Telling personal stories at Yuyuan Road's tiny 'story store'
Customers write their stories about Yuyuan Road at the Story Store.
A tiny "story store" renovated from a former dumpling shop on Yuyuan Road has become a popular attraction for customers to share their stories about the historic road.
The non-profit project inspired by the Japanese novel "Miracles of the Namiya General Store" — in which a general store owner becomes an "agony aunt" for locals — is attracting curious spectators every day and night with its ideal location on the sidewalk along the century-old road in Changning District.
Tiny stores, like tiny houses, are alternatives to traditional constructions — offering full services but taking up little space.
Creater, the firm in charge of an ongoing revamping of the road, invited residents, designers and employees living or working nearby to serve as duty managers through the end of October.
The voluntary managers can exchange services such as free painting, photography, yoga sessions or guitar repairing with stories from visitors, or simply ask passersby to write down their stories on pieces of cards.
Over 40 managers have been recruited who will run the store for at least one day each.
Over 200 stories have been collected since the store opened a week ago. The stories on the cards are being displayed in the transparent structure for others to read.
"The store aims to further exploit the history and culture of the historic road not only about the celebrities once lived here but also ordinary citizens who may spend their life on the road or have just moved to the city," said an official with Creater in charge of the project.
The road — which dates back to 1911, the final year of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) — runs through the districts of Changning and Jing’an. In recent decades it has been shortened to its current length of 800 meters.
There are 108 historical villas along the road, including many former residences of celebrities, such as missile and space scientist Qian Xuesen (1911-2009) and pianist Gu Shengying (1937-1967).
"We worried at the beginning that such a novel project would attract young people only," said the official surnamed Xu.
"But many senior residents have been taking an active part in."
Chen Xiangzhi, around 80, has been living on the road for over four decades. He lived in the eastern section after being married from 1966 until his wife died in 1991.
He moved back to west end of the road in 2004.
"I have witnessed the development of the road, while the road also witnessed my half-life of grief and joy," said Chen.
He wrote a poem about his experiences on the road on one of the cards in the store.
Guo Xuebin, another customer, wrote: "My street shop was opened on the road in 2003 which helped me get married and have two sons, but I was informed recently that I may have to shut down the business soon."
The 9-square-meter story store on Yuyuan Road
A senior hairdresser in his 50s whose barbershop is next to Guo's wrote:
"As long as you come, I will perform a dance on your head and make you happy."
He has seen everything: a person dying and a girl running away from her home.
The organizer plans to pick 101 stories from the cards and make them into a small storybook. The books will be presented to those who are willing to learn about the road as a souvenir, Xu said.
The tiny structure was originally built as a room for security guards and later became a popular dumpling store.
Although it looks like an illegal structure, the small house on a sidewalk near the entrance of an old residential community has been legally registered, dating back more than half a century.
Creater rented the site and invited an artist team to host exhibition in 2018.
Several monthly exhibitions themed on fallen leaves and the blue ocean have made the site a popular attraction.
The former dumpling shop has been moved into the newly developed Yuyuan Public Market nearby, where residents can buy traditional Shanghai breakfast foods, get new keys cut or fix a broken umbrella.
The market opened on February 28.
Yang Lei, 25, a local graphic designer, was invited to redesign the house into the story shop early this year.
He originally used bright yellow paint to attract customers, but later changed into the current green of the tall plane trees on both sides of the road and cream yellow which is widely used on nearby villas and houses.
"The previous art exhibitions aimed to express the thinking of the artists, but this project tries to listen to the customers," Yang said.
He has applied to serve as a manager in the store to mainly collect "stories happened at night" on the road.
"One day at 4am, I saw a driver sitting in his car on the roadside, smoking and pondering. I was curious about his and others' stories and the store offers a method to learn."
Customers write their stories about the Yuyuan Road at the Story Store over the weekend.
Two young women, Sun Bai and Lu Wen, working for a nearby culture company, were the managers on duty over the weekend.
They not only asked customers to write down stories but also made video interviews of each of them.
"I'm eager to communicate with the familiar faces I meet every day on my way to work, such as security guards, aunties and store owners," Sun said.
The new graduate who moved to work in Shanghai two months ago said she wanted to learn more about the road through the story shop. "Otherwise, my life in the city would be all about work."
The project is part of the ongoing campaign by the Jiangsu Road Subdistrict and Creater to launch a number of micro-revamping projects in old residential communities along the road.
For instance, the exterior walls of 15 buildings in the Qishan Village community, characteristic Shanghai lane houses built in the 1920s, have been refurbished and restored.
Termites that once infested the brick-and-wood structures have been exterminated and rotten pillars replaced with new ones.
Shared kitchens have been upgraded and most overhead cables are now buried.
A culture wall to commemorate the pianist Gu, the first Chinese to win the top prize at an international piano contest, was unveiled at her former residence at the Hongye Garden community.
The 30-meter-long wall, created by the subdistrict, features a sculpted portrait of Gu, along with 10 old photos and explanations in English and Chinese.
The authority now plans to connect the Qishan and neighboring Hongye communities to make it more convenient for residents and visitors.
The interior of the villas will also be revamped to further improve the living standards of the residents.
Over 200 stories have been collected since the story store opened in mid-August.
A file photo shows the former dumpling store on Yuyuan Road.
A previous exhibition inside the store about nature and plants.
