Old Shanghai throws open welcoming arms
Pan Rongda has always been mesmerized by the old neighborhoods in Hongkou district of Shanghai, an area where lanes intertwine, small markets ooze liveliness and shikumenstyle houses have remained largely unchanged for more than a century.
The 30-something was born and raised in the area. The area, north of Suzhou Creek, has largely retained its old neighborhoods, a very local area with few skyscrapers and big shopping malls, thus evading tons of tourist groups.
“I love the old feeling here,” Pan says. “I grew up in a nongtang (lane in Shanghainese dialect) in the area, and I’d like my guests to experience the localness of the city, too.”
Pan runs a bed and breakfast guesthouse in Dongzhaoli, one of the lanes in the area where the early Communist leader and literary translator Qu Qiubai once lived, and opposite the entrance of the lane is the former residence of the renowned writer Lu Xun.
The 500-meter Tian’ai Road, or the road of sweet love, is within a threeminute walk, and local lovers go there to scrawl their names or commitment on the walls along the street. Many believe that if they walk the entire route their love will be forever blessed and they will never be separated.
Duolun Road, a pedestrian cultural street lined with teahouses, art galleries and antiques shops, is just a few blocks further. Many literary celebrities in modern China lived here in the first half of the 20th century.
The three-storied guesthouse Pan operates was built in the 1920s in
shikumen-style, a traditional Shanghainese architectural style combining Western elements such as a terrace house structure and Chinese elements of the courtyard enclosed by a stone gate.
Pan lives in the attic and has listed the four rooms in the house on Airbnb, the online home-sharing platform, since summer last year.
Pan was a white-collar worker in multinational companies for eight years and on a whim decided to become a B&B owner.
“I just got bored of the routine work everyday, and wanted to try something else one day,” Pan says.
It did not take her too long to open her first B&B business two years ago, which she expanded last year by renting this old house from a Hong Kong owner.
“I like this old house, and it happens to stand on the same street, Yinshan Road, where my parents got married.”
Pan then renovated the house and turned it into a popular Airbnb listing.
“But I wouldn’t call it a pure business, because I think the spirit of B&B is sharing. I live in the house and interact with my guests, help them plan the trips, tell them my stories and listen to theirs.”
Fu Zhiyi, who worked in an advertising company in Hong Kong, went traveling in Shanghai last year and stayed in Pan’s house. Fu, a history buff, fell in love with the old house and became so obsessed with the historical aspects of Shanghai that he quit his job and went back to work for Pan to run this old guesthouse.
Fu assiduously studies the history of the old lanes and the history of Shanghai, and apart from working on promoting Pan’s guesthouse — which now has a name, Mani Papa — sometimes accompanies guests on walks around the city, imparting his local knowledge.
“I like the stories in the city, and the old house itself is the carrier of a lot of the culture and lore,” Fu says. “Each old lane and house is a story book, telling different local tales against the backdrop of all-thesame high-rises being built in the context of globalization.”
In her guesthouse, Pan also organizes cocktail workshop, a passion she has cultivated since quitting her office job, telling people about each drink and teaching them how to make a personal signature cocktail.
She also holds cocktail parties on the 18th of every month — 18 is her house number — and a movie night every Wednesday.
The 4-year-old Border Collie she adopted this year is also a reason for many guest to come back again and again.
Pan says that when she quit her office job she thought being a bed and breakfast host could give her a lot of freedom to “go and see the world”, but it has turned out that she can barely leave the city because of it. Her rooms are often booked up by travelers from home and broad, especially on weekends and during summer holidays.
“But perhaps that’s not too bad. It’s the world that’s coming to see me.”