Longtang

A longtang (, Shanghainese: ''longdhang'') is a lane in Shanghai and, by extension, a community centred on a lane or several interconnected lanes. It is sometimes called lilong (); the latter name incorporates the ''-li'' suffix often used in the name of residential developments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Shanghai longdang is loosely equivalent to the hutong of Beijing. As with the term hutong, the Shanghai longdang can either refers to the lanes that the houses face onto, or a group of houses connected by the lane.

A large variety of housing styles are called "''lilong'' residences" in Shanghai. Of these, the best known and most characteristic is the ''shikumen'' (), two- or three-storey terrace houses with a wall and large gate in front of each dwelling. Other types include the more modern "new style ''lilong''" (); the simplified "Cantonese style ''lilong''" (); the high-end villa-like "garden ''lilong''" (); and the higher density "apartment ''lilong''" (). Colloquially, they are referred to as "''lilong'' houses" or, as an English translation, "lane houses".

Governance

In the mid-20th century, after the establishment of Communist rule in Shanghai, a system of "neighbourhood committees" were set up as the lowest level of self-governing administrative organs in urban areas. From 1960 to 1968, in Shanghai these were replaced with "''lilong'' committees" (, often abbreviated to , ''liweihui''), which had slightly larger jurisdictions than previous neighbourhood committees. ''Lilong'' committees acted as liaison between residents and the next level of administrative government (the sub-district), but also had various administrative powers in relation to public security and internal security, education, social welfare, employment, industry, health and mediation. In 1963, the Communist Party's Shanghai committee held a conference on the work of sub-districts, and the Shanghai People's Committee (the municipal government at the time) issued the ''Regulations for the Work of ''Lilong'' Committees in the Shanghai Municipality'', which emphasizes that sub-districts and ''lilong''s are "the frontier posts for class struggle, the home front of production, places of living, and important battle positions for the struggle to foster the proletariat and destroy the bourgeoisie".

In 1968, ''lilong'' committees were renamed "''lilong'' revolutionary committees" (, abbreviated to , ''ligehui''). In 1978 ''lilong'' revolutionary committees were abolished, the smaller neighbourhood committees (or "residents' committees", , abbreviated to , ''juweihui'') were reinstated. Even today, neighbourhood committees are sometimes colloquially called "''lilong'' committees".

Use of "-long" in addresses

On its own, long (traditional Chinese or , simplified Chinese ) is a Chinese term for "alley" or "lane", which is often left untranslated in Chinese addresses, but may also be translated as "Lane". "''Long''" is not only used to indicate the addresses of older ''lilong'' residential developments: Socialist style block housing developments from the 1950s to 1980s, and modern apartment complexes in Shanghai, are also given a ''long'' number as part of their addresses. The address format is typically as seen in an address like "Room 205, No.4, Lane 20, Jing'an Road, Shanghai" (a fictional address), or "Room 205, No. 4, ''Long'' 20, Jing'an Road, Shanghai" ().

Traditional ''lilong''-style ''longdang''s were typically given names by their developers: these typically ended in ''long'', ''li'', ''fang'' or ''cun'', or, very rarely, ''hutong'', a Mongol word. The names of some ''longdang''s are associated with past business associations, for example Jiangyuan Long (Alley of the Sauce and Pickle Shop), although it is far more common to use the name of the developer, the name of the adjoining main road, or some other auspicious name. Although such names are still in common use, they are not part of the official street addresses, which would instead use a ''long'' number.

Chinese character for "long"

In simplified Chinese confusion is sometimes caused between ''lòng'' ("alley"; traditional Chinese or ) with the verb ''nòng'' ("tamper with"; traditional Chinese ) since both have been simplified down to "" by removal of the radical (a hand-radical shǒu-bù in the case of "tamper with", a walk-radical compounded from chì "step" and chù "step" on both sides of the phonetic "public" in the case of "alley"). In simplified Chinese the two characters are now written the same way, but the two different pronunciations are still retained in standard Mandarin, where only context indicates whether to read ''lòng'' or ''nòng''. However, in Shanghainese the verb is also pronounced ''long''.

As to the traditional Chinese character for "long", the form has been in use since at least the end of the 19th century, but even 19th century scholars posited that the "correct" written form of "long" should be .Liang Shaoren (梁绍壬), "Longtang" in ''Liangbanqiuyu An Suibi'' (《两般秋雨盦随笔·衖堂》)："Today, small lanes next to houses are colloquially "Longtang" (衖堂); this should be a corruption of "Longtang" (弄唐), as "long" (弄) means a path in a palace, and "唐" means a path in a temple, so these should be the original characters." ("今堂屋边小径，俗呼衖堂，应是弄唐之讹。宫中路曰弄，庙中路曰唐，字盖本此")

See also

* Shikumen

References

{{Shanghai

Culture in Shanghai
*Longtang