Ciming Mei, June 1998

This is where I grew up. In the age of Mao when children did not have to worry about homework, I spent almost my entire childhood in long tang (alleys in between rows of town-houses). I was told that when I was a toddler, my grandmother used to chase after me from one long tang to another with a bowl of rice in order to feed me.

All the images here were photographed within the residential block of my Shanghai home, many of them scenes from long tang. When some old neighbors recognized me as I wandered around with my camera, they suggested places to go for best views of skyscrapers. I kindly shook my head. Old neighborhoods like this are disappearing quickly. They may not be around next time I come back.

That’s how fast Shanghai is changing.         Start >>

All images photographed in the summer of 1998. Today, the old neighborhood not only is still there but has also been designated as part of the preservation zone due to the historical town-houses from the French colony.