2019_11_08 Beginning of Winter

Last time, I recorded "plants" in the twenty-four solar terms a year, but this time it is "buildings"...

2019_12_07 Heavy snow

Today's Shanghai buildings are still diverse. From the beginning of winter in 2019 (November 7) last year to the frost fall in October 2020 (October 23) this year, I recorded Shanghai's buildings during the 24 solar terms... for everyone to give advice!

2019_12_22 Winter Solstice

Among Chinese culture, Shanghai style culture is a regional culture that has risen in modern times. It can also represent Shanghai's modern culture. The spiritual essence of this culture can be reflected in the modern architectural image of Shanghai.

2020_01_06 Xiaohan

2020_01_20 Great Cold

2020_02_04 Beginning of Spring

2020_02_19 Rain

The prototype of Shanghai culture is actually Jiangnan culture. This culture is expressed in architecture and can still be seen in some legacy buildings in the suburbs. Modern Shanghai was a new cultural era. At that time, Western culture spread eastward on a large scale and Western powers established concessions here. With the development of economy and commerce, Shanghai gradually became a large city in modern times. Its cultural feature is the "Shanghai style", which means it absorbs many foreign cultures, embraces everything, coexists and tolerates, and does not stick to one pattern. These cultural characteristics are reflected in the architecture, which is multi-faceted, including residential aspects, commercial buildings, and other architectural forms...

2020_03_05 Jingzhe

2020_03_20 Vernal Equinox

2020_04_04 Qingming Festival

2020_04_19 Gu Yu

In modern Shanghai, it can be said that the main residences are Lilong houses. This form is: an alley enters, and there are residences on both sides. It is called Shikumen House (the door frame is made of strips of stone). Each door is a family, but now three or four families live together. The gate form uses the traditional Jiangnan residential form (Shikumen), but the door and the door can also decorate the embossed patterns on Western classical buildings, which can be described as a combination of Chinese and Western.

2020_05_05 Summer

2020-05-20 xiaoman

2020-06-05 grain in ear

2020-06-20 summer solstice

It turns out that traditional Chinese houses are classified according to social hierarchy, and the size and style of the houses are determined according to the size of the official property. If the official property is low or the common people, the use of arch arches, dragon and phoenix paintings are not allowed, and the size of the main house is also regulated. Modern houses in Shanghai are not classified based on this relationship, but mostly based on economic conditions. Those who have money can live in villas and small houses, but those who have no money can only live poorly. Most of the people who can live in villas are foreign firms, chairmen and general managers of large companies, etc. Slightly worse, such as general managers of medium-sized companies, barristers, university professors, etc., live in garden alleys or high-end apartments. Third, first-class people, such as owners of small companies or shops, high-ranking employees, etc., live in and build houses. Even worse, people in service industries such as bathrooms and barbershops, ordinary factory workers, small shops and stalls, etc. live in old-fashioned alleys or large courtyards, which have small houses. What's worse is the shantytown, with brick walls on both sides, find some wooden strips to set them aside and lay them with linoleum. Most of these people are people who fled from famine in the north and came to Shanghai to make a living, such as rickshaw workers, part-time workers, etc. There are also some disaster victims from northern Anhui and northern Jiangsu who make a living by collecting waste, but their living conditions are even worse. They find a few bamboo poles, bend them, insert them into the mud ground at both ends, and cover them with broken linoleum. They are called "rolling earth dragons". The ground was very wet, so only some broken mats were laid and curled up inside. Some disaster victims still couldn't find a place to sleep, so they had to sleep outdoors on the sidewalk of Jinling East Road because there were arcade buildings here, that is, there were buildings on top to block the rain. This shows the gap between rich and poor in modern Shanghai. Architecture vividly describes Shanghai's modern society.

2020-07-06 small summer

2020-07-22 great heat

2020-08-07 beginning of autumn

2020-08-22 end of heat

From the perspective of commercial buildings, Shanghai style also reflects its competitive mechanism. Nanjing Road in Shanghai is the most prosperous commercial street in the country in modern China. There are rows of large and small shops on both sides of this street, and there are countless. Among them, Sincere Company (now a fashion company) was built earlier. In 1915, its form and scale were very eye-catching. Later, a large commercial building was built opposite it, Yong 'an Company (now Hualian Commercial Building). They tried every means to surpass Xianshi Company, so they built a "Yiyun Pavilion" on the roof to attract people. Since then, Sincere's business has been affected. So Xianshi Company also tried to think about architecture and built a three-story hollow roof tower at the Zhejiang intersection of Nanjing Road. Not only was it taller than Yong 'an Company's Yiyun Pavilion, but it was also named Moxing Tower. So business returned to being proactive. But later Yong 'an Company made another big move. They built a 20-story tower building across Zhejiang Road, called the "New Yong' an". It was not only tall, but also in a novel form, which made Yong 'an Company shine on Shanghai Beach. Later, due to the outbreak of the War of Resistance, the urban economy and commerce were greatly affected, so this competition was abandoned. These phenomena are the architectural expressions of Shanghai's modern culture.

2020-09-07 white dew

2020-09-22 autumnal equinox

2020-10-08 cold dew

2020-10-23 frost

Shanghai's "Shanghai-style architecture" is more reflected in its architectural form. Shanghai's modern architecture forms are diverse, known as the "International Architecture Expo." British, French, German, Spanish, American, Dutch, Norway, Japanese, Indian, etc., and there are also ancient and modern ones. The four pillars at the customs gate of the Bund River are the most standard ancient Greek Doric orders, and the Guangming Cinema was the most "modern" building at that time. Take the Shanghai Bund as an example. It starts from the Broadway Building on the north bank of the Suzhou River (today's Shanghai Building) in the north and reaches the Bund on Jinling East Road in the south. The architectural forms here are rich and colorful: the Oriental Bank is French Baroque, the Bank of China is modern Chinese, the Sassoon Building is modern American, the Huizhong Hotel is Renaissance, the Jianghaiguan Building is eclectic, the HSBC Bank is Roman Revival, the British Association is British Classical, and so on. Although these buildings are diverse in styles, looking at the Bund buildings as a whole, they are so harmonious and beautiful, which is really valuable. The Shanghai style of modern architecture in Shanghai has a spirit of positive progress, eclecticism and pursuit of development. This spirit is beneficial not only to today's architecture, but also to today's social culture.

Chen Yingguo, author of Jinmen. com