The presentation

Shanghai is a metropolis shaped by rivers, but its story is not only about the mainstream Huangpu River. Our team has been researching the urbanizing histories of the waterways north of the Wusong River—Shanghai’s mother river. In the Zhabei area, urbanization began only in the twentieth century, and many locals still recall their childhood memories of agricultural life by the water in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, water was used for daily needs, transportation, and leisure.

This rural way of life began to fade in the 1970s, as urbanization took the form of industrial development. Manufacturing factories were built, and migrant workers moved in, transforming farming villages into workers’ dormitories and urban neighborhoods. The growth of industry not only polluted the water but also distanced people from the waterways.

Changes began in the late 1990s, when greening projects were planned and office buildings started replacing factories. Old communities and new residents returned to the waterfront, where sports facilities and public parks were developed as civic amenities. These changes reflect shifting relationships between people and waterways throughout the urbanization process and help bridge the grand narrative of the city with the cultural memories of its local residents.

Our team members will present their research from different perspectives on the history of urbanization. Jiayi Bao will explore the physical transformation of the waterways and related changes in social life since the early twentieth century. Yiwen Zou will share personal stories related to the waterways that she collected from the local community across different periods. Guanyi Ju will focus on the evolution of public parks as spaces where people gather and spend their leisure time.

Together, these micro-histories invite us to rethink the role of waterways in urbanization—and how urban development has shaped, and been shaped by, water-related ways of living.

The speakers

Dr. Xiaomei Zhao is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology at Fudan University (FDU). She is also a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden University, and the Principal Investigator of the Wusong River team within IIAS’s River Cities Network. Trained in archaeology and architectural history, she has been working on urban and rural heritage sites in recent decades.

Jiayi Bao is a graduate student in the Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology at FDU. In addition to her primary research on bone instruments in archaeology, her interests include urbanization and social history.

Yiwen Zou is a graduate student in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. Her research explores heritage, memory, and museums through interdisciplinary approaches in the humanities.

Guanyi Ju is an undergraduate student in the Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology at FDU. Her research focuses on public spaces and urban parks in megacities.

The River Cities Network presentation series

The River Cities Network presentation series is an online platform for teams in the River Cities Network (RCN) to introduce their river-city case study projects to other members of the network and to an external audience. Teams have approximately 30 minutes to present their projects, after which there will be approximately 30 minutes for discussion. RCN teams that are interested in presenting can contact rcn@iias.nl.

Attending the presentation

You can join the presentation via Teams. The presentation will take place on Friday 22 August 2025 from 10:00 to 11:30 CEST. Click here to enter the Teams portal.