Around Town

2015-12
Shanghai Old Town Targeted In Major Renovation Plan
Some 70,000 residents of downtown Huangpu District will be affected as the district government plans to invest heavily in renovating or demolishing old residential buildings over the next five years. 300,000 square metres of old residential buildings in downtown areas will be torn down while about 26,000 residents will be relocated to new buildings. Huangpu District has the largest number of old residential buildings in downtown covering over 2.5 million square metres and the first batch of residential sector to be renovated includes the Yuyuan Garden and Taipingqiao areas. Make sure you visit soon, before these traditional city street-scenes are removed forever.
 
Renoir Retrospective
An exhibition of paintings by French impressionist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, is now on display at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre. The collection includes 44 of the artist’s works, consisting of 28 oil paintings, 15 works in chalk, pencil and ink and one sculpture. The assortment has been brought together from a total of 14 museums from across Europe and the United States and will be hosted in Shanghai until 6 March 2016.
 
Tackling Air Pollution This Winter
The top environmental official in Shanghai has stated that emergency measures to prevent air pollution, such as shutting down factories and construction sites, will be implemented this winter even before the regular warning system is triggered. December is traditionally one of the worst months for air pollution, but authorities in Shanghai are keen to tackle potential problems before they arise by taking pre-emptive measures such as ordering industrial plants and building sites to suspend operations during the most polluted days. The environment bureau said that over the next five years, it plans to close 2,000 heavy polluting chemical and oil firms, and initiate 5,000 industrial restructuring projects – great news for all Shanghai residents.
 
Work On Metro Line 19 To Begin Next Year
Metro Line 19 will connect Chongming Island to the Pudong New Area across the Yangtze River. Some early work for the new elevated subway has already been done, which will help to lower costs for Chongming and downtown residents, who have long complained about the high costs of reaching the island (many of whom are forced to rent places to live in downtown to avoid the long and expensive commute every day). The new line will start from the Rongqiao Road station near Pudong’s Jinqiao area and will have stops on the Changxing and Hengsha islands, the other two islands in the county, as well as stretching further north to Qidong City in neighbouring Jiangsu Province.