Eager to take advantage of a day of sunshine on Saturday, we decided to take the subway down to the Bund area to check out the newly-reopened promenade. We figured we’d walk over to it pretty quickly from a Xiaonanmen, a stop a few blocks back from the riverfront.
But we emerged above-ground from the thrilling modern subway, we found ourselves in a bustling old neighborhood,
where grand buildings from early in the last century
gave way to ramshacklety additions in the middle of the last century
and are now simply giving way.
For what?
Advertisements say a huge block of luxury housing. I know, too much has already been written about the tearing down of old neighborhoods to make way for highrises in Shanghai. Still, the irony of the signage here was especially pronounced.
I can appreciate why the billboards along the wall surrounding the construction would promise
and 
although precisely what this one is offering still eludes me.
But c’mon now:
Isn’t that what’s being torn down?