Xiaonanmen Bell Watch Tower / 小南门警钟楼

In the old city of Shanghai, I visited the Xiaonanmen Bell Tower. The structure of the tower is an interesting mixture of concrete and steel forming an arch: it directly relates to the Eiffel Tower. According to online reports, this Bell Tower was built in 1909 by Shanghai City’s firefighters’ association. It used to be […]

Toyota Textile Mill / 丰田纺织厂

What a funny coincidence, the Shanghai Auto Show just finished on the same week that I discovered a Toyota-related ruin in the city! I am proud to present to you my latest exploration: the site of the former Toyota Cotton Mill. Actually, I noticed this place last year during a bicycle ride and already I […]

Fuel Supply Station for Huadong Electrical Power Industry / 华东电业管理局燃料供应站

During a bicycle trip along the Huangpu River in Shanghai, I saw many projects of redevelopment for the many industries located next to the river, such as West Bund (the biggest I’ve ever seen!). But these projects did not interest me as they altered too much, even demolished the former buildings and industrial complexes to […]

[part 3] Shanghai World Expo / 上海世博会

The abandoned site of the Shanghai World Expo 2010 is always a very exciting place to visit. You can read my first report here and my second report here. Several weeks ago, I spent another great moment in another part of the Shanghai World Expo, on the opposite side of the Huangpu river. Even if […]

[part 2] Shanghai World Expo / 上海世博会

Last weekend, on a sunny clean afternoon, I went back to the derelict World Expo site in Shanghai with Gui and Steph. It had been a while since my first visit and I wanted to see what had changed. Well, on this side of the Huangpu river, the former World Expo site did not change […]

[Part 2] Shamei Mansion / 沙美大楼

You know how sometimes, just after you see it, you have a building in mind and you just can’t get it out of your head? Haha I guess most people cannot really understand what I am talking about but anyway, that is what happened to me a few days ago in Shanghai when I met… […]

Shamei Mansion / 沙美大楼

During these last few days in Shanghai, I was riding my bicycle under the rain when I spotted a wonderful abandoned place: a historical building from the 1920s! After a few minutes of online research, I learned more about its past. Shamei Mansion was built from 1918 to 1921 by Atkinson & Dallas Co.ltd. It first carried the name […]

Shanghai World Expo / 上海世博会

In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (1967) So… I am in Shanghai these days. I often want to cry because of the speed of […]

Hangzhou Glass Factory / 杭州玻璃厂

So, because today is the opening of the G20 meeting in Hangzhou, I decided to write about an old exploration I did back when I lived there this year. The industrial building is located next to Hangzhou Steel Factory, which I also visited during the spring this year. It used to be a glass factory […]

Hangzhou Boiler Plant / 杭洲锅炉厂

Here is another report about Hangzhou’s past industrial identity. Yes, as I spent some time there, I rapidly got tired of the touristic places and went looking for less obvious historical ruins. I first spotted this place in March 2016, on a bus trip to Capital Paradise. By the way, although I will not tell […]