Shanghai Street View: Disappearing Districts
Shanghai lost a bit of bureaucracy and also a slice of history this week when the northern Zhabei District officially got swallowed up by its smaller but sleeker Jing’an District cousin, continuing an ongoing drive to improve our city’s administrative efficiency. More broadly speaking this particular marriage is part of a national trend that has seen China try to streamline a massive bureaucracy established over centuries.
That bureaucracy certainly may have worked well when China was a simpler agricultural society and things like tax collection and new policy implementation were more easily done in smaller areas by officials who were highly familiar with individual farmers and landowners. But it certainly seems a bit outdated and even counterproductive in the current climate of advanced communications and mobility, where there’s really no need for micro-management techniques of the past.
At the same time, it does seem that cities like Shanghai could be losing an important part of their history and identity with this recent wave of consolidation. To prevent that from happening, I would advise local officials to look for ways that allow historic areas to maintain their old identities. A good case to follow could be an area like Hollywood, which is technically part of my former hometown of Los Angeles but maintains its own identity through unique activities, local design elements and even its own honorary mayor.
Shanghai’s latest administrative consolidation probably went unnoticed by many, even as it saw the formal disappearance of a district that has been part of our city’s fabric for decades. The plan was first announced earlier this year, with the better-managed Jing’an slated to take control of its larger but less efficient Zhabei neighbor to the north. Many reports on actual marriage, which was consummated this week, were quite dry and filled with numbers, including the fact that Zhabei has 4 times as much area and 3 times more registered residents as Jing’an.
Far less attention was given to Zhabei’s history, perhaps in an effort to downplay the formal disappearance of the area as an administrative district. Zhabei is probably best known for Suzhou Creek that runs through its heart, and historically made the area an ideal place for warehouses. That geographic fact facilitated the district’s development as an industrial area in the years when Shanghai was becoming China’s commercial hub. The district’s Sihang warehouse on the banks of Suzhou Creek was also famous as site of one of the first major battles in Shanghai between Chinese and Japanese troops at the start of World War 2.
Disappearing Districts
Zhabei’s disappearance continues a trend that has seen the tiny Nanshi District in the south Bund area and the larger Luwan that comprised most of the former French Concession swallowed up by the Huangpu District centered on the main Bund and Nanjing East Road over the last 15 years. One of the few major historic districts that remains intact is Hongkou, where I happen to live, and comprises the area formerly known as the Japanese concession.
I’ve heard past rumors that Hongkou might also be slated for disappearance, perhaps to be sub-divided between Huangpu District to the south and Yangpu District to the north. That might be a good thing from an administrative perspective, since I’ve always thought my home district was a bit of an administrative laggard for failing to create more vibrant business, shopping and residential areas from its wealth of historic buildings and neighborhoods.
This consolidation in Shanghai is part of a much larger wave sweeping China, which is also seeing many other smaller administrative regions merged into larger units. Such reform also occurs in my native US, with district lines occasionally redrawn and new cities formed to reflect shifting demographic trends. But like many other things, the recent movement in China is happening at lighting speed due to rapid demographic shifts, as millions of people migrate from the countryside to big cities like Shanghai.
All that brings us back to the question of what should be the next step after many of these administrative marriages, especially in terms of maintaining local identities. I doubt that anyone will miss the layers of bureaucracy that will be wiped out with in this movement, though many people like myself may also like to retain our status as residents of an individual community rather than just of the bigger city of Shanghai.
To that end, perhaps these consolidating districts could set up local advisory boards or similar bodies composed of volunteers interested in issues like preservation and cultural identity. Such bodies would have regular contact with local officials but lack formal powers or responsibilities, since the last thing we need is to create new bureaucracies after dismantling old ones. But at least this kind of effort and other similar ones could give local residents a bigger voice in determining the character of their neighborhoods, helping areas like Zhabei to live on even after their administrative functions are formally retired.
