These photos are from Tianjin’s “south city/market” neighbourhoods (南市), two months before they’re demolished. This is a lot of what’s left of Tianjin’s hú tòngs (胡同) – the old-style sprawling networks of communal courtyards and alleyways. They, along with the oldest apartment blocks, are being flattened before the Olympics. Much of it is already abandoned and reduced to rubble, but there are still many families living and operating businesses in the midst of it all. We’ve spent several afternoons wandering around in the claustrophobia-inducing maze of alleyways, talking with the people still living there and taking pictures.
The residents were fantastic. Two separate older folks even offered from their own initiative to help me photograph stuff. One invited me in to photograph what was left of her courtyard compound, which she with her husband and son had shared with twelve other families (the compound had spaces for sixteen). In a condemned apartment building, an old man saw me, asked what I was doing, and then tottered out with his cane gave me a little guided tour!
Some of what you’ll see in the photos is already gone; there are even some Friday-Sunday back-to-back photos showing the difference one weekend made. Some guys tearing stuff down said the people have until May 1st to vacate.
Two important words to know: you’ll see “拆” painted inside a circle on the buildings in many of the photos. It’s a verb for “break up; split open; destroy” and is part of the word 清拆 (demolition of buildings for a new project; literally “clean/pure destroy”). “铲平” is the word the residents used to describe what would happen to the area in about two months: “to flatten; to raze to the ground.” The last 27 photos were taken by friends.
You can read more about our experiences with 南市 and its residents here:
- Tianjin’s forsaken places – two months before demolition
- Tianjin’s forsaken places – Part II
- Tianjin’s forsaken places – Part III
Scroll down to read or write comments!
These photos are really great, J.
Dui dui — you can almost see the ghosts of the people who used to live there.
It’s a bizarre place – desolate, forsaken, yet crowded. The photos don’t do it justice. Plus, it was the clearest, brightest day we’ve had in months – bad for taking photos. The people really surprised me in the way they were open to talking about everything and didn’t give me dirty, suspicious looks.
Apparently there are a couple other places like this in the city, though perhaps not as large.
These pictures are amazing Joel. And these buildings don’t look any different than the ones in “To Live”. Where will these people move to when their homes are demolished?
ha – good question. Of the dozens of people I asked, only one actually had a place to move to (and one other couple said they weren’t going!). But difficulty in finding an affordable place is only part of the reason for that. People here typically don’t seem to plan as far ahead as we would anyway, so I suppose it’s not so unusual that two months before their homes get leveled, they still haven’t found a place to go. Of course, most of their neighbours are already gone.
These are exactly the kind of buildings from To Live… ha, that may be part of the reason they’re tearing them down before the Games.
You seriously should send these photos to a magazine…with the story…and a follow up of the people who live there now.
And WHERE are the pictures of the public bath?!
The public bath house photo is somewhere in the second half of the photos. It’s the one with a doorway with a bunch of bicycles out front and a white statue of a woman to the right of the door. There’s a guy talking on his cellphone right in the middle.
No no no… The INside! ;)
jk
You’re glad I didn’t take any of those. Trust me.
How cold will is it there right now? There sure is a lot more brick than I thought would be used for housing.
I don’t know why brick is the material of choice – maybe because it’s simple and cheap and labour-intensive to make? The winters get below freezing, but since it’s so dry there’s very little snow.
[...] Photo Gallery: Tianjin’s 南市 hutongs [...]
Hi Joel,
Awesome photos, mate! You have some great historical photos there. I’m going to go out when the snow has melted and take some more shots of a few remaining hutongs. Email me if you’re interested in going out together.
Cheers,
Gordie
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