Shanghai, with its tacky modernity, can quite easily get you down. I live a block away from Nanjing Road, home to everything kitsch. A great way to get away from it all is to lose yourself in the city's (few remaining) old lilong neighbourhoods. To any visitors to Shanghai, especially tourists from India, I urge you to not get taken in by the neon lights, skyscrapers and shopping malls. That's the Shanghai you will most probably be shown by your tour guide. Avoid it.
My favourite thing about this city has to be its old lilong neighbourhoods. Many of them were torn down during the Cultural Revolution and the city's rapid growth through the '90s, but there are still quite a few still standing. The mazy networks of old lanes in Putuo, some of the most beautiful lilongs I came across, will most definitely get you lost. The neighbourhood around the 16th century Yu gardens, photographed below, is also worth a visit.
The preservation movement in Shanghai is complicated. In the last few years, the government is waking up - albeit painfully slowly - to the sorry state of the city's old neighbourhoods, and has marked several conservation areas that developers can't get their paws on. The challenge right now is to find a way to make preservation viable. Unlike in England or Europe, there is no great premium for heritage architecture among real estate developers. Developers are, at least, now looking at creative solutions - though they often do more bad than good, as in the case of Xintiandi.
Here's a link to my piece in The Hindu's Sunday Magazine about Shanghai's lilongs and the preservation movement http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/12/21/stories/2008122150280700.htm
One of the last remaining old lilong neighbourhoods in downtown Shanghai, lying in the shadow of Nanjing Road's shopping malls.
The lilong near Yu gardens, a great place to spend a Sunday afternoon.
A 21st century Shanghai lilong, at Xintiandi.
