In recent decades, what has changed the most in Shanghai is the urban “hardware,” from buildings and roads to the public transportation network. The tallest buildings in Shanghai when I was a child were never over 20 floors. Today, projects like Shanghai Tower have over a hundred stories, reaching 500 meters upward.
I never would have imagined that we would be capable of building something so high one day. But the reality in Shanghai is precisely this, with one surprise after another. And every time I cross the Huangpu River, I find the contrast fascinating: to the left are the old buildings in the Bund, our historical heritage; to the right, the modern skyscrapers of Pudong, our present. What I see is not a city destroying its past, but a city that has developed without denying its past.
All the foreigners who have come to Shanghai since the 1990s have played a role in the process. They have taught us to better manage our cities and to be more respectful of each other, especially in public places. Finally, now that Shanghai has transformed into a financial center, most of the factories have moved, more and more green spaces are appearing, and pollution has decreased.
All of these changes happened before my very eyes, with a marked acceleration to prepare for the World Expo 2010, which I was a live witness to, and was able to photograph the many profound changes. I was lucky. My son’s generation—he’s still a baby—probably will not have as much. The iconic buildings have already gone up. Everything will be in place, like it is in Paris. On the other hand, he won’t feel the pressure that people my age feel, who work tirelessly to buy a home which the generations to come will be able to enjoy.
BOOK
China Now
Direction : Yann Layma
360 x 250 mm
192 pages
Punlisher: La Martinière
09 octobre 2014
ISBN 9782732448824
49 €
