XUPU Village in Huacao Town has undergone such a dramatic facelift in the last six months that visitors wouldn’t recognize the once dingy, dirty place.

Until last October, Xupu Village was the biggest of the so-called “villages in the city” in Shanghai. Its 30,000-plus migrant population lived amid squalor, crowded roads and a garbage-polluted riverfront. The village had more than 100,000 square meters of illegally erected structures.

What a difference six months makes! All the illegal construction has been razed, replaced by greenery areas. The river has been cleaned up.

“People coming to the village might think they’ve arrived in a brand new place,” said Wang Ping, deputy Party secretary of the village.

Near the entrance of the original village, at 1556 Beidi Rd, many dilapidated shops have been removed. The roadway has been repaved, lined with new trees and streetlights.

Further into the area, Xiahua Road – once nicknamed “black Nanjing Road” – has also been transformed from an area once crowded with non-licensed stores and criminal activity.

“Originally there were shops like snack stalls and second-hand cell-phone stores,” said a resident surnamed Yang. “Every night the street was busy, but the environment was much worse than Nanjing Road. The street was narrow, traffic was chaotic and local residents didn’t feel safe going out in the evening.”

Now many of the shops are gone. Greenery has been planted. The once filthy roadway has been cleaned up. Residential apartments have been repainted.

Perhaps the most eye-catching transformation occurred along the riverbank. Where once illegal structures housed up to 1,000 migrant workers, the area has been cleared and opened up. Garbage floating in the waterway is gone, and a new stone levee has been built. Plans call for a greenbelt to be built along the riverfront, providing an environmentally pleasing spot for residents to enjoy the outdoors.

“We will be able to go out for walks again once it’s all completed,” said Yang. “Our environment is becoming not only safer, but also prettier.”

According to the local government, final touches on the village facelift will be finished soon, with completion of a new parking area and additional parkland.

“It will all be done by the end of June,” said Wang. “Then, Xupu will become a place in which we can all live in pride and happiness.”