In the fall of 2021, my friend and I came across several notices posted on the outer walls of the buildings facing the street while we passing by East Beijing Road near the bund. The notices informed the residents about the upcoming renovation project aimed at transforming the interior for future commercial use and mobilized the residents to relocate. Although I had seen many historic buildings for residential purposes in the Bund area, I had never known their internal structure. I was intrigued to explore a different way of life that was unfamiliar to me. Luckily, me and my friend found that the green iron gate of Building 157 was unlocked and we decided to explore its interior.
As I entered the building, I found that the residents had not yet moved out. The building has 5 floors in total, and each floor is divided into numbers of rooms. I use my steps to measure and estimate that each room was roughly 5-10 square meters. Almost all households had set up their kitchen in the corridor outside their rooms, while some had also built toilets and bathrooms in the available space. The corridors were cluttered with personal belongings, creating a disorganized and cramped atmosphere.
Upon reaching the end of the third floor, passing through a shared kitchen, and climbing down a short self-built ladder, I arrived at a roughly 40 square meter public platform wrapped in black waterproof material. The platform contained various odds and ends, and drying racks built by the residents themselves. From the platform, I could see the Oriental Pearl TV Tower not far away. Looking over the platform's edge, I saw an array of multicolored garbage overflowing through the gaps between buildings.
East Beijing Road 157 is a historic protected building located adjacent to the Bund in Shanghai which was the center of wealth and power in the city from the 1860s to the 1930s. Today, it remains one of the most prosperous areas in Shanghai, famous for travel, alongside the new financial center of Lujiazui across the river. The building itself was constructed in 1907 and was primarily used by foreign commercial companies until the 1950s when it became mainly a residence for locals.
The properties and functions of Building 157 and its surrounding area have changed over time, along with the identities of its residents. Looking at the living conditions of the current residents, I couldn't help but imagine the splendor of Building 157 and the lives of its inhabitants a century ago, as well as the contrasting lives of individuals in nearby modern skyscrapers. The differences in individual lives within the same time and space, as well as the evolution and contrast in individual lives across different times and spaces in the same location, fascinate me. I decided to do something here.
At the end of 2021, I invited Lily to dance on the third-floor platform. I asked her to wear a red wig. The wig held an illusory meaning, and its bright colors create a "new" atmosphere that contrasted with the messy surroundings. The Oriental Pearl TV Tower stands not far away. As Lily danced in the space, the air flowed freely, seemingly without any barriers, despite this, there was a great distance between people. Every dance step represented freedom, futility, and struggle.
In the spring and early summer of 2022, I went to Beijing East Road several times. Finally, all the residents have move out, and I was able to open the door of each room to see its internal space. Most of the rooms were about 5-10 square meters, which was similar to my previous estimates and some rooms near the corner of the building were larger, about 15-20 square meters. Due to the original design style, the height of each floor in the entire building was very high, so without exception, each room self-builds a small second floor. Some rooms were more spacious, and the stairs leading to the mezzanine were gentler, while others had smaller areas, and a ladder with a nearly right angle was erected to reach the second floor.
In those empty rooms, through the remaining objects in the room, the garbage on the ground, and the thickness of the dust, I could vaguely discern how the room was arranged. Most of the rooms are occupied by more than one person. And some rooms can be seen to have traces of raising children. I imagine how a family distributes the space in this 5-6 square meter space and how they turned around and crossed paths with each other as they walked.
In August 2022, the last time I went to No. 157 Beijing East Road, the green iron gate was permanently locked. I knew the function of the building was about to change again. Thinking about the impact of the changes of the times on the trajectory of an individual's life, I felt a sense of loss and powerlessness. It seemed like everything was like an old dream that was fading away.