Middle Fangbang Road : cultural mapping of a Chinese commercial street in Shanghai's old Chinese city

Abstract

Today, Shanghai has expanded into a huge metropolis. Historical places has been preserved as fragments in it. But they are still under challenge in terms of conservation to both the tangible and the intangible. Among these places, Shanghai’s Old Chinese City (老城廂) is an important heritage site because it was traditionally a main part of Shanghai’s Chinese urban fabric (as compared to many other parts of Shanghai’s urban fabric that were Westernized). Commercial streets in the Old Chinese City feature characters different from other commercial areas in Shanghai. Understanding these streets in detail will help people learn about their existing condition and make wise conservation decisions in the future. This dissertation chooses a part of Middle Fangbang Road (方浜中路) as a sample of traditional Chinese commercial streets in Shanghai and uses cultural mapping as a method to study it. Middle Fangbang Road used to be the most important canal commercial road in the Old Chinese City because of its access to the Shiliupu wharf in 19th century. In 1911, the canal was filled and the road eventually developed into a street for commercial activities. The main issue is that with the rapid gentrification of many other streets in the Old Chinese City, Middle Fangbang Road is one of the last commercial streets in Shanghai that still retains a Chinese character, and such a character may not survive if no study is carried out as a basis for possible future conservation.