other entertainment venues.
The Dongdamen, near today’s eastern end of Fuxing Road E., was connected with the Laoximen through former Zhaojiabang River, now filled in as Zhaojiabang Road. The river was the major water pathway carrying grain and other products into the city.
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