WHEN talking about typical residential buildings in Shanghai, perhaps most people would say the glory should go to the shikumen housing, renowned for its unique architectural style, sensible design and low construction cost.
But these pleasant abodes were actually intended for the middle class. For those living on the bottom rung of the social ladder, struggling near the poverty line, the only option might be the bleak and desolate graveyard.
Back in 1843, when Shanghai was first opened to the outside world, even though the expanding Western "civilization" demanded humiliating concessions, there was no denying the fact that it also brought Shanghai incredible prosperity.
This was indispensable given the influx of large numbers of refugees into Shanghai, mostly from neighbouring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.
For the very poorest, living by begging, there was not even enough money to buy a bed of matting, let alone to rent a cozy shikumen residence. In many cases these unfortunates chose the cemetery as their temporary habitat, because it was there that they might sometimes be lucky enough to find a discarded old coffin.
Using the wood of these old coffins as a base, the ingenious refugees were able to put up a simple and crude tent, and then, with some tattered matting, most probably extracted from the garbage bins around residential areas, the small room could at least shelter them from the rain and winds of Shanghai.
Meanwhile, for those arriving in Shanghai by boat, the houses were even more plain, because they usually just found some bamboo sticks and fastened their boats to the river bank in case they were blown away by strong winds.
As the numbers of refugees became larger and larger, the areas they settled became ever more densely populated, and in order to differentiate those areas from the elegant shikumen housing, local government endowed them with the name gundilong in the early 1920s, meaning "The dragon wallowing on the ground".
As the name implies, houses in these areas were usually low-rises and were rather congested, packed closely side by side. Of all such areas in Shanghai, Fangua Lane was the most famous.
A "Fangua" is a pumpkin. As for the reason why it was called "Fan" pumpkin, there is another story to tell.
As is known to all, China has always thought itself the greatest country, and the ancient Chinese were so proud of themselves that they often looked down upon others. In order to differ their country from others, they invented the derogative name -"Fan", which means countries outside of China. And since the pumpkin originated from Southeast Asia it gained this derogatory name.
It was said the people who once lived here were all extremely poor, and those who made a living outside always came home with a pumpkin - the cheapest food in Shanghai at that time - to serve as the next day's food.
But all this poverty and misery has gone for good, never to return. In 1965, the local government gave Fangua Lane a total face-lift. The poor populace there were able to move into new flats. But in order to educate the young people to remember the past, some of those houses were still left as they were, carefully preserved in order to show the real lives of the poor populace in 19th century Shanghai.
Vivian Wang
