Hidden inside the massively dense Shanghai Metropolis is a quaint, albeit crowded small world of tradition. Bridges over water, narrow old streets, a wide variety of delicious street food and a beautiful old tea house.
In the tea house, mostly old men gather to drink tea and watch story telling theaters on a stage that echoes with ancient times.
Each time I go back there, I find the same people, doing the same things, as though they are caught in a time capsule and every day must be relived as it was the day before.
Nearby are the green lanes, where door after door girls and women offer their services for a price. Tickets to their worlds are sold on the main street of the old village.
Heartbreaking, surreal and intoxicating is Qibao.
11 replies on “Qibao, Inside the Time Capsule”
The portraits of the men smoking were a great way to start this photo essay. I enjoyed looking through your photos. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for reading 🙂
Moving. Some realities are so bitter that they push a restart button inside of us and we find ourselves standing in the desert of uncertainty without any clue – what’s right – what’s wrong
Yes, very well said.
I loved going to Qibao when I lived in Shanghai. Such a great village atmosphere, and not as far from Shanghai as Zhujiajiao.
Nanxiang was quite nice also 🙂 The small villages that remain around Shanghai and the modernity of Shanghai’s downtown district make this city a joy to inhabit.
Yes, one of my favorite places to photograph in Shanghai
Well, well, seems i was th first to like your post. 🙂 The privilege of time difference.
Thank you Mimo, for yet another travel in space and time.
Hope all is well with you.
Brian
🙂
Hi Marie-Claire. That was quick. 🙂 Isn’t it awfully early over there in Shanghai? Be good. A bientôt.
7:30, early enough but not too early
Reasonable. (Though at that hour I normally cling to my pillow) So you are 13 hours ahead. Vendredi already. Have a great Friday and a lovely week-end with your family. 🙂
(PS. I still find those – very pleasant -exchanges in real time, from Shanghai to Mexico and back, totally “Star Trek”) 😉