On the second day of my Shanghai trip, I visited three Longtangs. The three Longtangs have come out of different fates under the evolution of times.
In the last post, I introduced the first Longtang - Tianzifang. In the late 19th century, a group of artists moved to Tianzifang and it was eventually turned into to new cultural and art zone in Shanghai. However, it is only a tourist area to me. Today, I will talk about the second Longtang - Cite Bourgogne.
在上海的第二天行程，我趁空參觀了上海的三個弄堂，這三個弄堂在歲月的演變下，三個弄堂走出了不同的命運。上一回，我介紹了第一個弄堂 - 田子坊，田子坊在90年代後期得到一班藝術家進駐，慢慢成為了今天上海一個新興的文化藝術區，不過，對我來說卻只是旅遊區。今天，我將說說第二個弄堂，步高里。
As a Longtang, Cite Bourgogne has come out of a different fate from Tianzifang. Cite Bourgogne was built in 1930, invested by a French businessman. It was located in the French concession, just ten minutes walk from Tianzifang. We can see it’s name is in French which means the city of Bourgogne. Talking about Bourgogne, we may think of wine and manors. The French businessman should had great expectation for Cite Bourgogne.
同為弄堂，步高里走出了和田子坊截然不同的命運。步高里建於1930年，與田子坊只有大約走路十分鐘的距離，當年是由法個商人投資而成，處於當年的法租界內。從它的門牌，我們可以得知步高里的法文名字是Cite Bourgogue，亦即是「勃艮第之城」的意思。勃艮第是法國名城，往往與美酒、莊園連在一起，想來，當年的法國商人對步高里抱有很大的期望。
Going into the Longtang, we saw a row of two-storey red brick buildings. Unlike Tianzifang, Cite Bourgogne is quiet, there are no shops, no tourists, and even few residents only. It is still a real residential Longtang.
走進步高里，我們見到一排排兩層高的紅磚小樓，而與田子坊不同的是，這裡很寧靜，沒有商店、沒有遊客，甚至連居民都很少，是一個真正仍然有人居住的小區。
Walking along the road, we didn’t see special decoration. There were only potted plants and the drink racks between two buildings. But the racks were hang so high. How will they do when it rains?
沿路而行，沒有什麼特別裝飾擺設，最多的是居民栽種的盆栽，還有在兩邊樓房中間的晾衣架，但掛得那麼高，不知下雨時怎麼辦？
And one interesting thing. The main entrance of the houses were all closed but the back doors were all opened. I walked through several back doors. It was dark inside. I could only confirm there were people living by the shoes in the house but seems they didn’t close the backdoor even when they were out. The place still keeps the custom of Chinese living in a harmony community and even don’t need to close the door.
我留意到一個很有趣的地方，就是這些樓房的正門都是重門深鎖的，而後門卻全是中門大開，我走過幾家門，裡面烏燈黑火，靠著地上的鞋才能確認真的有人居住，看來，這裡仍然保持著上一代中國人融洽相處，夜不閉戶的風俗。
At the center it’s a community space. And it was full of clothes and vehicles.
走到裡面一個類似公共空間的地方，都已晾滿衣服和泊滿汽車了。
Maybe I went there in the afternoon. Most people were out. I could rarely see people in the Longtang. In this peaceful environment, I felt like I was an uninvited guy. So I didn’t stay long and left soon.
可能我去的時候是平日的下午，大部份人都出去工作了，只是很偶然碰到一兩個老人家，在這個寧靜的環境下，我就覺得自己是一個不速之客，所以逗留沒有多久就離去了。
Cite Bourgogne gives me an great impression. I didn’t expect there is still an original Longtang in the lively place of Huangpu District in Shanghai. In 1989, Cite Bourgogne was listed as a cultural relics protection unit in Shanghai. In 1994, a famous Chinese movie “Shanghai Fever” was also filmed at Cite Bourgogne. Famous Chinese author Ba Jin also lived there. However, time passes, Cite Bourgogne and Tianzifang formed a strong contrast. The two Longtangs are only in a distance less than 1km and now, Tianzifang become a famous tourist spot. Cite Bourgogne is even not known by a Shanghai resident.
步高里給我的感受很深，沒想到，在上海黃浦區的熱鬧之地，還留下了這樣一個上一世紀原汁原味的上海弄堂，讓我能體會到當年上海人的生活居所。據說在1989年，步高里已被列為上海市文物保護單位，1994年中國一部很有名的電影《股瘋》，也是在步高里拍攝，就連作家巴金也曾在步高里52號居住。不過，在歲月流逝下，步高里與田子坊竟形成了強烈的對比，兩個相隔只有不足一公里的弄堂，一個成為了著名旅遊熱點，另一個則連上海本地居民都未必認識。
In the angle of functional, Cite Bourgogne doesn’t play it’s real function. The place can be rebuilt to high buildings and let more people to live. But in the angle of culture, we cannot find another Longtang like Cite bourgogne that keep the culture. On one hand, I want more people to know this place and taste the old life and culture of Shanghai. But in the other hand, I don’t want too many people knowing this place and destroy the peace. Ha! It’s a contradiction.
After leaving Cite Bourgogne, I started to go to the third Longtang, Xintiandi. See you later!
從實用來說，步高里其實已沒有了應有的功能，這一個地方大可改建成高樓，讓更多人居住，但從文化來說，這一個幾乎沒有受到歲月影響的弄堂可是絕無僅有，我一方面希望更多人知道這個地方，感受一下當年的老弄堂，但另一方面又不希望太多人知道，怕他們會破壞這裡的寧靜，哈！倒是矛盾得很。離開步高里，我就要出發往第三個弄堂，新天地去了！下回見！
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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！
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