Nanjing Xi Lu is a main road that cuts through the heart of Shanghai’s downtown area. Amidst the tall skyscrapers and flashy storefronts is a small nongtang that is pretty rare to see for this address. This story is told by my friend who still lives in the nongtang right off of Nanjing Xi Lu. He tells of a time when the scale of the area was much lower and before the Nanbei Gaojia was built, and Chengdu Lu was just a regular two-lane road. Most of the details are hard to realize since so much has changed in the area in the past 30 years. The walk takes you on a tour of an area that is at the center of everything and yet could easily be overlooked- until today.
