Urban exploration on wheels

What is the oldest structure in Shanghai? On the bike, I was wondering about that, but back at home googling I discovered it’s a pillar in Songjiang. I wonder if this sea dike (南宋古海塘遗址) — albeit hidden in the water is in the top 10. I’m not sure why I’m drawn to this stuff — but it was a nice target for a bike ride today. I asked a shushu fishing there if he knew anything about the dike, and he said he didn’t — neither did an ayi living nearby.

I think it’s better to come back here when the water level is a bit lower, and I may be able to see a bit more of it. (On Dianping, there are photos with a lot more of the structure visible.)

Then the same day, I went to a closed Carrefour in the area. I remember some tweets about Carrefour doing really bad in China but I was like “But I go to Carrefour all the time?” Well, that Carrefour looks like this now. The baoan was watching his phone, I cycled to the top floor — but when I wanted to look downstairs he saw me and said I shouldn’t be there.

This isn’t even in a dead area of Shanghai. A lot of construction is ongoing here. (I don’t think there are empty areas in Shanghai.) My guess is that they cannot build a new office out of an old supermarket & parking garage.

 

Latest

Clothes Making Clouds

Clothes Making Clouds

There are so many ways to define Shanghai, yet a few popular icons do a lot of the talking. As the international metropolis and a symbol of China’s rising economic power, there’s the Lujiazui (陆家嘴) skyline — with the Oriental Pearl Tower (东方明珠) and high offices of Chinese and multinational corporations. There’s the Maglev train […]
May 5, 2026
Passing on the Baton

Passing on the Baton

Day 2876 in Shanghai and I’m walking with Hasse on Dongdaming Road (东大名路) in the Hongkou district. In 2018, I lived next to this road; here I registered my first Chinese bank account, bought my first baozi in a FamilyMart, and it’s here that I photographed so many random things because Shanghai was all new […]
April 13, 2026
Arriving at an emotion

Arriving at an emotion

Before moving to China, I wondered what it’d be like to live in an entirely different environment — and it was the same for holidays like Cambodia or Vietnam, or when Hasse was born. You try to imagine these things and how they’d make you feel, how you’d react, or what they’re like. But everytime […]
April 10, 2026
People of Nantong

People of Nantong

I’m carrying Hasse around in Nantong (南通), in the historical block surrounded by the Haohe River (濠河) — while Eva in the hospital visits a sick relative. Hasse, being a seven month old baby, is a true 显眼包 (eye-catcher), so dozens of bypassers turn their head or want to touch her (which I quickly have […]
April 4, 2026