Xuhui gets tasteful facelift from the past
Print Edition
RUN-DOWN neighborhoods in Xuhui District are being beautified along historic themes in an innovative trial program to make the area better for residents and visitors alike, district officials said yesterday.
The themes are being chosen to suit the history of the five neighborhoods along Hengshan and Fuxing roads, which include many historic villas built between the 1920s and the 1940s and which were home to famous artists and academics.
They are being repainted in original colors and the structures are being stabilized.
The themes include traditional opera and former homes of celebrities and famous academics, said Shen Peiqing, deputy director with the Tianping residential community of Xuhui, where most of the city’s historic villas stand.
The district government has designed several routes in the neighborhoods for visitors from both home and abroad to walk or cycle across and enjoy the scenery of the historic buildings.
The neighborhood at 170 Yueyang Road, for instance, is being turned into the Traditional Chinese Opera Lane because the Shanghai Jingju (Peking Opera) Theater Company is next to the neighborhood, Shen said.
The opera troupe is helping to make miniature Peking Opera scenes in the gardens of the neighborhood, while the history of traditional Chinese operas will be illustrated with some exhibitions.Ivies are also being planted on the walls and villas, she added.
Previously, the neighborhood was in a shabby state, with crumbling roads and walls. Some streets had been turned into public car parks, said Niu Qiuyong, a resident who has been living in the neighborhood for over a decade.
The residential community has demolished illegal structures, rebuilt the road and planted many trees in the neighborhood. Shen said further renovation was underway to turn it into the “Opera Lane.”
And plum trees, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemum, which are known as the “Four Gentlemen”, will be planted in the neighborhood to symbolize nobility.
The neighborhood at 581 Jianguo Road W is being turned into the Academicians Lane because 24 renowned academicians once lived in the small neighborhood with only 37 households.
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