Local stories told at Yuyuan Road store

Ti Gong

Nearly 2,000 stories have been collected at a tiny "story store" on Yuyuan Road since August and a series of books containing 101 of them were released on Thursday.

The project, inspired by Japanese novel "Miracles of the Namiya General Store," attracts curious visitors every day to its location on the century-old road in Changning District.

The newly published books entitled "The Stories That Happened On Yuyuan Road" cover topics that include "Our Teenage Years," "Neighborhood Life" and "Fight For Our Future."

The stories were collected from residents, tourists and employees who were invited to write down their personal stories on cards for display in the store. Most are in Chinese but many expats also shared their stories in English, French and other languages.

"I came to visit a museum but walked the wrong way and came across this street. I really liked the feel of it and so I came to explore the story store," a foreign tourist wrote on one of the cards.

Another foreign visitor shared his feelings about a woman. "The confirmation she was real came in the form of a Ryanair boarding pass. A one hour flight feeling like an entire day," he wrote.

The project aims to promote the history and culture of the historic road, not only the celebrities who once lived there but also its ordinary residents, according to Creater, the firm in charge of an ongoing revamp of the road.

The original story store was renovated from a former dumpling shop that had been shut down in October. A new store has opened in the nearby Qishan Village community, a characteristic Shanghai lane built in the 1920s, where visitors can read cards written by others or share their own stories.

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).

Part of the money raised by sales of the books will go to a foundation to launch more such campaigns to help develop the history and stories of the road, according to Creater.

In one of the programs, a "Yuyuan Road Go" campaign was initiated on Thursday. People are invited to a guided tour along the road and to interact with residents, store owners and artists. They are asked to write about the interesting people and stories they came across on the journey. The first batch of 500 participants took part in the opening tour on Thursday.

"Urban renewal should not only focus on buildings and facilities but also the emotional and spiritual bonds of people," Fang Wen, president of Creater told a forum on Thursday. The company launched the road renovation campaign in 2015. "It aims to create a modern community featuring "content, warmth, interests and future," she said.

The City Innovation forum in Changning was to solicit ideas for the city's redevelopment campaign from over a dozen experts in urban planning, construction, design, creativity, art, culture, technology and public welfare.

Keynote speakers included Qiang Ying, deputy director of the Shanghai Cultural and Creative Industry Promotion Office, Xue Leiqing, a professor at Tongji University and renowned urban planner as well as Tang Ke, an urban big data expert.

The forum is part of the 2019 City Life Festival which began in September. The annual cultural and art festival aims to showcase the achievements of the ongoing urban revamping projects.