Tag: condemned

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CHINA contemplations human rights life Photography shanghai street time

The future is not waiting

worker in a Shanghai old alley
worker in a Shanghai old alley

The thing about the future is that is seems to happen on time and not wait for us to be ready to receive it. And always things appear to be later than we think, don’t they?

Today I was with a friend on a photo walk in an old Shanghai neighborhood condemned to demolition and we saw that from week to week homes were being demolished leaving in the rubble, shoes, clothing, old furniture, toys…  It would seem that people had very little time to pack up and leave their homes before they were destroyed and we wondered at the levels of stress this must have caused a family that lived there possibly all their lives.  Change is often associated with pain, even if it was a change were seeking all along.

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life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 9~ June 9th~ Xinjiang

life must go on

In the midst of a city being demolished, life refuses to stop and be arrested. Kashgar is rich with craftsmen of all kinds and to survive they must continue crafting and go on selling.

In the streets of the old city, this old metal craftsman was selling his creations while hammering away at a piece of metal that will become another household tool when he is done.

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life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 5~ June 5th~ Xinjiang

the little man and the wheel

As beautiful as the old city of Kashgar is, it is also heartbreaking to visit. The charming old architecture is being demolished systematically by the authorities section by section for the last few years. The reason given: a possible danger from earthquakes the real reason, I leave for you to research. The locals are horrified as they are moved family by family outside the city and in place of their neighborhoods, malls, plazas, and fancy holiday housing is being planned and erected. Every year less and less of this historical city is left to admire and its traditions diluted slowly into the new characterless architecture. Yes, it is most definitely painful to see and to know about.

photo taken: a little family in front of a neighborhood condemned to be demolished in the old city of Kashgar

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Photography

Day One Hundrend Thirty Seven, June 8, 2011

girl in Hongkou

Our most vivid memories come from events in our life that leave a big mark. I wonder how much this little girl will remember about having to move with her family from the neighbourhood of narrow lanes they have lived in for generations. She and her family happened to live in on of the condemned neighborhoods of Shanghai that are disappearing one after the other to give way to modern buildings, sky scrapers, malls, and large roads. The residents are being moved to other residential areas outside of Shanghai. I visited one of these neighbourhoods in Shanghai’s Hongkou area and walked through the alleys for a couple of hours watching the daily life of people who will need to make a huge adjustment in their daily routine only weeks from now. Imagine having to do that and having no say in the choice of your new home, your new neighbor, your new life… but Shanghai is a relentless growing machine that has no plans of stopping anytime soon. I wonder when old and charming Shanghai alleys will completely cease to exist…