Business in the Old Lanes

Shuttling through the lanes of different sizes in the old town of Shanghai, seeking for the fading traces of history and experiencing the humanistic flavors in old Shanghai is an emerging fashion in the city today, while you might not imagine how splendid the business was in the present serene and desolate old lanes. Although the business of "tiger hearth" (a kind of small shop that sell boiled water to neighbors in south China) was not much in scale, it was always the most popular place in the lane; the landlady of the convenient store knew everything about each household; the coolies in the lane factories sometimes spared themselves in a chat at the doorway; the hucksters wandered about the streets, hawking all the way…It was because of them that the quiet lanes was full of vitality and stories. As a "local specialty" in Shanghai, the lanes are not only the embodiment of the history and customs of Shanghai, but also a reflection of the lifestyle and cultural traditions of the people. Experiencing the charm of Shanghai lanes is like reading the history of this metropolitan, which helps us to explore the spiritual connotation of the Shanghai-style culture.