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& Expo
10 June 2010
by Admin
Seven Treasures Town (1)
Qibao - An Old Town in
Shanghai
七宝老街
It is said that if you
want to know how Shanghai looks in the recent
decade, you should go to Pudong (the east
of the Huangpu River); if you want to know how
Shanghai looked a hundred years ago, you
should go to The Bund (the western
foreshore of the Huangpu River); and if
you want to know how Shanghai looked a
thousand years ago, you should go to
Seven Treasures Town (十年上海看浦东，百年上海看外滩，千年上海看七宝。)
Shanghai as a grand
metropolitan is a rather recent
phenomenon, but as the urban settlement
surrounded by one of the most fertile
farmlands in China with the most
development textile industry and a highly
progressive culture, it is as ancient as Suzhou (苏州), Wuxi (无锡), Changzhou (常州), Nanjing (南京), Jiaxing (嘉兴), Hangzhou (杭州) and Shaoxing (绍兴), which all have an urban
history stretches over thousands of
years.
There were numerous ancient towns in Shanghai, from City God’s Town
(Chenghuangmiao 城隍庙) in the heart of Shanghai, Zhu Family’s Corner
(Zhujiajiao 朱家角) near Lake Tai (太湖) in Qingpu District (青浦区), Jiading old town (嘉定), a herotic township that
suffered systematic genocidal massacres
for three times during its fierce battles
against Manchurians invasion to Wusong Town (吴淞镇) in the mouth of Huangpu
River where Huangpu meets Yangtze, but
few have survived the architectural
genecidal massacre in a decade of
redevelopment and Westernisation. One of
such lucky towns is Seven Treasures Town
in Minghang District (闵行区).
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A traditional
highway that links the town to
its surrounding areas. The stone
steps by the shore were served as
laundry where housewives washed
family clothes.
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An suspended and
arched open space in the heart of
the town where people come to
view the boats passing through
the bridge and to exchange news
and gossips around the world.
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A simple and
graceful entrance archway to the
CBD of the town
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A lique store in
the CBD selling own-made Seven
Treasure Rice Wine (七宝大曲)
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From one part of
the CBD to another through the
bridge with many steps (a way to
force its residents to do body
toning exercise!)
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The CBD in the
traditional Chinese fashion with
intmately scaled street, slab
paved ground and full open
shopfront
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A teahouse with
daily performance of shuoshu (说书:
a
storytelling art in Suzhou
dialect), pitan (a story-singing
art in Suzhou dialect) and Yue Opera.
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The guests drink
the tea while watching/listening
the show and cracking the roasted
seeds/broad beans (in the old
days).
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Local flavour: Old
Street Dumpling (老街汤圆), made of sticky
rice with red bean paste or pork
mince fillings.
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Local flavour:
Seven Treasures Square Cake (七宝方糕) cooked with
steam and tasted fluffy and
sweet.
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Local flavour:
Short soup cooked with stock,
spring rolls and fried stuffed
buns
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Local flavour:
Seven Treasures Town Long Soup
with rice or flour needles
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Seven Treasures
Town used to be the centre of
Seven Treasures Commune (七宝人民公社:
collective
farm) where new China's founding
father Mao Zedong once visited. The
locals still keep the memory of
his visit alive.
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During the Landten Festival (on the first
full moon night of the lunar
year) and the Middle Autumn
Festival (on the eighth full moon
night of the lunar year), giant
lanterns are displayed in the
street.
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Prev:
The Tale of
Two Gates
Next: An Old
Shanghai Town (2)
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