From pawn shop to high-tech park

By:  February 11, 2023 Categories: 

I made the trip to some old buildings in the area after a tip from Historic Pudong, to see where the name of the area comes from ~ the contrast between a Ming dynasty pawn shop and today’s high-tech park in Shanghai. Several hundred years ago, a guy named Zhang Jiang (张江) opened a pawn shop and also put some gates around the houses. And now the high-tech companies of Shanghai write his name in their adddress.

Most of the area is already demolished, but luckily some of these houses are protected and will stay. There’s light rain, thick mud, stray dogs. I put on my hoodie and the baoan didn’t see me or didn’t care.

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