Photos show a century of change on Nanjing Road E.
An old photo taken on Nanjing Road E. early last century.
Over 2,000 photos highlighting the changes in the downtown area over a century will be exhibited at the city's urban planning exhibition hall from this weekend.
The photos include many historical pictures from the city's municipal archives that are to be publicized for the first time. They mainly focus on the development of landmarks, shops, roads and lane-style communities near Nanjing Road E.
Five aerial photos of the downtown region taken by the city's institute of surveying and mapping between 1948 and 2017 will be displayed for the first time as a highlight of the exhibition. Seven maps dating back to 1884 will also be exhibited and compared with a contemporary map of the downtown area.
The exhibits also include 10 videos featuring senior downtown residents who narrate their memories and stories from the past.
"The site of the Yan'an Road M. greenbelt was once a glorious neighborhood filled with all walks of life and various businesses," said Fan Hongtao, one of the narrators who has lived in the neighborhood for over six decades.
The organizer has also visited the 150 remaining shikumen communities near the road and taken photos of the iconic local structures that are slowly fading away amid rapid urban development.
These newly taken photos will also be exhibited to make a comparison with historical photos, said Wang Weitao, an official with the Nanjing Road E. subdistrict which is organizing the exhibition with the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.
Some architectural models of iconic shikumen buildings and landmark structures, such as the Park Hotel, will also be exhibited.
The photo exhibition will be held on the second floor of the hall through August 5.
