Yesterday after
my Chinese test (92/100!!) we were supposed to visit the sustainable market in
Xintiandi, but unfortunately it was canceled due to bad weather (for some weird
reason it always rains on Saturday…).
Anyway, since we
were already in Xintiandi we decided to take a walk among the Shikumen houses,
these old lanes are particularly charming under the rain, especially because
there aren`t many people around…
The Shikumen was
one of the most representative residential form in Shanghai, which reached their
popularity peak from late 19th century to 1930`s. The most typical feature of
Shikumen buildings is the combination of Western and Chinese architectural
elements, so the general layout resembles European terrace houses, but the
inside structure is typical of the residential style in South China. Shikumen
means “stone gate”, and refers to the architectural focus of these houses: the
front door framed in carved stone.
These houses were
the birthplace of more than 70% of Shanghai's residents in those days, but
many have since been destroyed or demolished. Nowadays Shikumen
architecture is fast disappearing, but in Xintiandi we can still find
renovated/rebuilt Shikumen houses, and one of them has been turned into a
museum which gives a glimpse into the life of an upper-middle class Chinese
family living in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s.
Taking advantage
of the bad weather that scared off all the tourists, we decided to visit the Shikumen
Open House Museum located in a renovated Shikumen house built in the 1920s.
I found this place
very fascinating, all the articles on display are all genuine 1920s or 1930s
memorabilia sourced in the Shikumen alleys. I also think that part of
its charm is that each room looks as if the people living here had just stepped
out for a while (it`s a little bit ghostly though). Particularly interesting to
us were of course the handcrafted items displayed in some of the rooms.
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| The kitchen |
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| The living room |
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| The elderly room |
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| The master`s bedroom |
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| Toys in the kid`s room |
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| This isn`t a literate`s ghost, only my husband hanging in the Tingzijian room |
On the second
floor there is also a section with historical information about the family life
of that time and an exhibition about the concepts of the Xintiandi renovation project
and development process.
If you are in the
city and have some time to kill take a look around and enjoy the old Paris of
the East atmosphere.
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