Shanghai Today
Neon-lit Meilong emerges as a hotbed of creative talent - February 18, 2025
虹灯照亮的梅龙成为创意人才的温床
Meilong Town
Meilong Town has become a significantly more illuminated area within Minhang District.
The town's name originates from Meijialong (梅家弄), meaning the Mei family street.
In 1908, the launch of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway had a stop in the north of Meijialong. The 200-meter-long north-south street resembled a fishbone or the Chinese character
"丰," which was characterized by busy markets and bustling trade.
It officially changed its name from Meijialong to Meilong (梅陇) in October 1929. It was one of the earliest suburbs of Shanghai to receive electricity, tap water and pipeline gas in 1935, 1964 and 1967, respectively.
The town boasts attractions that have become signatures of Shanghai, such as the Jinjiang Amusement Park with its large Ferris wheel, which is set to transform to house the world's third Harry Potter Studio Tour by 2027, and the Reeb beer, produced in a decades-old factory that has now evolved into a culture and innovation industrial park.
Stained glass studio
"I have been living and working in Meilong for 13 years," said Chen Weide, founder of Weide Art Center, a stained glass studio located at 1127 Jinglian Road.
Chen was born in Shanghai around the late 1950s. He studied painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the 1980s. While studying abroad, he explored traditional European stained glass art and introduced it to Shanghai in 1993 by establishing his stained glass studio in Meilong.
"I usually cycled down the Old Humin Road and over the Dianpu River Bridge. The river used to have an old bridge. Later, they dismantled the old bridge and replaced it with a new structure.
"I had painted the old one and the river landscape," said Chen.
"The town has changed tremendously, and my friends are greatly impressed by my studio and the new surroundings now."
In his stained glass studio in Meilong, Chen has been mastering the craft of glass artistry. The collection of works is the result of his decades of effort. When sunlight passes through stained glass, its refraction creates a rainbow effect that enhances the whole space.
The largest stained glass artwork in the country was done by Chen in 2011 for Shanghai Culture Square.
In other works across Shanghai, he tried to combine traditional Chinese arts with the avant-garde Shanghai-style arts to give a vibe of the city.
He enjoys the town's transformation and occasionally sketches at the Reeb Cultural and Innovation Park, which is close to his studio.
Flower shop
The Meilong Flower and Bird Market, located at 166 Yimei Road, has remained vibrant for over two decades. About four years ago, Sammi Sun, who owns one of the flower shops, moved in.
Since childhood, she had dreamed of opening a store while strolling through the market full of chirping birds and flowery scents with her father. She remembers the fish quivering fins in glass tanks.
"In 2018, I went to the Meilong Flower and Bird Market for the first time," Sun said. "And it brought back memories of my early years. I then made the decision to open my store here."
She decorated her yard, trimmed the lawn, and made use of an old tree by building a flower bed centering around it.
The place is more than a flower store. People regularly gather here, sharing tips on raising flowers and life stories.
Sun's expertise also includes the creation of butterfly specimens. It takes time and skill to create a specimen from a dead butterfly since its wings and limbs are fragile and inflexible.
She uses warm water to restore the butterfly's softness and flexibility, then uses tweezers to separate its wings before inserting a needle through the butterfly's mid-chest. A board with adjustable wings holds the nailed butterfly.
"One of my customers came in with her little girl," said Sun. "She was an autistic child. She showed an interest in the butterfly specimen. She was trying to make her own specimen. She kept asking me questions.
"When she finally finished, she smiled confidently and connected with us."
Shadow puppetry club
"Flower Shadow" is a shadow puppetry club based in Meilong. By January, the group had performed 268 shows of this intangible cultural heritage in schools in Shanghai.
A group of mothers who love traditional Chinese culture formed the club. They gather every week to practice shadow puppetry and turned professional performers from amateurs in a span of over 10 years.
In the beginning, they read books on puppetry and had a repertoire of limited plays. Since 2016, a shadow puppetry artist, the former leader of the Beijing Shadow Puppetry Troupe, has assisted them in enriching their content and developing their talents.
Shadow puppetry needs both performers and an audience. To secure its survival, the company established a studio at the Youxigu Culture and Sports Park in Meilong in 2019 and began offering shadow puppetry summer camps to children and teenagers.
The youths receive instruction in script writing, puppet design, music selection, narration, rehearsal and performance.
To represent a soul for the puppets, they examine the character's background, story and presentation skills.
They have also added a drum performance to their music repertoire.
A vivid shadow of a crane appears on a white screen as the drums rumble. Two shadow puppetry actors supported the crane, which consisted of a head and a body, using four sticks.
The group has already given 20 performances abroad.
Meet-and-greet party
The Meilong Community School held a "star" meet-and-greet party recently.
Eight members from its Holypai Seniors' Sitcom – Popcorn, Rapeseed, Cheese White, Vanessa, Gold Baby, Rose, Sophie and Ruibao – gathered to take photos and chat with their "fans."
Rapeseed showed her talents speaking Shanghai dialect, Cantonese, Sichuan dialect, Zhejiang dialect, and Japanese and English.
Popcorn was wearing a headband with popcorn-shaped decorations. She was enthusiastic when meeting her fans and expressed her gratitude. Rose was wearing pepper-shaped decorations and was very hospitable, whereas Sophie, who wore punk-style glasses, was "cold and formidable."
Yet they showed their special prowess and made everyone present laugh.
The seniors were the first batch of actors for Holypai, the oldest being 74 years old and the youngest 51. They took their first performance lesson in October 2024 and have produced 12 works by now and reaped a total online click number of 80,000.
Their videos are relaxing, the content of which relates to funny stories in their daily life, interpretation of online buzzwords, tips and wisdom on life, and how to get along with family members.
"I am proud of our 'Milk and Spicy Food' video. Our audience thanked us for informing them that drinking a cup of milk helps ease a burning mouth after taking spicy food," said Popcorn.
Yang Huijue, who plays the role of Popcorn, is 74.
"I learned performing skills and reaped knowledge. Now I am very informed about Internet slang such as 'yyds (my forever idol),' 'emo (emotional),' and 'shesi' (an embarrassed social moment).' My grandson and granddaughter start to love communicating with me," said Yang.
"Sometimes we took retakes for one shot more than 20 times. But luckily, no one quit. And we published 12 works within two months and earned favorable feedback," said Cao Zhichao, their teacher, a music education major from Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
"Holypai relays a positive attitude and bridges the gap between young people and seniors by revealing the latter's dilemmas and loveliness."
About Meilong Town 梅陇镇
Meilong Town, at the heart of Minhang, is the district's industrial, residential and regional trading center. It boasts attractions that have become signatures of Shanghai, such as the Jinjiang Amusement Park, which is set to transform to house the world's third Harry Potter Studio Tour by 2027.
Source: Shanghai Daily
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