Walking Between Slums and Skyscrapers: Illusions of Open Space in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai

PART THREE: Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall: Walking in Shanghai, A Global City in the Making

PART฀THREE฀ iorror,฀Horror,฀On฀the฀Walls฀ Walking฀in฀Shanghai,฀ A฀Global฀City฀in฀the฀Making฀ 100฀Mirror ,฀Mirror,฀On฀the฀Wall฀ Under฀the฀conditions฀of฀modernity,฀as฀absolute฀political฀space฀extends฀its฀ sway,฀the฀impression฀of฀transparency฀becomes฀stronger฀and฀stronger,฀and฀ the฀illusion฀of฀a฀new฀life฀is฀everywhere฀reinforced.฀Real฀life฀indeed฀appears฀ quite฀close฀to฀us.฀We฀feel฀able,฀from฀within฀everyday฀life,฀to฀reach฀out฀and฀ grasp฀it,฀as฀though฀nothing฀lay฀between฀us฀and฀the฀marvellous฀reality฀on฀the฀ other฀side฀of฀the฀mirror.฀ Henri฀Lefebvre฀ In฀a฀nutshell,฀Shanghai฀is฀not฀sensual฀any฀more.฀New฀buildings฀construct฀a฀ new฀cover฀for฀it,฀which฀separates฀the฀city฀from฀the฀physical฀senses฀of฀its฀ inhabitants.฀Such฀a฀fancy฀cover,฀however,฀does฀not฀fit฀perfectly.฀There฀is฀ always฀some฀empty฀space฀in฀between฀the฀exterior฀and฀the฀real฀thing.฀Or฀ maybe฀it฀is฀due฀to฀the฀fact฀that฀we฀are฀too฀close฀to฀the฀city฀and฀it฀happens฀to฀ undergo฀drastic฀changes.฀All฀the฀visions฀are฀blurred.฀ Wang฀Anyi฀ rvome was not built in a day: Western megalopolises like New York, London, or Paris all seem to testify to the validity of the saying. However, contemporary East Asian metropolises often prov e otherwise. Tokyo, as described in Part Two, was rebuilt into a global city within three decades (roughly from the late 1960s to the early 1990s). A more stunning example is Shanghai. Upon seeing Shanghai's formation into a global showcase1 with the mobilization of capital globalization since the late 1970s with China's open door policy, whoever thinks that Rome was not built in a day would definitely think twice.2 Reachin g its peak in the 1990s, the massive urban construction Manhattanizes Shangha i with an impressive new skyline and high-rises everywhere in the city. If in doubt, a mere look at the luminous cluster of skyscrapers of Pudong's Lujiazui and all the commercial signs of world-famous corporation s might assure the skeptics. Ever since the launching of the Pudong New Area development in 1990 on th e eas t ban k o f th e Huangp u River , Pudon g ha s becom e th e mos t pronounced articulation of the urban planning of Shanghai. Born at the end of the twentieth century with the prevalent image of "first-class world cities" as unanimously acclaimed city of the future, Pudong is conceived as a global city like New York, London, Tokyo, or Hong Kong. No one can overlook the fact that with the reformation of Pudong, "the golden highway between China and th e world" i n the vice-mayor's words (Streshinsk y 38) , Shanghai is a Walking฀in฀Shanghai฀10 1฀ global city in the making. Ironically, the fancy new look demonstrated b y Pudong conceals the fact that the polarized other, the banal lived space of everyday life is compressed by the large-scale urban redevelopment . On e distinctive characteristic of global city formation is that on the one hand the capitalist-friendly urba n space often demand s local inhabitants shoul d b e amenable to urban changes in the face of new circumstances. As the famou s slogan for Shanghai's urban development goes: "Development is the irrefutable truth (litlljl^jll f 3 ) . " A t th e sam e time , th e globa l cit y invite s th e inhabitants to identify themselves as city-users, to claim the new city as their own without suspecting that the current urban space might not be as accessible as they are convinced.3 Part Thre e aim s t o explor e ho w Shanghai' s urba n restructuring , predominantly modeled on the image of a generic global city, informs us of the problematics o f globalization whic h subsume s th e concrete space of people's daily life under the logic of capital accumulation. My central argument is that Shanghai can be seen as built in the dual images of a mirror within a mirror. On a macro-global level, existing global cities in the world presen t themselves as role models for Shanghai's urban renewal plans. Concomitantly, on th e micro-personal level , Old Shangha i before globalizatio n become s another mirror image on which individuals can anchor an image of the new Shanghai with a particular emphasis on urban culture and daily life. Continuing t o...