In the old city of Shanghai, I visited the Xiaonanmen Bell Tower. The structure of the tower is an interesting mixture of concrete and steel forming an arch: it directly relates to the Eiffel Tower. According to online reports, this Bell Tower was built in 1909 by Shanghai City’s firefighters’ association. It used to be […]
What a funny coincidence, the Shanghai Auto Show just finished on the same week that I discovered a Toyota-related ruin in the city! I am proud to present to you my latest exploration: the site of the former Toyota Cotton Mill. Actually, I noticed this place last year during a bicycle ride and already I […]
During a bicycle trip along the Huangpu River in Shanghai, I saw many projects of redevelopment for the many industries located next to the river, such as West Bund (the biggest I’ve ever seen!). But these projects did not interest me as they altered too much, even demolished the former buildings and industrial complexes to […]
The abandoned site of the Shanghai World Expo 2010 is always a very exciting place to visit. You can read my first report here and my second report here. Several weeks ago, I spent another great moment in another part of the Shanghai World Expo, on the opposite side of the Huangpu river. Even if […]
During these last few days in Shanghai, I was riding my bicycle under the rain when I spotted a wonderful abandoned place: a historical building from the 1920s! After a few minutes of online research, I learned more about its past. Shamei Mansion was built from 1918 to 1921 by Atkinson & Dallas Co.ltd. It first carried the name […]
In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (1967) So… I am in Shanghai these days. I often want to cry because of the speed of […]
So, because today is the opening of the G20 meeting in Hangzhou, I decided to write about an old exploration I did back when I lived there this year. The industrial building is located next to Hangzhou Steel Factory, which I also visited during the spring this year. It used to be a glass factory […]
Here is another report about Hangzhou’s past industrial identity. Yes, as I spent some time there, I rapidly got tired of the touristic places and went looking for less obvious historical ruins. I first spotted this place in March 2016, on a bus trip to Capital Paradise. By the way, although I will not tell […]
