Longtangs in Shanghai 上海弄堂

Longtang (lòng táng 弄堂) is the local term used by Shanghai (shàng hǎi 上海) people for Lilong (lǐ lòng 里弄). As "long" means a lane and "tang" means an important building or the front room of a house, "longtang" either means a lane that connects houses or a group of houses connected by lanes. According to elucidation, "longtang" might not so explicit as "Lilong"is, for the "Li" in "lilong" means neighbourhood, and people living in a longtang are actually living in a neighbourhood , but it is understandable.

In longtangs, besides hawkings of snack there were hawkings of vegetable, fruit, bean curd, melon and egg, even live chicken and duck. once or twice in a week, there would be hawking or rendering services, such as repairing shoes, mending coir ropes stretched on wooden bed frames or flicking of cotton quilt to make it fluffy. Every sort of trades would have their own melodic tune in hawking, people could identify them without stepping out to see. Apart from them, there were fortune-tellers and those begged for alms. Sometimes, in the still of the night.

There were shrill hawkings of selling fried ginkgo or selling tin foils for the use of burning to the dead, occasionally there even were melancholy howlings for calling back the soul of a sick child. The houses in 1ongtangs, generally two storied, are proximately attached to each other in rows, sharing the same front and back lanes. People living along the same lane had the habit of nodding or greeting each other when passing by, some even had the mood to chat a little while. once a hawking was heard, housewives of the same interest would come out, they commented and exchanged opinions on the quality of the goods and bargained or help their neighbour to bargain with the peddler, some of them also took this opportunity to gossip and exchange heresays of the neighbourhood forgetting what they intended to buy, The advantages of the longtang life lie in the good neighbourhood relationship, "good neighbours are more helpful than far away relatives"(yuǎn qīn bù rú jìn lín 远亲不如近邻) proved to be true in Shanghai.

For most of the Shanghai people at that time actually came from other places or cities. However the shortcoming was, as cited by Lu Xun (lǔ xùn 鲁迅) in ditto essay,"...... for those who make a living on writing, if they fail in training themselves to be as calm as an ancient well, owing to the noise outside. They can write nothing." Moreover, in large longtangs different sorts of people and people with different interest mixed together, frequent contacts occasionally wou1d result in trouble and disputes. Shanghai people are often considered to be ones who are keen on conducting business. smooth in social contact and good in dealing with money. This probably due to the fact that many people of this city lived in such a delicate society of langtang since their childhood and consistently receiving education of handling relationship among different people.

Longtang and the longtang houses were native products of Shanghai soon after the city was forced to be opened to the West as a treaty port. At the beginning. Chinese were not allowed to live in the foreign concessions. Later on the British found that relying on the small sum of Western residents at that time would not be able to tap the big potentiality of Shanghai becoming a metropolis.

At the same time, incessant civil wars in China made a large number of wealthy Chinese refugees request to move into the foreign concessions. Then the authorities agreed to have them opened to the Chinese. But for the sake of management, large amount of collective dwellings were built in designate lots of land enclosed by walls. The house, similar in design as the English terrace house, but to suit the Chinese way of living are surrounded by house-walls including a courtyard at front. They were arranged in line like barracks, row after row and could easily be accessed by sub-lanes connected to the main-lane, while only the main-lane could lead to the city road outside through an iron grille gate. Nobody had the idea at that time that such a type of housing built at first for the convenience of management, had later became the main and typical type of housing in Shanghai, and finally turned to be the most active and important part of real estate business which had been the leading business of all of Shanghai's economic activities for the following decades of years.

Large numbers of longtangs were built not only in the foreign concessions but also in the Chinese quarter around the concessions, their tota1 appearance made up the general physiognomy of the city of Shanghai, During the 1940s, out of 4.1894 millions of population in Shanghai. except those very rich (accounting 5% ) and those very poor (about one million), the majority of population. Nearly three millions, including white--collar Western and Chinese residents, lived in various types of longtangs. Even now although many of them are demolished when one stands high up looking over from above, what he can see are waves of the roof of longtang one after the other.

Architecture, especially residential architecture, is the mirror of social life. In old Shanghai those who could live in a longtang house could only be people with fixed income. They had to be able to pay the monthly rent and tax for the house, in this case called the police tax. In the foreign concession, if one falled in payment, he must move out right away. Since the society was divided into different strata. the longtang houses were also classified into high, medium and low. Different ranks of longtang houses were indeed different in construction quality. but more ever were different in location, The longtang houses in Zhabei and Nanshi Districts were the lowest in rank, while those in Hongkou District were better, but those located along Bubbling well Road (Now Nanjing Road West 南京西路) and Avenue Joffre (now Huihai Road 淮海路)were the highest. There used to be what so called the “Upper Corner”(shàng zhī jiǎo 上只角) and the "Lower Corner"(xià zhī jiǎo 下只角) - of Shanghai, the "Upper" was referred to the best of location denoted above. and the "Lower" to the lower and lowest rank of location,

The rent of houses in the two "Corners" could differ as much as to four or more than ten times. At the early stage, even the Chinese commercial buildings. such as banks, shops or the import and export firms managed by traders from Guangdong (guǎng dōng 广东) and Ningbo (níng bō 宁波) also took the form of longtang but on a larger scale. They usually had three or five front rooms on both first and second floors with a courtyard in the middle and back rooms behind. While the lower floor was for business, the upper floor for living, the back rooms in the first floor used as dormitories for employees and the courtyard a makeshift storage. It was up to the 1930s, improvement of business systems and many new buildings for office use were huilt then this sort of longtang gradually turned into residential use.

In those high-class longtang. only a few children could be found playing around, and even fewer people passing by. Occasionally two or three maid servants or cooks chatting in low voices by one side, or the gate of One house opened and a host bidding farewells to his guests, those who were passing economic activities for the following decades of years. Large numbers of longtangs were built not only in the foreign concessions but also in the Chinese quarter around the concessions ,their tota1 appearance made up the general physiognomy of the city of Shanghai, During the 1940s, out of 4.1894 millions of population in Shanghai. except those very rich (accounting 59b ) and those very poor (about one million), the majority of population. nearly three millions, including white--collar Western and Chinese residents, lived in various types of longtangs.

The diference of ranks of longtang could also be reflected in the life-style and culture in them. If you enter a longtang you will find urinals, snack stalls, flies flying in hordes, children fighting in groups, fierce turbulences and sharp curses. What a disorderly small world!" This was what Lu Xun wrote in his essay, "Children in Shanghai"(shàng hǎi ér tóng 上海儿童) to depict a longtang of the lowest class. Residents of such sort of longtang , in order to lessen the burden of ' rents or to earn some extra money, usually lot out their surplus rooms to others and became an "ni vang dong" (literary a second 1and1ord--a sublessors). Some even divided their houses into many small rooms, or bui1t attics above and had them let to people who came to Shanghai to make a living or to take refuge. Thus the longtang became very crowded, bad in living condition and frequent disputes occurred. A satirical play entitled "72 Tenants"(qī shí èr jiā fáng kè 七十二家房客) did give a vivid description of this sort of longtong. ln longtangs of the middle and middle-lower classes, there were a1so some "er fang dong" and "san fang ke" (sān fáng kè, 三房客, those who rented their rooms from the sublessor), but the 'er fang dong" here would choose their tenants. It is interesting to note that many progressive literary men from interior China at that time lived in the "tingzijian"(tíng zǐ jiān 亭子间), a small back room ill a longtang house, which is old in the winter and hot in the summer.

This evolved the so called "Tingzijian Literature"(tíng zǐ jiān wén xué 亭子间文学) in the history of modern literature of China. "Tlngzijian Literature" is not anything that depicted tingzijian. But a term referred to a category of progressive literature written by some young writers who could only afford to live and work in the tough condition of a tingzijian but looked at the world with a new and realistic view. People nowadays when criticise the indifference of human relationship would like to talk about the good neighbourhood relationship of the past longtang as a universal model. In fact it was only partially true, for it seemed the higher the class of the longtang, the colder the relationship among residents. In those high-class longtang. only a few children could be found playing around, and even fewer people passing by. occasionally two or three maid servants or cooks chatting in low voices by one side, or the gate of One house opened and a host bidding farewells to his guests, those who were passing by might cast a glance but tried not to pay attention.

In some large longtangs there inhabited nearly a hundreds or hundreds of households, they were like cities in a city. Within them there were groceries, snack shops. barbershops, hot water sellers, tai1ors and even small industries, "Longtang factory"(lòng táng gōng chǎng 弄堂工厂) was one special feature of Shanghai. The owners of these factories were mostly' technical workers themselves, through the help of three or four apprentices, by careful design and fine workmanship, they could produce some very good and useful utensils and articles for daily use out from scraps cast away by the big factories. Their production had once played an important role in the small goods market in Shanghai. The present No. 8 Steel Works of Shanghai was actually set up on the basis of several longtang factories after 1949.

The "longtang mansion"(lòng táng gōng guǎn 弄堂公馆) was another special feature of Shanghai. In old Shanghai wher public order was not good, Robbery, kidnap seemed not uncommon, thus some of the wealthy men were afraid to show their wealth, they did not like to build their mansion along the street, but built a longtang in front to conceal their mansion. The mansion usually was big in size, beautifully decorated inside but the outward appearance was made similar to the other houses. Such peculiarity seemed very different from the West as well as from people in interior China.

Longtang was a product of Shanghai and belongs to the Shanghai people. It tells the story of Shanghai and reflects the culture, life-style and philosophy of Shanghai people, There were many types of lontang houses, and every one was a part of the whole. Reading the Shanghai lontangs is like reading the social history of Shanghai and the Shanghai people.

In the recent years, Shanghai has been completing a floor area of l0 million square meters of new housing per year,but there are still 45% of the city popu1ation living in longtangs. As the city is now undergoing a large-scale reconstruction , those longtangs of comparative good quality will be conserved and equipped with modern amenities, those of very poor condition will be demolished and those in between will be reformed in different ways, such as preserving their appearance and at the same time making them suitable to modern living. In this period of great development and drastic change, it is meaningful and important to recall and discuss the relations between the Shanghai longtang. Shanghai people and Shanghai culture.

上海弄堂

     “薏米杏仁莲心粥！”
     “玫瑰白糖伦教糕！”
     “虾肉馄饨面！”
     “五香茶叶蛋！”
      这是鲁迅先生在《弄堂生意古今谈》中怀念20年代他初到上海时闸北一带弄堂内外叫卖零食的声音。他认为那些口号既漂亮又具艺术性，使人“一听到就有谗涎欲滴之慨”。

     “弄堂”是上海人对里弄的俗称，“里弄房子”就是弄堂建筑。在弄堂里除了有叫卖零食点心之外，还有叫卖青菜、豆腐、瓜菜、鸡蛋的，时而还有活鸡活鸭；每隔几天还有把服务送上门的修理棕棚、补皮鞋与弹棉花胎之类。他们各行业有各自的呼唤声调，使人一听便知道是什么行业的人来了。此外，还有算命的、化缘的；晚上，当夜深人静时还有声调凄凉的卖炒白果与卖长锭的，更有使人毛骨悚然的为家中病孩招魂的长嚎声。由于弄堂房子家家户户紧挨着，共同分享屋前屋后的弄堂，平时出入照面时常会打个招呼或寒暄几句。一有叫卖声，抱有共同兴趣的主妇就会应声而 出，于是对货色评头论足、讨价还价、交流观点之声不绝。更有借此机会交头接耳，交换东家或西家的最新信息，把本来要卖东西的原意也忘掉了。它的优点是这里的生活富于邻里感，邻居相互帮助，亲如一家特别是所谓上海人其实多为外来人，“远亲不如近邻”在这里最能体现。缺点是，“对于靠笔墨为生的人们，却有一点害处，假如你还没有练到‘心如古井’，就可以被闹得整天整夜写不出什么东西来”（鲁迅，同上文）。此外，在大型的弄堂里，居民鱼龙混杂、人各有志，接近了就难免会生是非，一不小心就会惹出各种各样的弄堂风波来。人们常说上海人善于处世、门槛精，可能与从小就处在这个微妙的小社会里，接受这个小社会关于人际关系的教育有关。

      弄堂与弄堂房子是上海开埠后的土产。起初英国人只许中国人在租界工作，不同意居住。后来发现要发挥上海可能成为都市的潜力，仅仅靠那些为数不多的外侨（1865年在法租界的外侨为460人，英租界可能多一些）是不行的。那时恰逢太平天国运动进入江南（1853年），大量富有与中产阶级的中国难民要求移入，于是租界当局顺水推舟，公开向中国居民开放。为了便于管理，便在指定的地块上兴建大批集体住宅。房子为立帖式结构，像兵营一样联立成行，并由行列组成网络，对内交通自如，对外只有总弄才能到达马路，弄口设铁门，可以随时启闭。没有想到，这种原本始于方便管理、统一建造的集体住宅很快便发展成为综合有东西方居住特色的上海弄堂，并在随后的几十年中成为上海经济活动中最活跃与规模最大的房地产业的中坚。大规模建造的弄堂房子不仅租界有，华界亦有。至于它们的类型与各类型 的特色，这里就不赘述了，但从解放前上海418.94万的居民来看，除了少数的外侨胞与中国富人（约占5%）住的花园住宅，与100余万贫民住在城市边沿用草、竹、芦苇搭成的棚屋之外，绝大多数居民，包括中国与外侨的白领阶层均住在各式弄堂中，总面积达两千余万平方米。无怪只要居高临下，尽目所及是一片片栉比鳞次、 此起彼伏、像波浪似的各式弄堂的屋面。

      建筑是社会生活的镜子，居住建筑尤其这样。在上海能住得上弄堂的，至少也得是有固定收入者，否则无法交付每月到期必须缴纳的房租与房捐（或称巡捕捐、绿衣捐）。在旧上海，不交房钿就要迁出，这是天经地义的事。 既然社会是分层次的，弄堂也有高、中、低之分。不同级别的弄堂房子在质量上虽有差别，但更重要的是地段。一般来说，位于闸北、南市的较差，虹口稍微好些，静安寺路（今南京西路）与霞飞路（今淮海路）一带最好。故上海有“上只角”、“下只角”之称谓，“上只角”指城市西区的高级住宅，两“角”的房租可以差三四倍以上。南京路中心地段的弄堂在早期时曾因其商业的价值而兴旺，它们是上海最早的“商住楼”。当时无论是广邦或宁邦的“字号”（进出口行）均集中于此。这些房子常为“三上三下”或“五上五下”，开间较大，前店后屋或下店上屋，前面的天井可作临时货栈之用，后来还有可供职工居住的“后楼”。30年代，随着进出口业体制的更新与新型办公楼的兴建，这些弄堂逐渐沦为居住条件较差之列。

       弄堂的级别还反映在弄堂里的生活与文化中。“倘若走进住家的弄堂里去，就看见便溺器、吃食担，苍蝇成群的在飞，孩子成队的在闹，有剧烈的捣乱，有发达的骂詈，真是一个乱哄哄的小世界。”（《上海儿童》）这无疑是鲁迅先生对低级弄堂的写照。在这样的弄堂里，居民为了减轻房租负担或干脆想通过房子来赚钱，总是把多余的房间分租出去，自己当起“二房东”来。也有索性把房子横七竖八地划分为小间，上面还要搭上阁楼，出租给外地到上海来谋生或逃难的人。因而这里人口密度高、成份杂、居住条件恶劣、是非多。讽刺剧《七十二家房客》就出于此。另外，本文之初谈及的邻里感特强的弄堂可能属于中级或低级。这里也有“二房东”和“三房客”，但房东对房客是有所选择的。有趣的是，当时许多为了逃避内地白色恐怖而躲到上海来的进步文人大多落脚在此类弄堂中的亭子间，于是出现了我国近代文学史中的一个小派别“亭子间文学”。“亭子间文学”并非描写亭子间，而是这些住在朝北的、看不到阳光的、东冷夏热的亭子间中的文人，在苛刻的生活条件下写出来的现实主义进步文学。
  
      今天当人们怀念邻里感时，常常会把上海的弄堂同邻里感捆在一起，其实并不尽然。看来越是高级的弄堂，其人际关系也就越是淡漠。在那些寂静而优雅的高级弄堂里，除了有三五个男孩在那里玩耍外，很少有人在此停步。偶尔有三两个人聚在一起低声谈话则大多为某家的“娘姨”（保姆）或“大师傅”（厨师）。假如哪能一扇门忽然开了在迎宾或送客，甚至有些不寻常的活动时，人们也只是装成漫不经心地遥望着，不会去围观。

      有些大型的，拥有数百户甚至成千户的弄堂，俨然就像一个城中之城。里面有杂货店、小吃店、理发店、裁缝店，甚至还有工厂。上海的“弄堂工厂”是上海工业与文化的一大特色。这些厂长大多为技术工人出身，带着几个徒弟，运用大厂扔下的边脚料或下脚货，经过因材施用，精心设计，认真制作。竟造出许多人们生活的必需品，并在小商品市场中占着重要席位。解放后的上钢八厂便是以几个“弄堂工厂”为基础发展起来的。
 
      上海弄堂还有一个特产，就是“弄堂公馆”。过去在鱼龙混杂、尔虞我诈的旧上海中， 人们必须学会一套自我保护的方法，“弄堂公馆”就是其一。当时，有些富人在为自己建造大公馆时，不是堂而皇之把公馆建在大街上而是先在基地沿马路一带建一个弄堂，用以出租；自己的公馆则建在弄堂末端，隐蔽起来。这些公馆规模不小，内部考究，但在外型上却同周围的弄堂房子差不多。这说明上海人在住房问题上是同西方人与内地富绅不同的。

      弄堂是上海的特产，是属于上海人的。它记载了上海的故事，反映了上海人的文化、生活方式与心态。上海有各式弄堂房子，每种是上海作为一个整体的一个部分。阅读上海弄堂，就如阅读上海与上海人的社会历史。

      目前，尽管上海近几年的住宅建设年达1000余万平方米，但尚有45%左右的人住在旧社会遗留下来的弄堂中。当今，在上海正在进行着的大规模的城市改造中，有些质量较佳的弄堂将予保留或在保留中进行改造，有些危房简屋或居住条件恶劣的将予拆除改造。在此大发展与大变化的时刻，检讨一下上海弄堂同上海人与上海文化的关系是很有意思的。