Blog Post 8 (Research)

Blog Post # 8

Research



I like to use information on the history of Shanghai as a resource for my artistic piece. My piece had to do with the transition of shanghai from a rural village to a city full of sky scrapers. The piece wanted to express how those “old small towns” started loosing its value due to the rise in the new generation.

I looked up information on the history of Shanghai, and I found out that it started out as a fishing village. Over time, it became a huge area for the growth of cotton, and it soon began to earn its name as one of the biggest cities in China during the 18th century. The amount of revenue that generated from Shanghai began to vastly expand, and many things came into play. Foreigners intruded on China’s soil to reap some of the benefits China was earning. Over a long period of time Shanghai was controlled by many countries particularly the Japanese. However, once China received its freedom, the Chinese National Government gained control of Shanghai. All of the businesses that were left behind from the other countries, were one by one taken over by the Chinese Government.

The businesses led to a need for reconstructing a city that catered to the businesses’ needs. Thus this was the reason why small rural areas that thrived as a fishing capital, was slowly being taken over by bigger businesses. So I found out that one of the main reasons the small villages were demolished for the sake of tall buildings, was because it made more money for China itself.

Soheil Tayebi