Ah... for a somewhat peaceful start to your morning (and week), here's a sweet video by photographer Ryan Pyle as he rides down Da Jing Lu in Central Shanghai, an old lane way near the bund. Da Jing Lu, while not a particularly famous street, does contain a landmark amidst its hustle and bustle. A part of the old city wall can be seen at the corner of Da Jing Lu and Ren Min Lu.
We covered its history way back when (click through for the full article), but here's a little taste:
Once upon a time, way back in the days when the Song dynasty discovered oil in Hangzhou* and moved south, a nearby fishing community called Hutu (also sometimes called Hudu) found itself strategically situated and soon became home to several the bigwigs from up north. After a short time, the fishers became traders and the traders became pajama-wearin' xiao long bao-guzzlin' urbanites. All was peaceful for a time in Shanghai, as Hutu became known, but just a short ways away on the East China Sea evil Japanese pirates hatched nefarious plots of rape and pillage. And so in 1553 Ming officials decreed an enormous wall 5 kilometers in length and eight meters high to be built around the city. The wall had a 20 meter wide moat, soldier outposts, four gates, and six sluice ways. The people rejoiced and the pirates sailed back to Japan in search of ladders.
Read the complete post at http://feeds.gothamistllc.com/click.phdo?i=2da0ee2d3ddd7628d423347bd1ed2127
Posted
Feb 07 2010, 08:45 PM
by
Shanghaiist