I like this print by Youngna Park so much I was on the brink of making it my first 20×200 purchase. The thought of chippy triangle flags brightening up the room minus the hassle of stringing them on the walls… I can already picture the print in a white frame. But I had to let it go at the last minute because I cannot afford the shipping cost – more than the price of the print itself ! Sigh, next time. For now I have to be content looking at it on the laptop screen. SIGH.

This is definitely a book I’ve always wanted but curiously didn’t end up buying in the end. I first came across it in a bookstore on Fuzhou Lu about two to three years back. The photos are taken about 20 years apart, first by Xu Xixian and later by his son. While it is true that so much of Shanghai’s urban landscape has changed, there is also a substantial amount (we usually neglect to notice) which remains as well as aspects which appear old but are actually not present in the past as evidenced in the photographs. Thank you J and D for the thoughtful gift.

A Changing Shanghai by Xu Xixian and Xu Jianrong

Bund 外滩, 1987 and 2004

Lujiazui 陆家嘴, 1987 and 2004

Yan’an Xi Lu, Zhongshan Xi Lu 延安西路，中山西路, 1990 and 2004

Path between Zhongshan Park and East China College of Politics and Law 中山公园和华东政法学院之间的小路, 1980 and 2004

Hami Lu near Chengjia Qiao 哈密路，程家桥, 1987 and 2004

Confucian Temple 文庙, 1985 and 2004

Nanjing Dong Lu 南京东路, 1986 and 2003

Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu 中山东一路, 1984 and 2004

Wusong-Shanghai Railway 淞沪铁路, 1987 and Metro Line No. 3 轨道交通3号线, 2004

Xiahai Convent near Tilan Qiao 提篮桥，下海庙, 1987 and 2004

Shengli Cinema 胜利电影院, 1985 and 2004

Caojia Du 曹家渡, 1985 and 2004

Jin Jiang Amusement Park 锦江乐园, 1986 and 2004

Changshou Lu bridge over Suzhou Creek 苏州河，长寿路桥, 1976 and 2004

Shanghai West Railway Station 上海西火车站, 1993 and 2004

Ferry station on Xiepu Lu 歇浦路渡口, 1988 and 2004

Dongchang Lu 东昌路, 1990 and 2004

Shanghai Gymnasium 上海体育馆, 1976 and 2004

Longhua 龙华, 1987 and 2004

Xinghuo Cinema 星火电影院, 1994 and 2004

Zhongshan Bei Lu, Gonghe Xin Lu 中山北路，共和新路, 1990 and 2004

Tianmu Xi Lu 天目西路, 1994 and 2004

Here are some photos taken by Wellesley political science professor William A. Joseph during his 1972 visit to China as part of the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars (CCAS) delegation. It should be interesting to compare them with Michelangelo Antonioni’s Chung Kuo – Cina which was also produced in 1972. I am currently one-third through the documentary after skipping a particularly gory scene of a woman undergoing C-section.

Vampy, edgy photos by accidental fashion photographer Shxpir that are too gorgeous for words I say. More on Shxpir in this excellent NeochaEDGE interview here.

I’ve just read an excellent article on abstract socialist monuments erected during the 1960s and 1970s in the former Yugoslavia featuring images by Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers.