Walking the Old Streets of Nanjimen Area, Chongqing

The remnants of a pre 1950 residence is stuck between newer buildings.

Strings of lights adorn some old school structural beams. They are caked in the grime from the city-center streets.

Just near the entrance of the descent to the river is a small business built around their CNC cutter.

A small dog waits for its master outside a little restaurant.

An old gentlemen gets his feet groomed on the path above the market.

Some of these houses look as though they are abandoned. Many times it is just a dripping air conditioner that lets you know the power is on and someone is home.

I shirtless man stands over his catch of salvaged items from the condemned buildings.

Clothes make the man’s home is his castle, no?

This is one of the nicer looking stores in the area. It has a permanent location and is out of the cascade of foot traffic.

A new pup is trained in the art form of dogism. Most of the animals looked pretty good in this area.

No joke. This little combo enterprise seems the subject of the horror movie.

One of zillions of mahjong parlors in the city. This one is sandwiched between the smoke shop and the butcher dentist.

I thought it was interesting that the old wood framed buildings were clothed in repurposed advertising banners.

Wolf takes sheep, sheep takes chopper, chopper takes wolf.

Obviously abandoned the bricks of this old building have become home for some fairly significant foliage.

Everything to the west of this has been “cleaned up” and planted. The riverside just below has been redeveloped with tour boats, restaurants, and bars.

I came across of elderly folk reclaiming wood from nearby demolition.

Much of the street level of the bank is hollowed out by deep caves, some of which were used as bomb shelters from Japanese aerial attacks. Now they house various print shops, furniture markets and restaurants.

Though this is one of the more interesting places to eat and some of the best ribs I have had in Chongqing, the outside tends to smell like leaking propane tanks. It’s better to eat inside the bomb shelter.

The waitress at the restaurant kills some time studying various embroidery patterns.

Just below Nanjimen Medicine City.

These buildings are next.

On the way back up to Jiefangbei I always pass this rather church-like restaurant.

I woke up this morning and realized that the heat had broken and the air was clear so it seemed like a good day to take pictures. I had been meaning to go down to the area just south of Jiaochangkou subway station. This area was previously home to a warehouse that is the formal inspiration for my current sculpture. Part of this area is called Nanjimen and has chunks of an older Chongqing sprinkled between awkward bits of more recent, taller builds. None of it really seems to belong, looking more like a rockslide than anything. Even the buildings constructed in the last few decades hold tenuously to the steeply inclined descent from Jiefangbei to the river. Really, it’s only the businesses situated in the unused bomb shelter hollows that seem to have a stable claim to the real estate. The older areas are in various states of demolition. The buildings get the mark of death, a large 拆(chai) hastily spray painted in one pass, 2- 4 feet across, indicating that they are slated to be torn down. This gives another population the chance to get inside and strip it for ever single loose object that may be sold, melted, or carried to a heap somewhere else. Even the bricks are reclaimed with small groups of folks chipping the mortar off with hammer and chisel. My guess is that by the time a lot of the sites are actually cleared, it’s just a matter of scooping some dust, broken glass, mortar, and the truly irretrievable garbage into the back of a truck.

As much as it looks like there will be wrecking balls and loaders coming down the hill any second, there remains a busy community of merchants strung through the alleys stretching for several city blocks. There is almost no car traffic, so there are as many tables in the street as there are permanent stores. Shops sell a fair amount of used and new clothing, second hand electronics, knock off DVDs for one to three kuai (equal parts pornography and mainstream film), some food, some jewelry, some hardware. I got the sense that most of the items were for trade within the community as none of it was valuable enough to warrant coming from any distance. Despite the meager retail offering, the street life is energetic, people seemed in a good mood, getting hair cuts and middle of the street pedicures, eating, and just plain old carrying stuff; which is, as anyone who has spent any time here can tell you, one of the great pastimes of the city.

Advertisement