Near Baoshan Road there are a few inhabited old buildings, surviving in a vast scene of debris. Demolition continues devouring what still remains of the old Shanghai. This is an example of what has been happening in China over the last two decades.

Under the economic reform of the 90´s, the government gave green light to cities to tear down old neighbourhoods and construct huge buildings and skyscrapers; soon the policy was expanded to rural areas. Real estate developers associated with local governments pushed through "modern urban plans for a better city" to force residents to leave their homes (even if they had lived there for generations), with financial compensation usually much lower than the true value.

Millions of residents have been moved to modern buildings, resulting in social trauma: the loss of their homes, the disappearance of the neighbourhood and the loneliness of old people. But besides the urban disaster: century-old districts disappear forever. The traditional chinese settlements like the Lilong housing, Shikumen and Hutongs; traditional buildings with their arches and balconies, courtyards (where neighbors met to eat and talk), old alleys and lanes, everything has been turned into rubble.

Disappearing Shanghai.  Photographs, 2013. © Jorge Albella.
Dedicated to the residents of Baoshan Road´s old suburbs, and those who unwillingly had to leave their home.