The most common living space: Shanghai alley

Shanghai Hutong is one of the characteristics of old Shanghai. Although Shanghai has become an important economic metropolis in China, with high-rise buildings everywhere, the place where old Shanghai lives still retains the original Shanghai Hutong, which also represents the ancient culture of Shanghai. So, do you want to know the story of Shanghai Lane? Just follow me to understand Shanghai culture!

Lane is a unique residential form in Shanghai, which was once closely related to the lives of thousands of Shanghai residents in Qian Qian. How many stories, how many allusions, how many celebrities and how many memories are closely linked with Shikumen and pavilions. It can be said that without alleys, there would be no Shanghai, let alone Shanghainese. Alleys constitute the most important architectural feature of modern Shanghai; Alleys constitute the most common living space for millions of ordinary Shanghainese; Alley is the most important part of modern Shanghai local culture.

Shanghainese call it alley, which is different from the traditional houses in the south of China and other western architectural forms. However, it always has more or less traces of China traditional architecture, and more or less has the influence of foreign architecture. It can best represent the characteristics of modern Shanghai urban culture and is also the most direct product of modern Shanghai history.

history of architecture

Shanghainese call it alley, which is different from the traditional houses in the south of China and other western architectural forms. However, it always bears more or less traces of China's traditional architecture and is more or less influenced by foreign architecture. It can best represent the characteristics of modern Shanghai urban culture and is also the most direct product of modern Shanghai history.

The city of Shanghai is like a living organism. Looking down from the air, the criss-crossing roads are like arteries, dividing the city into several communities; Within each residential area, there are many small passages between buildings, which are densely distributed all over the city, as small as capillaries but full of vitality. Different times, different regions and different nationalities have different names for these small passages, and Shanghainese call them "alley".

"Lane" ancient Chinese characters "Lane Tang". "Tang" is the main road in front of the ancient court or ancestral temple. This Chinese character appeared in the Book of Songs more than two thousand years ago. It had many meanings in ancient Chinese. Later, as a "road", this meaning was gradually diluted by history. In modern times, people can't remember the connection between the word "Tang" and architecture, so they use another interesting Chinese character "Tang" instead. "Tang" used to be a name for a room, which had little to do with roads and alleys. However, in modern Chinese, it is more closely related to architecture than "Tang" and homophonic with "Tang", so "Lane" has evolved into "Lane".

In fact, it is not only Shanghainese who call it "Lane", but also the Jiangnan area of China. However, the alley can be as famous as the hutong in Beijing, mainly because of the rise of a large number of alley houses in modern Shanghai.

origin

The origin of this alley can be traced back to the last century.

After the First Opium War, Shanghai was turned into a "trading port" and foreigners were allowed to live and do business here. 1845, the local government of Shanghai at that time published the Shanghai Land Charter, which formally stipulated the scope of the first concession, the method of land lease and the municipal management measures in the concession, and made it clear, becoming the earliest legal provisions of foreign concessions in Shanghai. In this charter, it is clearly stipulated that "outsiders are not allowed to rent houses to China people", which led to the early situation of "China and foreign countries were divided". That is to say, in the first few years of Shanghai's opening, except for the original China residents in the concession, other China people were not allowed to move into the concession, and foreigners in the concession did not engage in real estate business activities in their economic and trade activities.

However, the uprising of the Knife Society changed this situation. 1In September, 853, the Knife Society occupied the county seat of Shanghai and launched a tug-of-war with the Qing army for one and a half years. A large number of residents of Chenghuang Temple moved to safer foreign concessions to escape the war, and the rule of "dividing China and foreign countries" was completely broken. 1854, the British, American and French consuls simply set aside the China government and revised the land charter by themselves, completely deleting the prohibition of building houses and renting houses to China people, and "China people live with foreigners" was recognized by law. In the Concession, it is finally "legal" for foreign businessmen to engage in real estate business.