Look at the news from Knows reporter Zhou Yu
2022-02-09 12:00
Do you know where the "bridge" of the Tilan Bridge is? There is Shanghai, is there any going to the sea? In the "Next Stop" broadcast by Oriental Satellite TV last night, the area around Haimen Road and Zhoushan Road in the Tilanqiao area, the former site of Shanghai's Xiahai, has become an accidental archaeological site under the guidance of the city wanderer Gri Dong.
What can be archaeologized in an old area? Gerry Dong led the program team all the way to find the "hidden word" - that is, the old signboard that had been covered and covered.
In the process of demolishing the city, the older signs are accidentally exposed, which are often handwritten, even mutilated and vague, but they all represent a piece of history and an era. "When I was a kid (of the last century) in the '80s, words like that were everywhere. At that time, I didn't feel anything special, but when the times changed and they disappeared, suddenly you saw it again, it was very kind. Therefore, Gridon and his friends call these words that they meet by chance and may disappear at any time "hidden words".
A native of Shanghai, Gri dong has been exploring the city where he grew up since 1998. Once upon a time, he felt that a modern sense of urbanity was what Shanghai, as an international metropolis, should look like. But in 2002, Gri dong went to Japan to study and went to a very small city, Dongjin. The enthusiasm and love of the locals for their hometown made him reflect on his relationship with his hometown. The old bungalows along Urumqi Road where I grew up and the city skyline of the Bund certainly represent Shanghai, but the fireworks in the old city box, the old buildings of Shanghai, the roads of Shanghai, and the history of Shanghai are unique to Shanghai.
So, in 2006, Gridon began roaming the city and began to record these "hidden words" on the streets. For example, there are tobacco shops, soy sauce shops, and non-staple food stores that used to be on street corners or deep in the alley; there are also "font ruins" hidden in the inner layer of demolished signboards and behind newly built scaffolding.
The old shop names and signboards carry the indelible mark of the times, with the traces of simple and kind handwriting, permanently staying in a certain moment of history.
Among them, the Zhoushan Road area is a "hidden word" route that Gri Dong particularly likes, and it will even be repeated for many years.
Here, he witnessed the opening of the famous group art photo studio on its last day.
In February 2014, he photographed the "Tangshan Clock and Eyewear Store", which was covered with paint after shooting. But eight years later, in February 2022, this sign was once again exposed, like a close friend, and Gri Dong met again.
Last year, Gerry Dong and his two friends, Shi Jiayu and Shen Jianwen, published a book of "hidden characters" photos that had been collected for 7 years, called "Hidden Characters Shanghai".
Signs may reappear, but the most inadvertently disappearing is another thing - the road. In Gri dong's studio, there are many door signs hanging.
Every sign is a road that has disappeared, or is about to disappear. "It's not so much collecting road signs as it is collecting road names."
Inadvertently, Gri Dong has collected more than 100 roads, and unconsciously, he has recorded the rapid urban development process of Shanghai.
(Look at the news Knows reporter: Zhou Yu Intern Editor: Fan Shiyan)