Sunday, September 8, 2013

Xintiandi // 新天地

Xintiandi - New Heaven and Earth. 
One of the poshest areas of Shanghai where you can find the most luxorious boutiques, top-notch restaurants, shiny cars and trendy locals. What caught my eye were deffinetly policemen on every corner and lots of cleaning ladies with brooms keeping them streets cleaner than anywhere else in China. 
The place is worth a visit because of traditional shikumen - houses of locals from early 1900's, an architectural mix where East meets West. Most of them disappeared with the rapid development of Shanghai, yet in the end of 1990's the developer of Xintiandi decided to rebuild these houses. Shikumen represent the architecture and history of Shanghai, altough now they rather offer housing to (sometimes kitsch) shops and restaurants. Even Starbucks (why am I not even surprised...).
This is all very touristy, made to attract Westerners and spend some money. It was nice after the Hongkou district, but my feet still dragged me soon out of Xintiandi and already a block later I saw a more 'chinese' picture on the streets.
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Xintiandi -  Uus Taevas ja Maa.
Üks kõige poshimaid piirkondi Shanghais, kust võib leida kõige luksuslikumaid butiike, kõrgklassi restosid, värskelt vahatatud ja simipimestava säraga autosid ning trendikaid kohalikke. Eriti torkasid silma politseinikud igal tänavanurgal ning pisikesed koristajatädid, kes oma harjakestega askeldades kandsid hoolt, et Xintiandi tänavad oleksid vaieldamatult kõige puhtamad terves Hiinas.
Eelkõige väärt külastamist oma traditsiooniliste shikumen majakeste tõttu, mis veel varajastel 1900tel aastatel olid kohalikele kodudeks ning mille arhitektuuris segunevad ida ja lääs. Valdav enamus nendest majadest jäid Shanghai kiirele arengule jalgu ning hävinesid, kuniks nüüd üheksakümnendate lõpul Xintiandi projekteerija otsustas hooned taas ülesehitada. Shikumen esindavad suurepäraselt Shanghai arhitektuuri ja ajalugu, olgugi et tänapäeval on need kodudeks hoopis (kohati kitšidele) poekestele ning restoranidele, mitte kohalikele. Isegi Starbucks on leidnud tee Xintiandi ühte shikumen'i majakestest (ja ma isegi ei imesta enam).
Tegelikult üsna turistikas koht, mis on eelkõige loodud peibutamaks läänest pärit inimest, kes lisaks heldelt raha kulutaks. Peale pisut räämas Hongkoud oli Xintiandi meeldivaks vahelduseks, kuid üsna pea vedasid mu jalad mind järgmisele kõrvaltänavale, kust avanes juba ehedam tänavapilt.

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First real coffee in China. So far been drinking these horrible 3-in-1 thingys. No water-kettle, no french coffee-press... In contrast - I still haven't had traditional chinese tea.
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Vogue's FASHION NIGHT OUT at Xintiandi
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Getting married in the narrow streets between shikumen.
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Richgate mansions - ridiculously expensive apartments for ridiculously wealthy people.
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And after this, you can really sense the difference between Xintiandi and the rest of Shanghai's streets. Next photos are from just around the corner of Xintiandi.
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Beer for the thirsty. Tsingtao is da bomb.
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Drying clothes on the streets. You can literally bump your head into someone's underpants when you're tall enough and don't pay attention during walking.
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