The Surging News reporter Luo Xin
Athletes compete on Suzhou Creek on October 24, 2021, Shanghai. People's Vision Infographic
Paris has the Seine, London has the Thames, Cairo has the Nile, Vienna has the Danube... Shanghai also has a "one river" - Suzhou Creek.
Suzhou Creek is a common name for the Shanghai section of the Wusong River, a tributary of the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze River. According to Ma Changlin, a researcher at the Shanghai Municipal Archives, before the opening of the port in Shanghai, Suzhou Creek has always been called Wusong River, but after the opening of the port in Shanghai, because foreigners found that they could take a boat from this river to Suzhou, they called it Suzhou Creek. Later, according to custom, with Beixinjing as the boundary, the upper reaches of the Wusong River were called wusong river, and the local people were also called so, while the east of beixinjing was the lower reaches of the Wusong River, which entered downtown Shanghai, and The Shanghainese called it Suzhou Creek.
Suzhou Creek was once clear, but with the rapid development of the coastal economy, the population density continues to increase, a large number of industrial wastewater and domestic sewage are discharged into it, so there is a saying of "washing rice and vegetables in the 1950s, washing and irrigating in the 1960s, black and smelly in the 1970s, and fish and shrimp in the 1980s". Later, after the rectification from the "Su Phase I" to the "Su Phase IV", today, the 42-kilometer shoreline of Suzhou Creek waterfront public space has been basically opened, realizing "returning the river to the people, returning the shoreline to the people, and returning the scenery to the people". It can be said that from the Wusong River to the Suzhou River, from the stinky water to the landscape river, the Suzhou River carries too many Shanghai memories and stories.
May 1987, Shanghai, busy Suzhou Creek. People's Vision Infographic
In November this year, NYU Shanghai's "Suzhou Creek Urban Ecology, Urban Design, International Urban Comparative Research and Dissemination" project (hereinafter referred to as the "Suzhou Creek" project) was selected as the 2021 Shanghai "Chinese Culture Going Global" Special Support Fund Project. Launched in the autumn of last year, led by Guan Chenghe, assistant professor of urban science and policy at the Shanghai New York Metropolitan Laboratory, and Li Ying, assistant professor of urban studies, the project aims to conduct research on the urban ecology, urban design and international city comparison of Suzhou Creek, and to evaluate, analyze and compare the transformation along The Suzhou Creek from the perspective of ecological sustainability, architectural design and social activities. Tong Shijun, President of Shanghai New York University, said: "I hope that through this project, Suzhou Creek, which represents Shanghai culture, will go to the world, so that the world can better understand Chinese culture and listen to the story of Shanghai. ”
How can a local river become a symbol of Chinese culture, and how can it go to the wider world through an academic project? Recently, Guan Chenghe and Li Ying were interviewed by the surging news reporter on the "Suzhou Creek" project.
Professor Kwan Shing Ho
The changes of Suzhou Creek carry the memory of Shanghai
For Suzhou Creek, the memories of Shanghainese are varied.
Li Ying said: "90-year-old people have war memories of it, 60-year-olds are industrial memories, and 30-year-olds and 40-year-olds are stinky river memory." ”
Nowadays, when people mention Shanghai, they often mention the Huangpu River and the Bund, but they rarely introduce it to everyone: "I am from Shanghai, and my hometown has a Suzhou River." ”
"In fact, from a historical macro point of view, the importance of Suzhou Creek to Shanghai is no less than that of the Huangpu River." Li Ying told the surging news reporter that almost every great city has a great mother river. For example, Suzhou Creek for Shanghai, the historic river carries the collective memory of the entire city, the spatial layering, linking the city's past, present and future, which means that the city's past will not be forgotten, and the future can be expected. The buildings on both sides of the Suzhou Creek also record the trajectory of Shanghai's changing style - from the concession period to the development of industry and national industry and commerce, to the former garbage bridge and the environmental treatment behind it, until now everyone sees the new and new style of Suzhou Creek.
In one class, Li Ying gave the students an assignment about Suzhou Creek. A local student told her in the second class that he had asked the old man at home, and the old man said, "That place is the next corner, and the Shanghainese don't want to go, and it's not good." At the same time, the old people can't quite understand why the land price around SuheWan has become so expensive now.
But one of Li Ying's relatives is a military fan, and he knows the history of the Battle of Songhu and the Shanghai Theater very well, and the first place to go to Shanghai is the Sihang Warehouse. The image of Suzhou Creek in his mind is completely different from the old man in Shanghai before him. When everyone has different urban emotions, the need for urban space is more diverse. ”
Therefore, the "Suzhou Creek Project" hopes to integrate a series of spaces that are more suitable for Suzhou Creek through the analysis of different temporal and spatial emotions. Li Ying said: "We hope that these research results 'taken from the people' can be 'used for the people' to make Suzhou Creek a more democratic and appropriate urban space." ”
The changes of Suzhou Creek carry the urban emotions of Shanghai and have undergone changes in time and space. Different generations have different emotions about the Su River. Source: NYU Shanghai WeChat public account
A different study of Suzhou Creek than before
Li Ying's "spatio-temporal sentiment analysis" is one of the characteristics of the "Suzhou Creek Project" of Shanghai New York University, which combines urban design with urban science, emphasizes the application of AI technology to conduct spatio-temporal sentiment analysis of "streetscape", "riverscape" and "urban landscape", and incorporates urban diagnosis and urban memory.
Another major feature of the "Suzhou Creek Project" is to introduce Chinese culture to the world, especially the history and culture of the development of the Yangtze River Delta cities represented by Shanghai. "A Suzhou Creek, a thousand years of Shanghai history." Guan Chenghe told the surging news reporter, "Suzhou Creek is the mother river of Shanghai, witnessing the rise and development of Shanghai, the source of Shanghai's urban civilization, carrying the history and context of the city, and also an indispensable valuable resource for Shanghai's future development, and an important spatial carrier for strengthening Shanghai's core functions and enhancing the city's soft power." ”
Guan Chenghe revealed that the current project has not been launched recently, and there have been certain results. For example, through NYU's global online course "Urbanization in China", students in China and around the world can "better understand Chinese culture and listen to the story of Shanghai."
"The main axis of the course is to make a time-based narrative of Suzhou Creek, a comparison between China and foreign countries in space, and a deepening of functional connotations. Around this main axis, the focus is on highlighting theoretical ecological research and practical architectural design. Guan Chenghe said that since the beginning of 2019, "China Urbanization" has attracted students from more than a dozen countries and regions since its opening at NYU Shanghai. During the pandemic, international students have also insisted on participating through online courses. The content of the course also includes the formation of a number of Joint Teams of Chinese and Foreign Students to conduct field trips along the Suzhou Creek, propose design plans based on Chinese culture and modern life, and solicit opinions through domestic and international media and NYU's global network of 15 campuses. The outcome of the course will be through the design and renovation of parts of the Suzhou Creek space to enhance the image of Shanghai as the historical and cultural core.
In Guan Chenghe's vision, the future "Suzhou Creek Project" will also give birth to these achievements: the Chinese and English bilingual books on Suzhou Creek, "Suzhou Creek: Urban Ecological Corridor", the album "Suzhou Creek: Architectural Design along the Mother River in Shanghai", the architectural design project "Pocket Space along the Suzhou River" that calls on the general public to participate, and the design experiment in cooperation with local governments. During the project, architects, landscape architects, city residents, current students and other personnel were invited to participate, and cooperated with the NYU Shanghai City Laboratory to conduct research on the historical aspects of the project. "We will also compare the Suzhou Creek with other international projects, such as the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia, the Charles River in Boston, usa, and the Cheonggye River in Seoul, South Korea."
It is reported that the special support fund of "Chinese Culture Going Global" in Shanghai focuses on the four major directions of "international expression of Chinese culture", "global narrative capacity building", "promotion and promotion of double creation and interpretation" and "expansion of the international 'circle of friends'". Shanghai NYU's "Suzhou Creek" project was selected as the "Global Narrative Capacity Building" direction, which mainly supports the strengthening of external narrative capacity building, the construction of online and offline heavyweight Chinese culture international communication platform or brand, to show the world the real, three-dimensional and comprehensive China, highlighting shanghai's urban character.
Professor Li Ying led the students out of the classroom to understand the architectural space design of pocket park near Suzhou Creek. Source: NYU Shanghai WeChat public account
Suzhou Creek is the story of Shanghai and the story of the world
The famous photographer Liu Xiangcheng has such a summary of Shanghai: "World City".
What is a World City?
In Li Ying's view, the primary feature of a "world city" should be openness and inclusiveness, and have a strong economic globalization, sustainable development competitiveness and global influence of culture.
"Compared with world cities such as New York and London, Shanghai may pay more attention to local culture and civic spirit." Shanghai's cosmopolitanism is certainly not a process of eliminating local differences and local characteristics, on the contrary, its emphasis on inclusiveness, extraversion and growth is rooted in Shanghai's rich historical heritage and cultural identity. Because of enough self-confidence and self-knowledge, we can introduce the Story of Shanghai to the world in many ways, so that the world is curious about Shanghai; at the same time, it is given enough space for the world to tell stories and take lessons to Shanghai. Such dual-phase circulation can stimulate urban development and make Shanghai a veritable 'world city'. ”
"At this point, the citizens of Shanghai are actually doing a good job, and Shanghainese are usually very proud of their identity." Li Ying said that because of enough self-confidence and self-awareness, we can introduce the multi-faceted nature of this city to the world more completely, tell the story of Shanghai, and make the world curious about Shanghai, then Shanghai is a veritable "world city".
She also mentioned that last month, another rowing open race was held on the Suzhou River, and the social response was excellent. More than 100 years ago, the European-style architectural "Rowing Association" was established on the south bank of the Suzhou River, when foreigners had already carried out rowing on the Suzhou River, and the Rowing Association had become a leisure and social space for members. After the founding of New China, Suzhou Creek has experienced its industrial era and more than 30 years of environmental remediation, and now it has rejuvenated, the water quality has been significantly improved, and the waterfront space environment on both sides of the strait has been significantly improved, becoming a punching card for citizens to rest and tourists, especially the hundreds of boats competing for the current this autumn, which further demonstrates the historical heritage and governance achievements of Suzhou Creek.
"I think that's a really good Shanghai story, a world story. It tells the story of a Shanghai that embraces and embraces overseas cultures, a Shanghai that is thriving, a Shanghai with determination, and a Shanghai that embraces history and looks forward to the future. ”
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia Photo Editor: Chen Feiyan
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang