The changes around Yonglefang

Yonglefang is on North Sichuan Road in Shanghai. During the years of my childhood, North Sichuan Road was just a small street with a few shops and few people. That time, my friends and I played in the road. We rode our little bikes, chased each other and screamed on the road and no one scolded us. The roads were desolated. However, one day people came here and began to change it.

They widened and decorated it. Many shops, malls, plazas and restaurants came. In my memory, Sichuan Road became a golden mile of Shanghai, suddenly. Things changed to a new level; there were thousands of people walking on the road every day; the traffic became very busy. Once we came out Yonglefang to the road, we got lost. Yet I was excited about that the surroundings of Yonglefang becoming so busy and the way we played changed to. We didn’t play simple games any more but we went to the video game arcades and roller skated in front of the malls.

Actually, the changes around Yonglefang reflected the whole changes in Shanghai. Shanghai started its extremely fast development during those years. When my parents took me out to somewhere to play, they got lost, too. Everywhere in Shanghai was being rebuilding and the old views disappeared, the sight of the same place became totally new. Every day, thousands of buildings were being demolished and thousands of buildings were being built. Shanghainese were just busy with accepting the new view of Shanghai, with great shock.

Nowadays, old resident buildings are almost extinct from Shanghai and unfortunately, Yonglefang was one of those being demolished. I miss those old buildings and my old life but I can only find them on the pictures.