So long to shared-shack lifestyle
Sun Zhongxin sits in his poky little living room Wednesday. He is delighted to be leaving the community in Jing’an District where he has lived for 36 years.
People living in parts of Baoshan Road Subdistrict in Jing’an District are to be relocated to new homes.
More than 99 percent of the 5,700 residents living in an old community between Baoxing E., Baotong, Zhongxing and Zhijiang M. roads, have agreed to move, local officials said Wednesday.
Most of the buildings are old shikumen with shared toilets and kitchens and the area abounds in unlicensed jerry-built shelters and some houses built by government in 1960s and 1970s, said Gui Xinping, Party secretary of the subdistrict’s working committee.
“Every year during the flood season we have to evacuate residents to ensure their safety,” he said.
Sun Zhongxin, 68, has lived in the community for 36 years. He shares a shack with two families. He has a small room on the first floor and a bedroom on the second floor, together about 14 square meters.
“I’m so glad I can finally move out,” he said.
The neighborhood where Sun Zhongxin has lived for 36 years.
Sun obtained more than 3 million yuan (US$440,000) for relocation and has bought a 54-square-meter apartment in Zhoupu Town in the Pudong New Area.
“I won’t need to walk up and down steep stairs every day. And I won’t need to share a kitchen and a toilet with two families,” he said.
Zhou Weiliang, Party secretary of Jing’an’s urban renovation office, said residents will start to move in February. The community will also move more than 50 companies, including the Shanghai Film Technology Factory.
Built in 1957, it was once the country’s most important film processing base, but in recent years it has become obsolete. Production lines were closed and workshops were rented out.
Zhou said the old works may be preserved. “The location may be renovated and upgraded to a modern facility or perhaps turned to a museum of the history of the film processing industry,” Zhou said.
