As we start our little walk in Xiasha (下沙镇), a shushu standing in a doorway warns us it’s not as interesting here as it looks on Douyin: “Maybe in the 70s or 80s it was pretty here. But not anymore.” He uses the word 蹩脚, which means rubbish in Shanghai-hua: “Now, only the residential area is nice.” And the guy across the street laughs and plays a word game: “Residential area? This is an immigration area!” (住民区？移民区吧!)

It’s a bit of a joke but with a lot of truth. The houses are old and there are signs for rent everywhere, and places like this attract migrants from other provinces. Loads of license plates on cars aren’t from Shanghai. But we’re not here to judge the 外地人 (outsiders); we’re one of them.

Him: “This building is more than 300 years old.”
Me: “Really?!” (I misheard 三百 instead of 上百.)
Him: “At least more than 100 years!”

Dentist sign.

A church is inside here.

Lots of telephone numbers are tagged on here, and sprayed over multiple times already.