New Harbor Market Town

We’re in a little town in Shanghai’s Pudong district, named 新港集镇 — which translates to something like New Harbor Market Town. It’s just a collection of houses, but this — and the 28°C weather — is all we need. It’s so quiet here, a rare thing in Shanghai. It’s as if everybody whispers, not to wake the clothes that are hung to dry. Even the dogs are silent.

The people who still live here are either seniors who lived here their whole life, taking care of a grandchild — or lowly paid migrant workers. Eva: “I don’t think they’re from South Jiangsu (苏南人), let alone from Zhejiang (浙江人). They wouldn’t agree to such living conditions. Many of them will have three-wheeled food stalls (摆摊).”

Some of the houses are in rough shape. There are lots of signs — graffiti or handwritten — of empty houses looking for renters. Some have a ‘拆’ (Tear down) sign on them, others have fixed their leaking roof by just installing a new roof on top of their old one.

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A summer’s day in autumn

A summer’s day in autumn

Set an alarm to 05:00, take a taxi to the train station, get onto the train, switch in Hangzhou, and get off in Tonglu (桐庐), take another taxi — to arrive 4 hours and 330 kilometers away from home. For a hike. Maybe it’s crazy, but the alternative is to stay home. You’ll have plenty […]
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Mary in Qibao

Mary in Qibao

We’re in Qibao (七宝古镇) — an old water town swallowed by the city of Shanghai, now turned into a tourist attraction. In the center stands a moon bridge, surrounded by heavily renovated buildings that now house shops selling fridge magnets or bites such as ⁠tangyuan, scallion pancakes, red bean cake, and parts of pork or […]
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Empty shops

Empty shops

If you squint your eyes, you can still see a busy little street here. The shops on Wangxin Road (王新街店铺) near Gaoqiao (高桥) in Pudong, were built in the late Qing Dynasty but now face an uncertain future. They’re not labeled for demolition (the character 拆 isn’t shown), but there are many tags of landlords […]
October 11, 2025
Neighbourhood Temple

Neighbourhood Temple

On Xiaohongshu, I searched for village names in the area where we live on Xiaoshongshu and found an old decaying house from the Qing Dynasty that caught my eye — just seven kilometers away! The uploader mentioned that the building — named the Gulu Guandi Temple (顾路关帝庙) — was built in 1910, to be used […]
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