Shanghai's labyrinthine lane-style neighborhoods were once the best place for local kids to play hide-and-seek, and also key sites for early Communist Party of China members to escape Kuomintang spies.

A major renovation has been launched for one such historic neighborhood in downtown, where then Premier Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) and his wife Deng Yingchao once stayed in secrecy in the 1930s.

The biggest facelift campaign will largely restore the original look of the 97-year-old Yong'anli Community on Sichuan Road N. in Hongkou District, while trying to revive the course of the hard struggle of the nation's early reformists.