“Shikumen” Lane Houses Are Being Torn Down Across Shanghai, And I Wanted To Capture These Historic Streets Before It Was Too Late (22 Pics)

In the old days, the city was split into three areas: the French Concession, the International Settlement, and the Laoximen Chinese district. Much of the former French Concession retains a European vibe – the terrace houses and tree-lined avenues could be Barcelona or Paris, but they are not. This is China, with its noisy meat markets, modified electric motorbikes, bundles of live wires dangling from rooftops, humming neon lights and a dense smog reflecting the changing city below. Card games and shops sprawling out onto the street give it a community atmosphere. Nowhere is this more clear than in the lane houses of Shanghai, the oldest type of which are called Shikumen.

The structures, partly inspired by the Chinese ‘Hutong’ style housing of the capital and heavily influenced by French and British colonial and art deco styles, were built in their thousands between the end of the 19th century and World War Two.

The name Shikumen comes from the brick or stone gateway at the entrance to these communities. A sophisticated entrance meant a sophisticated family behind it, and it is these lane houses that make Shanghai. Almost all of the original nineteenth-century examples are lost, with the vast majority being post-World War One specimens. But even for these, time is running out.

There is a distinct vibe walking through the lane house areas that are still inhabited. You hear the Shanghainese dialect pouring out of windows and many of the older people do not even leave the lane houses, everything they need is in the community. And for anything else, there are men who stand near the notice board who they can pay to go out to run errands. There is a sense of a time slip, which makes the scene of demolition more powerful. Some areas have become gentrified, cleaned up, and made into boutiques, all of which lose the essence of what these places really are.

The history of the Shikumen lane houses is what really drew me to them. I remember walking along and seeing the year '1928' engraved above the entrance to a lane house and I reflected on all the things that had happened in the last 90 years. It was as if the lane house had soaked up all of that history into its worn stone walls. If I could only see what it had seen, I thought.

I chose to photograph at night because by that time the true story of a building comes alive. In the rawness of daylight, the subtle hints of a place can be washed away but by night the details return and if you look closely you can kind of feel its true essence emerging. I carry my camera gear around me at night and somehow I feel like I can become more closely connected to the buildings when it is dark, there are usually fewer people around and the streetlights and ambiance lends itself to a more evocative scene.

It has been a while since I have been back to Shanghai and I often dream about that city. I have friends who tell me that the old parts of Shanghai in the Laoximen district are continuing to change. Though there are still plenty of the lane houses still standing, the real question is what will happen to the communal aspect of them which is really at the heart of the lane houses. The recent strict lockdowns in Shanghai appear to have left a dent in the culture of Shikumen and urban living in Shanghai. Only time will tell.