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December 18, 2018

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Home sweet home: changes for the better

In the 1980s, most Shanghai residents lived in cramped quarters provided by employers. Life was described as “rites within a snail’s shell,” an expression paying tribute to how Shanghai people could perform the most complicated operations in the most inadequate of spaces.

The average per-capita living space was 4.5 square meters, among the lowest in China.

That figure today falls just shy of 37 square meters, thanks to a series of housing policy reforms that led to massive resettlement campaigns driven by urban redevelopment.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to official statistics, one-fourth of residents used public corridors as kitchens, over half used chamber pots and 40 percent used coal stoves for cooking.

Suzhou Creek in the northern downtown is a prime example of the transformation that has occurred. The riverside site formerly known as Liangwan Yizhai, or “two bays and a residence,” was one of the city’s most notorious downtown shantytowns until 1999.

It has been replaced by Zhongyuan Liangwan (Brilliant City), a high-end commercial residential community housing about 30,000 residents.

While some people lament the disappearance of the old Shanghai neighborhoods, those who had to live in them are truly glad to have more space, privacy and indoor plumbing.

Jie Zhengqin has been living on the riverside for over five decades. Her family of six lived in wretched conditions until they moved into a modern high-rise apartment in Liangwan.

“I have a deep emotional bond to the riverside community where I was born, but I was also pleased to see it disappear,” said Jie.

She is among the over 8,800 households who lived for decades in an area without a hospital, private bathrooms or even a paved road.

In tiny, shared spaces, they used large communal “tiger stoves” to heat water and cooked over coal.

On rainy days, the old timber shacks leaked. The whole site was dirty and smelly, Jie recalled.

In narrow public walkways outdoors, two people couldn’t pass at the same time. Near neighbors often put a board between their houses to share meals called “sky bridge dinners.”

In 1998, the city government launched a redevelopment campaign in the largest downtown shantytown. More than 10,000 families were relocated from the riverside area to make room for new building work.

Citywide, over a million households had been relocated by 2000. By then, the city government had demolished 3.65 million square meters of derelict housing. In its place, modern residential high-rises and up-market retail zones were built.

Shanghai aims to renovate the remaining 2.4 million square meters of old residential buildings by 2020. It is halfway there.

The transformation is credited to the bold reforms initiated by former national leader Deng Xiaoping.

Among the discarded old practices was the housing-allocation welfare system, under which employees of state-owned companies rented homes at minimal cost but could not own property.

In the early 1990s, the government began to encourage individual home ownership. In 1991, Shanghai set up a public housing fund that provides mortgages at rates lower than those of commercial lenders.

On the back of policy changes, a dynamic housing market sprang up.

Gao Baoquan, former director of the housing construction in Luwan District before it merged with Huangpu District, recalled how a Hong Kong-based developer became the first to complete a relocation project in 1992.

China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd invested 80 million yuan (US$11.6 million) to relocate more than 1,000 residents, 20 factories and shops in the former Xiesan Block on Xujiahui Road. The developer replaced the shantytown with four 31-floor residential buildings named Haihua Garden.

“The project became an example for other relocation projects,” Gao said.

For the Putuo project, China Prospect, the Shanghai-based property subsidiary of China’s largest shipping group COSCO, took over the riverside land. It invested about 2.4 billion yuan to relocate residents and develop Liangwan.

The 160,000-square-meter residential area includes a park and a 2-kilometer greenbelt along the creek.

Some 60 developers from home and abroad declined the project after visiting the dilapidated site, recalled Tan Boyuan, former Putuo Party secretary.

China Prospect’s decision proved to be a visionary one, Tan said. The average housing price in Liangwan has risen to over 70,000 yuan per square meter from 3,500 yuan per square meter when the project was completed. Many residents like Jie spent their relocation compensation purchasing homes in Liangwan to move back to their birthplace.

The relocation campaign continues today. In the latest project, 5,680 households living in the shadow of the Bund Financial Center skyscraper beside Yuyuan Garden are being relocated. Their old, derelict houses on Fuyou Road are part of the largest remaining downtown residential community yet to be renovated.

The relocation campaigns have been a boon to outer areas of the city. The rural land near Gucun Park and Meilan Lake in northern Baoshan, for instance, have become lively new towns with schools, hospitals and supermarkets. Metro lines provide a convenient shuttle service to downtown areas.

The Taopu area on the western rural-urban fringe received many of the residents relocated from Suzhou Creek. It is turning into a “smart city” featuring innovation businesses.

The bulldozers have not obliterated all of Shanghai’s past. Historical neighborhoods that can be saved are being rehabilitated.

The Huangpu District government has promised to retain some old houses on the Fuyou Road block from relocation orders to preserve the city’s lane-style neighborhoods.

“Only obsolete structures with no historical value will be demolished,” said Gao Yun, Huangpu Party secretary.

The city government has plans to protect about 90 percent of the remaining downtown lane neighborhoods. About 7.3 million square meters of residential space 50 years or older will be preserved.

In a few cases, some residents will be relocated. Those who remain will enjoy more spacious living conditions. Most relocated residents receive cash compensation and are free to purchase new homes near where they once lived.

Every year, Jie and her son watch the Suzhou Creek dragon boat race, held right beside the community. Jie said she feels lucky to be able to remain in her old area but with much better living conditions.

“My son used to hate the dirty smelly creek, but now it’s all cleaned up and he wouldn’t miss the annual race for anything,” she said.




 

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