Malchik*
“The tanks are coming! The enemies are surrounding us!” he screamed, dodging bullets from the machine guns spraying from all sides. “Fatty! Quick! Hand me the grenade!” Fatty,…
弄堂
Up in the air
While playing with (and by that, I mean being bullied by) a screaming bunch of pint-sized kids in the longtang one day, a ruddy-faced boy suddenly asked me, “Have you…
We are but a shirtless belly away
We flung outselves into Spring’s embrace a few days ago under sun-soaked rays, light breezes and an explosion of blooming flowers. Other signs make it hard to…
Family business
Children are excellent sales people at the market. Adorable ones attract browsing customers, even if you’re just selling garlic and ginger. To call this grandmother’s place of merchandise…
Work’s Momentum
In their hands, these workers carried bricks that once made up houses that are now no more, in neighborhoods that the next generation will have no idea once existed….
Lining up the tiles
He had a smirk on his face that came as quick as it disappeared. A winning hand perhaps? It was hard to tell with the room thick with…
Next door, next to go
If you walked by too quickly, you would have missed her. A crowd had gathered to watch an ongoing demolition of a row of old houses. Some were…
Moving out and moving on
It was the same story. The area by Lanyi Dock Road (赖义码头) was half-demolished and residents have more or less emptied out. This family had over 20 people…
Out with the old
It is not uncommon to bump into lone individuals surveying old longtangs that are undergoing demolition – the occasional photographer who quietly weaves in and out of shadowed…
The Baker
I bought a shaobing from this young man, piping hot from the cylinder drum which he baked them in. You could see the wafts of aromatic smoke trailing…