04 Caoyang Archive Dec2007

Chapter 4
C a s e I : C a o y a n g N e w Vi l l a g e , a n u r b a n
settlement
Located at the immediate periphery of Shanghai city proper in the early 1950s’,
Caoyang New Village was developed as a large integrated residential area,
stage-by-stage from its initial size of 15 hectares (225-mu , Chinese acres) to
its full size of 180 hectares by the end of the 1970s. In this chapter, Caoyang
is developed as a major case in displaying the transformation in settlement
planning and dwelling architecture within an existing urban environment
based on three facts. Firstly, being set as a pilot project from the very beginning,
Caoyang possessed a unique and privileged status towards exploring and
establishing a new approach and mechanism in settlement planning and mass
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housing construction under the new socio-political circumstance of post-1949
China. Secondly, given the importance of this project in both social and spatial
terms, there is comparatively more information available in terms of historical
documents, reports and literature. Thirdly, despite a rising attention given to
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this post-1949 dwelling form in a recent cultural debate, detailed studies on
these urban settlements remain very limited1.
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With the completion of Village One in 1952 and Village Nine in 1977
through phased development with continuous construction, expansion and
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reconstruction, such a long lasting process makes it a proper case to reflect upon
he evolution in policies, priorities, themes and trends of settlement planning
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and housing design/construction. However, in contrast with its high profile in

history and frequent reports provided in newspapers and other mass media
since the 1950s, little scholarship has been published in the last half century
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on this specific case. Except for few articles written by planners and architects
between the 1950s and the 1960s (D. Wang 1956; H. Wang 1956)2, and compiled
information available in official housing records (1979; 1993; 1994; 1998)3, only
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a few articles have been published recently together with a few unpublished
master theses. A number of these stress about the cultural symbolism of such
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projects (Zhang 2003, 2005; Wang 2006; Li 2006)4, while others try to study it in
morphological or/and anthropological perspective within the urban planning
and urban housing discourse (Wu 2003; Fu 2005; Lu 2006)5. As a first step,
these works have all contributed to build up a new research ground to this
general subject from different angles. Yet, most of these works have chosen not
to deal with the entire development history of the project, but rather focus on
the initial development or certain aspects of its development. In order to get a
deeper understanding of this project, as well as its position in the discourse of
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settlement planning and dwelling architecture in modern China, a more detailed
study based on a solid documentation and descriptive analysis is necessary and
essential before any critical reading and interpretation can be provided.
4.1 Program Initiation and Site Selection

As the country’s economic center in industry, commerce and trade by mid 20th
century, Shanghai had more than three million industrial workers. One year
after the Communist Party was in power, at the first meeting of the Municipal’
s Second People’s Congress Council in October 1950, Chen Yi6, the mayor and
party secretary of Shanghai, made clear in his speech that “as the economic
situation has started to improve, the living and welfare conditions of the
working class must be taken care” (Cui 1998:142). Half a year later, at its second
meeting, clear guidelines on civil construction were drawn: “to serve the
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production, to serve the people, and first of all, to serve the working class” (Cui
1998:142). This guideline was further interpreted by vice mayor Pan Hannian
that “in order to serve the working class, the most urgent work in Shanghai in
terms of civil construction is to solve their housing problems” and the municipal
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civil construction committee should be responsible “in planning and leading
the construction of workers’ houses” (Cui 1998:142). Such a series of statements
can be surely read as natural response to the chronically accumulated housing
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shortage in any postwar city. But under the circumstance of the dramatic
societal change after 1949, they are to be read as a strong political gesture of
the local government and the central government in order to win more support
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from the working class in this largest industrial city of the country. And such an
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urge to make workers’ housing a top item on the agenda was not out of thin air,
but upon findings of earlier investigations.
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4.1.1 Investigation and proposal
Like many industrial cities in the early 20th century, Shanghai was packed with
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all kinds of factories that were concentrated to the two banks of the Suzhou
River. Adjacent to these factories were dormitory houses developed by each
company for their employees and families. Most of them were built at low
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standard, and had poor sanitation and ventilation. As more and more people
migrated from the countryside to the city, living conditions became deteriorated
following a process of continuous densification and congestion. As a result,
great number of workers, together with the lowest income urban group, such
as the rickshaw pullers, became a huge population who could hardly find any
accommodation and had to live in self-built slum houses. In the 1937 Japanese
bombardment of Chinese districts in Shanghai, ordinary houses were destroyed
and more slum houses were built along the northern bank of the Suzhou River.
As mentioned in the first chapter, the nationalist-led municipal government
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Caoyang New Village, an urban settlement
initiated pubic housing projects between the late 1920s and early 1940s. Prior
to the breakout of the Civil War between the nationalists and the communists
in 1945, some 2,600 housing units were built at several locations under the
general name of “pingmin cun (civilian village)”, an initial form of public
housing in Shanghai’s history. However, such efforts had little impact on the
overall situation. By 1949, slum houses were scattered at all corners of the city,
reaching a floor area of 3,228,000 square meters, composing 13.7% of the city’
s total housing floor area (Cui 1998:3). [Figure 4-1] Other than the factor of
continuous warfare, it is commonly believed that it also had to do with the lack
of urban management skills and more importantly the lack of political will
of the nationalist government. One convincing fact is that during Shanghai’s
Golden Decade (1927-1937) when there were no wars or big threats, few projects
were realized. Nevertheless, as administrative staff and professionals remained
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in their working positions in the new government after 1949, early practices
had no doubt become preliminary experiences and inspirations for later public
housing projects. In fact, both professional individuals and teams involved in
the Caoyang project, including the chief planner Wang Dingzhen, played such a
transitional role. O
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a b
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Figure 4-1 slum housing in Shanghai by 1949

a: distribution of slum housing; b: images of slum housing (source: Zhang, 1990)
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Between the second half of 1949 and the first half of 1950, investigations were
carried out by a joint effort of Shanghai’s General Trade Union, the Municipal
Public Housing Management Department, the Municipal Labor’s Bureau,
and the Municipal Industry Bureau. During the same period, immediate
actions mainly involved the provision and improvement of basic supplies and
infrastructures (water, sewage pipelines, road surface, garbage boxes, public
toilet, etc.) to existing slum housing areas. According to the report based on a
joint investigation between 1949 and 1950, 3,000,000 people – including 1,000,000
workers/labors and 2,000,000 family dependents – were found living in slum
houses, old workers’ dormitories and congested shikumen houses. Among
them, some “had added extra floor inside a room or on the roof top”, and others
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“had built extra rooms on the terrace or in the sky-well, and turned kitchens into
bedrooms” (Cui 1998:144). According to another figure in Zou Yiren’s research
on the changing population in old Shanghai, the total population of Shanghai,
including its suburban districts, by January 1950 was 4,989,992. Within this
population, about 85 percent were migrants, mainly workers/labors and their
dependents (Zou 1980:108-109, 113)7. Based on these figures, it is not difficult to
calculate that about two thirds of the city’s total population, mainly proletariat
working class, was living in severely poor conditions. How to improve basic
living/housing condition thus became one of the biggest challenges facing the
new government.
Due to the lack of public finance at the time, proposals for new housing projects
could not be implemented immediately until one year later. In March 1951, in
order to have a better idea of the budget needed for repairing old housing stock
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and building new ones, the decision was made to choose one district to carry
more detailed investigations. Putuo District, located at the northwest corner of
the city and packed with factories, workshops, worker populations and slum
houses, was chosen as the experimental district.
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Between March and April 1951, as appointed by the municipal government, a
special investigation team visited existing workers’ living areas, ranging from
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shikumen lilong houses to dormitory factory houses to slum areas. The team
concluded that the overall dwelling environment of most workers was not at all
pleasant as described in its report dated May 17th, 1951,
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Within its 6.2 square kilometers territory, the civil construction in Putuo
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District has been developed in a distorted way under the control and
ruling of imperialism force and the reactionary nationalist government in
the past decades. The workers’ residential areas are not only congested,
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but also lack of fresh air and sunshine. They can hardly get any good sleep
after night shifts. Most workers’ dormitories are beyond their lifespan, are
dilapidated and may collapse at any time. There is no road at all in slum
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areas. The muddy ground and off-odor make its environment disgusting.
A conclusion, as well as a proposal, was hence made in the same report that,
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In order to develop our production further, the physical living conditions

of the working class must be improved and enhanced. Today, if no new
conditions can be made on dwelling, if more new housing cannot be built
gradually, the direct influence will be reflected in production that are key
to the reconstruction of the city. The current civil construction should first
focus on the workers’ housing in Putuo District (SPZJZ 1994:48)8.
This report should be considered as the first concrete step in preparing a

new public housing program – new residential areas for workers’ housing.
After several discussions, the municipal government decided upon two major
principles for the planning and construction of such housing projects for
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workers in Putuo District: 1) the location should be close to existing territory

of Putuo District and with a good environment, easy public transportation
facilities and with expansion potential for future development; 2) the housing
standard should use common Shanghai workers’ living standards as a
reference, with improvement upon existing housing that is financially feasible
so that it can be followed up by other modes of social investment (organized by
factories or companies) in the near future (SPZJZ 1994:49). The set-up of these
two principles suggests that the new municipal government was rather cautious
and careful in preparing their first workers’ housing project, which would
inevitably became a role model for other workers’ housing projects.
4.1.2 Site selection and condition
After comparing five potential locations, the investigation team considered
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the area north to Zhongshan North Road and west to Caoyang Road as most
suitable. Located in northwest suburban Shanghai, the site is 8.4 kilometers from
the city center’s People’s Square. Except for a few scattered village farmhouses,
the site was a wide-open space with a potential total area of 200 hectares,
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big enough for long-term development. Although there was an increase of
population and activities along two roads since they were built in 1930s, the
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area remained an agricultural field yielding vegetables and was densely covered
with small creeks. In short, in both social and spatial terms, it differed a lot from
the densely built-up city proper south of the Suzhou River, and from the small
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town Zhenru further north. [Figure 4-2]

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a b
Figure 4-2 location and conditions of Caoyang in Shanghai by late 1940s
a: location of Caoyang and major spatial elements of Shanghai in the late 1940s (source: by
author, based on historical map of Shanghai (1938) in Historical Maps of Old Shanghai , 2001);
b: key elements and features of the site (source: by author, based on historical maps of the area
between 1930s and 1940s)
But what made it the most desirable site for the housing project probably had
to do with the fact that it was a reasonable distance from the two concentrated
industrial areas along the Suzhou River (twenty minutes or less by bus, and
less than an hour on foot). The four-kilometer distance was considered a
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reasonable distance that would provide the residential area with fresh air of the
countryside, away from the pollution of the industrial sites9. [Figure 4-3]
a b
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Figure 4-3 location of Caoyang in early 1950s

a: location of Caoyang at the northwestern city periphery of Shanghai;
b: two industrial zones nearby Caoyang named Zhoujiaqiao and Caojiadu respectively;
c: Caoyang location in Shanghai’s urban development
(source: a,b from Planning Records on Urban and Town Residential Areas in China. 1979, c by
author)
4.2 Project organization, planning and implementation

As is commonly acknowledged, realization of the complete site of Caoyang New
Village has been a long-lasting process. The construction of the 1,002-household
project (later named as Village One) began in 1951 and ended with the
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completion of the last village (Village Nine) in 1977. It took almost three decades
to realize this project through a complicated phased development in the form of
expansion, continuation and renovation. In order to achieve the goal of Caoyang
New Village as a case in examining public housing construction in relation to
the overall rural-urban development during those decades, it’s crucial to not
ignore any distinctive construction activities that had happened within the case
area so that more complete and objective analysis can be made. But before going
into details concerning each stage of development, it is important to start with
basic information about the initial project organization, the meaning behind
its name and the planning proposal that together played an important role in
shaping the fundamental structure and features of the project.
4.2.1 Project organization
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In March 1951, in order to cope with task of constructing this first workers’
housing project, as well as a new bridge crossing over the Suzhou River
in Putyo District, a new Executive Committee of Civil Infrastructure and
Construction in Putuo District was set up on June 26th. On July 10th 1951, based
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on previously collected information from investigations and surveys, the initial
planning proposal and budget, the Executive Committee made the decision to
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build houses for 1,000 households (in the end 1,002 were built).
By this time, the initial planning had been drafted, and after inviting workers’
representatives for discussion and comments, the initial building types and
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facility standards were fixed. A total budget for this phase was estimated at
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32.5 billion old Chinese yuan (about 1,083,333 USD at the time) covering the
cost of land requisition and relocation, roads and conduits, houses and public
buildings10. While the cost of all buildings and their outdoor auxiliary parts
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were to be paid by the municipal government, other civil infrastructures and

facilities (such as water, electricity, public transport, etc.) were to be invested by
respectively each public sector.
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The land survey was made by the Municipal Land Administration Bureau
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helped finalize the boundary of the site – east to Caoyang Road, south to Du-
jia-zhai (Du Family House), west to Xingdi Road, and north to the creek in front
of Yu-jia-long (Yu Family Lane). With concerns over the complexity involved
in the property relationships of the site, which was still under the jurisdiction
of the suburban Zhenru District, several governmental organizations worked
together to coordinate land confiscation and relocation work. By September
1951, 369 local farmers’ families were relocated with new jobs and new houses
provided by Zhenru District government and 15 hectares of land (225 Chinese
mu ) needed for the first 1,002-unit project was ready.
On September 16 th, the construction formally started. Joined by students
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from the construction technical classes organized by the Relief Committee of
Unemployment Workers under the Construction Trade Union, the Municipal
Building Construction Company was the main contractor for the residential
buildings. Other infrastructures and facilities such as roads, conduits, sewage,
tap water and electricity were to be constructed or/and prepared by the
Municipal Engineering Bureau (gong-wu-ju ) and the Municipal Public Facility
Bureau (gong-yong-ju ). On May 25, 1952, the project received approval for its
completion from the Municipal Civil Construction Committee (Cui 1998:145).
4.2.2 Key figures in the planning team
Like many other administrative institutions that retained and continued

from predecessors during the nationalist regime, the Shanghai Municipal
Public Affairs Bureau and the Shanghai Urban Planning Research Committee
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remained under the same names and were led by Zhao Zukang11. Composed by
the same members, the committee was assigned to continue its role in leading
research and practice in the field of urban planning and development under
the new social system and conditions, in which Zhao was the director. As the
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Urban Planning Research Committee was assigned with the planning task, a
small planning team was soon composed by several key members from the
committee, including Wang Dingzeng as the chief master planner, with Jin
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Jingchang, Feng Jizhong, Tanyuan and Ha Xiongwen as advisors. After the site
selection process was over, they worked together and drafted an initial Planning
of Caoyang New Village with a site model, which was submitted on May 30th,
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1951. Before the discussion on the master plan itself, it is necessary to have some
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background information on the key figures or the so-called masterminds of the

project.
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Chief master planner: Wang Dingzeng
Born in 1913, Wang Dingzeng received his bachelor degree in civil engineering
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in China in 1935 and continued to study in architectural engineering at

University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), from which he obtained bachelor
and master degrees in 1937 and 1938 respectively. During his stay in the States,
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he made visits and was very impressed by the new towns and public housing
projects that had been built following Roosevelt’s New Administration policies.
Before his return to China, he traveled extensively in Western Europe where he
obtained impressions on interwar urban and housing constructions of the late
1930s12.
After working as an architect and part-time teacher for some years, he started
to express his concern and vision on post-war housing in relation to urban
reconstruction within the Chinese context as the Sino-Japan was near the
end. His article, General Discussion on the Postwar Housing Policy in China ,
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was published in a key national newspaper on July 1, 1945. In this article, he

put forth housing polices that can be summarized as follows: 1) a housing
industry (or sector) should be gradually developed and established to improve
the mass dwelling condition in the next fifty years13; 2) a pubic housing plan
should be implemented as a welfare product to meet the demand of lower-
income populations; 3) support to private investment in the housing sector
and encouragement of non-profit housing constructions to provide housing for
middle-income population; 4) improving construction technology and assisting
the production of mass building materials in order to reduce cost, and relating
housing policies with those on urban planning and urban reconstruction; 5) the
establishment of institutional and organizational systems on housing within
the government and the potential coordination with other non governmental
organizations and enterprises within the private sector (D. Wang 1945a)14.
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From the more detailed proposals he elaborated under each item, it is obvious
that Wang was mostly concerned with public housing and was trying to
introduce and transplant some American and European experiences to China.
It was also in this article that he addressed the importance of site planning,
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equal access to fresh air, natural daylight and ventilation, and his preference in
organizing housing based on a “neighborhood” theory that integrated urban
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planning and land use planning. After he started working as a chief person in
the Construction Section within the Shanghai Municipal Public Affairs Bureau
under the leadership of Zhao in 1947, he developed his ideas and proposals
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further in more concrete terms in another two articles based on the situation of
Shanghai.
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In an article titled “Urban Reconstruction and Solution to Housing Shortage”,

Wang suggested that the government should take its role in organizing housing
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provision for ordinary citizens who had lost their houses during the war, and
should be taken into account within the overall urban reconstruction and
revitalization plans. At the very end, he also implicitly criticized earlier public
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housing projects, which he considered mainly as a gesture when failed to solve

the problem in a sound and systematic way (D. Wang 1945b). In another article
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title, “Review on Clapping Down Illegal Structures in Shanghai” (D. Wang

1947), he listed major forms of illegal constructions in the city that should be
investigated and treated properly. Among them, slum houses were considered
the most severe problem and must be banned and reorganized as an important
task in overall urban management.
Such concerns and proposals Wang had expressed and advocated in the late
1940s can be viewed as evidence for his professional expertise and ethics, social
responsibility and ambition to bring changes to housing and, public housing
in particular. This is probably the main reason that Wang was invited as the
consultant architect for the new Public Affairs Bureau in 1950. One year later, he
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became the vice director of the Shanghai Urban Planning Research Committee,
and around the same time he become the chief master planner in charge of the
Caoyang New Village project, a great opportunity for him to realize some of his
earlier thoughts on mass housing.
Four advisors
Jin Jingchang (1910-2000) studied civil engineering at Tongji University between

1931 and 1937. After Shanghai was occupied by Japan, he left the country and
continued his study in the field of urban infrastructure and urban planning
at Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany between 1938 and 1940.
Caught in WWII, he worked as an engineer for research in the same university
and got involved in post-war reconstruction of the city of Darmstadt until he
returned to China in the end of 1946. Invited by Zhao Zukang, the then director
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of the Shanghai Municipal Public Affair Bureau, Jin became a member of the
Shanghai Urban Planning and Research Committee and was directly involved
in designing the Regional and Urban Planning of Greater Shanghai between
1947 and 1949.
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At the same time he was teaching at the Civil Engineering Department at
Tongji University where he started the first course on urban planning in China.
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Supported by Feng Jizhong, the first dean of the later established Architecture
Department in Tongji University in 1950, the new major of urban planning was
set up in the same department, and for the first time in China. The program
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insisted on the importance of the combined learning process on theoretical

study and practice. Jin tried to integrate modern urban planning theories and
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principles that he had learnt abroad in the Chinese context. In his opinion, a
qualified urban planner must be able to work and communicate with other
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engineers in relevant fields; and to become a real urban planning expert one
must have a broad knowledge in both technology and economy. In a similar
situation, Tan Yuan (1903-1996) received his master degree in architecture from
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Pennsylvania University in 1929, Ha Xiongwen (1907-1981) studied in the same

department of the latter between 1928 and 1932. Feng Jizhong received his
diploma as an engineering architect from Vienna University of Technology in
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1941.
Indeed, all these people shared common aspects including overseas study
experience in the related fields of urban infrastructure and planning and
architecture engineering between 1920s and 1940s, combining practice and
teaching, which equipped them with a more-or-less similar knowledge, attitude
and vision towards modern spatial production. After their return to China, they
were all involved in both practice and teaching, a common phenomenon in
those days to have a double task as architects or planner and professor.
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4.2.3 Development in settlement planning
Although it is difficult to find original documents and drawings related to the

first master plan of Caoyang New Village that the planning team submitted in
May 1951, it is still possible to identify its key structure and basic features based
on a published image of the correspondent site plan model. The most noticeable
features of this plan are: 1) preserving existing natural elements within the site
– two small rivers and several scattered creeks; 2) adopting a free-curved non-
geometric road structure that divided the entire site into small plots in different
shapes but with similar areas (2-3 hectares each); 3) while some roads followed
directions of watercourses, building orientations were mainly arranged in
rows, facing either south or southeast, following directions of both roads and
watercourses; 4) the strong presence of newly planned open green space. [Figure
4-4]
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a b
Figure 4-4 master plan of Caoyang New Village in 1951
a: model based on first master plan in 1951 (source: Record of Urban Planning in Shanghai , 1999)
b: analysis on major elements (source: by author)
When compared with a revised master plan for implementation as appeared

in the article written by the chief planner Wang Dingzeng (D. Wang 1956:1-15),
it is clear that all such features remained strong and unchanged except for
modifications of a few secondary roads: 1) the arch-shaped Lanxi Road as
the major axis road goes through the center of the site from west to north; 2)
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the short and straight Zaoyang Road leads to Lanxi Road from Yangliuqing
Road, the western boundary of the site; 3) the long-curving Meiling Road
(divided in north, middle and south sections) crossing with Lanxi Road twice
and composing a sort of inner ring that starting and ending with the same
Yangliuqing Road.
Another similar feature between the two plans can be found in their
organization of major public space/buildings/facilities along or next to the
existing watercourses or along the major roads. As Wang recalls, this was indeed
one of the two principles that all above-mentioned key members unanimously
agreed upon (Song 1996:14)15. Indeed, despite the continuous transformation of
building cluster layouts and housing typologies within each neighborhood, the
initial structure shaped by major roads and watercourses as shown since the
first site plan model has largely remained unchanged when compared with later
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versions of master plans. [Figure 4-5]
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a b
Figure 4-5 master plan of 1956 and analysis
a: master plan of 1956 (source: Wang, JZXB , 1956:2)
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b: analysis of major elements (source: by author)
Nevertheless, differences between these two plans are evident when compared
more carefully. Unlike the approach of complete planning and transformation
of the entire site at once, as the first proposal suggested, the second master plan
gave more consideration to the coexistence of new programs and old structures.
Instead of demolishing all existing farmhouses within the site as suggested by
the 1951 proposal, most of such concentrated existing housing areas were kept.
It can be assumed that while the local municipal government had the intention
to build more houses for industrial workers, the new leadership was also aware
that such a process shouldn’t conflict too much with the interests of the farmers
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and villages involved. Although all retained areas were still to be transformed
in future years, this early shift in the planning and implementation approach
suggests the complexity in the process of urbanization in the city’s periphery
in the early 1950s. As a result, major modifications can be identified at least in
two aspects in the second master plan: 1) changing directions or/and lengths of
secondary roads in order to reshape plots for proper programs; 2) increasing
building density and a clearly defining an inner neighborhood road structure
for each residential plot.
According to the revised master plan, the total planned area of Caoyang
New Village was 94.63 hectares, which included all newly built-up plots and
buildings to be completed during the first and second stage of development
between 1951 and 1954. For major roads that linked the center with external
urban roads had a width of18 meters (9 meters for automobiles and 4.5 meter for
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pedestrians on both sides) (D. Wang 1956:12)16. With a radius of approximately
0.6 kilometer, it took 7-8 minutes to walk from the edge to the center, where all
sorts of public facilities were located, including a cooperate shop, post-office,
bank, cultural center, etc. Small markets and sub-cooperative shops were located
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along the edge of the site so that nearby residents could purchase everyday use
articles more easily. Primary schools and kindergartens were not placed inside
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any residential neighborhood, but evenly spread on independent sites within
the whole area to make sure that it took students no more than ten minutes to
walk between homes and school. In such a way, it also provided enough space
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for school activities while guaranteeing the quietness of residential areas (D.
Wang 1956:2). [Figure 4-6]
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Being the first settlement planed in post-1949 China, little statistics, data or index
could be consulted at the time, as Wang recalls in his article. In principle, the
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planning team had to make a series of rough calculations and estimates based
on the basic regulation regarding gross population density (about 300 persons
per hectare) and the average living area per capita (around 4 m²) (D. Wang
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1956:6). Meanwhile, as the first large-scale housing project to be realized under

the new welfare system, the provision of all sorts of public facilities also had no
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ratio reference but had to be decided upon each individual design proposal that
was put forth as a result of negotiations among involved parties. From a series
of figures summarized in the same article, one may get a clearer idea concerning
land use and building density conditions as reached in the revised master plan
of 1956 (D. Wang 1956:6-7). [Table 4-1, 4-2] Despite later evolutions in housing
typologies and building densities, the fundamental relationship between roads,
water bodies and public spaces that had been established in early master plans
has largely remained until today.
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Figure 4-6 early development of Caoyang Village

a: image of early neighborhoods in central area (source: RMHB , 1952:2)
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b: perspective drawing of the central area (source: SJJTJ, 1998)
Table 4-1 Land use index of Caoyang New Village by the mid 1950s
Category Area (hectares) Percentage��

(%) Average area per person (m²)
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Residential 38.63 40.82 14.7

Public facility 16.47 17.40 6.3
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Public greenery 27.53 29.14 10.5

Road 11.97 12.64 4.5
Total 94.63 100 36.0
(Source: D. Wang, JZXB . 1956, No. 2)
Table 4-2 Density Index of Caoyang New Village by the mid 1950s
Floors Building Plot ratio Population density per hectare
density (%) (m²/hectare)
4m²/person 6m²/person 9m²/person
2-3 20.2 2,506 626 418 278
(Source: D. Wang, JZXB . 1956, No. 2)
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Viewed in many professional’s eyes, Caoyang’s planning had followed

several primary principles of the “garden city” and “neighborhood unit” as
commented by foreigners who visited the project by the mid 1950s. From
Wang’s introduction article to the project, we learnt that a British architect who
visited the project in 1953 commented on Caoyang’s peripheral location and low
building density that was in line with the “garden city” principle. When a group
of Polish architects visited Caoyang in 1955, they made a similar conclusion that
Caoyang was a Chinese application of the “neighborhood unit” and “garden
city” theory. They also had a more critical comment concerning its peripheral
location. In their opinion, newly planned residential area should be closer to
the city center than to industrial sites, thereby allowing the majority of family
members not involved with the factories have easy access to and make full use
of existing public facilities available in the city center (D. Wang 1956:1-2).
PY
Given the ideological confrontation already existing between western countries
and the newly established communist countries, professional debates were no
longer free from political interpretation. In the same article, Wang’s quotation
on a Soviet expert’s advice to Shanghai’s urban planning clearly reflects such
O
a tendency: “the town planners who followed Edward’s ‘garden city’ idea in
planning small independent cities were daydreamers of the petit bourgeois
C
class. It was a theory applied to the condition of Capitalism that small garden
cities can be built apart from the large cities, which gave no consideration to
the huge cost in constructing excessive civil infrastructure including road,
T
sewage pipes, communication and traffic” (D. Wang 1956:2-3). By drawing a

simple and arbitrary equation between “garden city”/“neighborhood unit” and
O
capitalism, Soviet professionals proposed a new urban planning scheme – city-

based large block (da jiequ ) planning and construction to be applied in the field
N
of urban planning and residential area planning in all communist countries (Zou
2001:137-139; Hua 2006:45-57).
With the dominant role the Soviet Union played during China’s first Five Year
O
Plan period, it is not difficult to imagine the increasing pressure on native

professionals like Wang who was less convinced by the Soviet scheme but
D
had to position himself in a more modest and self-critic manner in the above-
mentioned article (D. Wang 1956). Nevertheless, as Wang admitted in recent
talks with young researchers, he and other colleagues got inspiration from a
series of concepts and theories such as the “garden city”, “green belt town” and
“neighborhood unit,” all which originated in the west17. Closely related to each
other and with a clear evolutionary trajectory from late 19th century until the
1940s, these planning models had renowned application in the west. But what
impressed Wang the most was the planned greenbelt towns he visited in the
United States in the late 1930s18. However, given the political sensitivity at the
time, namely the China-US tension over the Korean War in the early 1950s, it
is not difficult to understand why Wang chose not to talk about such links and
195
backgrounds, but rather stressed differences and the effort of integrating such
principles within Chinese realities and practices. As Wang clarified in the same
article, in essence, the Caoyang project remained quite different from the classic
western examples due to its much larger population. Although building density
is relatively low in comparison with lilong neighborhoods in the city center, it
remained a low-rise high density case in terms of per capita floor space.
Major changes in master plan after 1958
As was reviewed in the last chapter, the settlement planning principles and
structure changed considerably around the Great Leap Forward period, which
was mostly evident in the hierarchy of public facilities. For a large-scale public
housing estate like Caoyang New Village, a new three-level hierarchy was
introduced to transform the earlier two-level division after 1958, in which three
PY
public facilities including day care, service centers and cafeterias were provided
at the basic neighborhood unit level. [Figure 4-7]
O
C
T
O
N
O
a b
Figure 4-7: structural change in Caoyang New Village planning (source: Wang, JZXB , 1962:3)
D
a: two-tier structure in early planning; b: three-tiered structure after 1958
Following such principles, a new master plan of Caoyang New Village was
drafted, in which a sudden increase of all kinds of public facilities and services
were very prominent alongside the increase in the number of residential
buildings. Surprisingly, in all existing literature, nothing has been mentioned
about the rather notable presence of the Zhenxi branch railway line that crossed
the eastern part of the site. Originally built by the Japanese for military purposes
in 1943 and partially disassembled by the nationalist army in 1948, the line was
recovered in 1949 and became a cargo line. At least until the late 1970s, it had
acted as an important transportation link between two stem lines that connected
196
Shanghai with two other big cities – Nanjing in the north and Hangzhou in the
south19. It can be assumed that the existence of such a modern infrastructure
wasn’t a particularly relevant element in the site selection process; it was simply
accepted as a given.
Upon closer examination of the evolution of the project’s master plans, it is clear
that some spatial transformation did happen near this line and of the line itself.
What is interesting is the its location, which when compared with similar site
locations of other major housing projects developed in the following decades, it
is arguable that such a practical decision could be also considered an important
expression of the new communist ideology and as an explicit strategy of socio-
spatial production which sought to reshape the rural-urban relationship.
4.2.4 Stage development and housing typology
PY
In existing literature, there have been at least three different divisions on the
phased development of Caoyang New Village. Although the differences are
small, it is worthwhile to compare them in order to adopt a more objective and
accurate version for this research.
O
The earliest phasing appeared in the book Examples of Residential Area
C
Planning in Cities and Towns published by the Ministry of Construction in1979.
Prepared by the Shanghai Urban Planning Office, Caoyang New Village was
introduced as a three-stage development large project realized between 1951
T
and 1975. In this version, the first phase spanned from 1951 to 1954, during
which Villages One to Six was constructed following two housing programs.
O
The second phase referred to the construction of Village Seven between 1956
and 1958. The third phase referred to the scattered expansion and construction
N
between 1966 and 197520.
The second version of phasing appeared in the Record of Housing Construction

O
in Shanghai published in 1998, which divided the whole period into four
phases: 1) 1951-1952: Village One under the 1,002-household program between;
2) 1952-1954: Villages Two to Six under the 20,000-household program together
D
with the starting of construction of public buildings in the center and other
housing beyond the site’s northern border (later named as Village Eight); 3)
1956-1958: Village Seven and continued construction of public buildings; 4)
since 1966: continued expansion and extension of the built up area. It also
mentioned the construction of Village Nine on newly confiscated land in 1977. It
also claimed that by the end of 1995, Caoyang New Village had been developed
into a 180-hecatre area21. The latest version of phasing appeared in the Record of
Urban Planning in Shanghai published in 1999. It is, in general, very similar to
the second version regarding the definition on the first three phases and also in
the recognition of the completion of Village Nine in 1977. However, the major
197
difference between the last one and the first two versions is the absence of the
entire period between 1966 and 1976 (the Cultural Revolution)22. [Figure 4-8]
PY
O
C
Figure 4-8 stage development of Caoyang New Village between 1950s-1970s
T
As revealed in further reading on the evolution of master plans, especially

the comparative analysis based on the pre- and during-Cultural Revolution
O
plans, it is very clear that aside from housing construction, some interesting
modifications and transformations occurred during that period. Therefore,
based upon the existing literature, a new version of phasing is proposed – one
N
that enables a more objective description of all major construction activities

that took place between 1951 and 1977 in order that there can be a better
understanding and interpretation of the site’s formation and transformation in
O
both spatial and social terms.

D
Stage I (1951-1952): Village 1 - 1,002-household program
As mentioned above, the first phase development of Caoyang New Village

refers to the 1,002-household project completed between September 1951 and
May 1952. Located at the very center of the site, the “village” was subdivided
into three parts following the route of an existing watercourse and newly
planned roads. With uniformed unit-plans in combination of two-, three-, and
mostly four units, forty-eight buildings of 167 units with a total floor area of
32,366 m² were built in a brick-wood structure. These two-story-high buildings
all had ample space between each other, reaching a ratio of 2.17 for D/H that
guaranteed plenty of sunshine into interiors during the winter23. Within each
198
unit, six households lived together and there were three on each floor24. Two
were with one bedroom of 14 m² and the other with one-and-half bedrooms of
23 m². According to the standard of roughly 4 m² living area per capita, these
rooms were the strictly private space for each household with the number of
members ranging from 3 to 6. Arranged in an L-shape, the living area was
separated from the shared kitchen and two toilets by a staircase and corridor
in the middle, all of which were collective space frequently used by the three
families living on the same floor. There was a common entrance to each unit and
a front yard was shared for laundry. [Figure 4-9]
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c
O
C
T
a d
O
N
O
D
b e
Figure 4-9 Village No. 1 built under the 1,002-household program (1951-1952)
a: part of the neighborhood plan; b: side view of the original block; c: plan and elevation; d: front
view (source: a, b from SJJTJ , 1998; c from Wang, JZXB , 1956:6; d from RMHB , 1952:2)
Meanwhile, some 8,418 m² public facilities were also started or partly built
at this stage, including a kindergarten primary school, assembly hall, library,
public bathhouse, cooperate shop, temporary clinic, hot water supplier,
199
market, etc. Other sites for a bank, post-office, park and cultural center were
also planned and reserved. The so-called Caoyang New Village Workers’
Consumption Cooperate Shop and a temporary clinic started their services
in June 1952. In August, a kindergarten and a primary school were opened.
Within the same year, an indoor food/vegetable market was also completed,
supplemented by an informal open market nearby. On August 12th 1953, this
1,002-household housing neighborhood was officially named by the Shanghai
Municipal Government as Caoyang Village One, which suggested that more
villages were to be built around it within coming years.
Stage II (1952-1953): Village 2 to 6 - part of the 20,000-household program
At almost the same time, new planning and design processes were begun for
further development around Village One. On April 11, 1952, a decision was
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made at the municipal administrative meeting that another 20,000-houshold
housing program was to be organized in order to provide more low-cost houses
for worker as a “start for more massive construction of workers’ housing in the
future”25. Organized by the newly established Shanghai Workers’ Housing
O
Construction Committee, investigations were made for twelve locations, among
which nine sites were chosen, all of which were located near existing industrial
areas in different areas of the city. [Figure 4-10, Table 4-3]
C
T
O
N
O
D
Figure 4-10 site locations of the 20,000-household program 1952-1953 (source: Fung, 1981)
200
Table 4-3 20,000-household program (1952-1953)*

Name (number U n i t Household Floor area Living floor Area of residential
and location)** number number (��
m²�) area (��
m²�) land*** (hectare)
1 Changbai 350 3,500 96,300 60,700 22.89
2 Kongjiang 300 3,000 82,500 52,000 18.20
3 Fengcheng 119 1,190 32,700 20,600 8.36
4 Anshan 231 2,310 63,500 40,000 16.07
5 Ganquan 400 4,000 111,000 69,400 25.64
6 Caoyang-1 100 1000 27,500 17,300 23.63
7 Caoyang-2 300 3000 82,500 52,100
8 Tianshan 100 1000 27,500 17,300 6.47
9 Rihui 100 1000 27,500 17,300 6.05
Total 2,000 20,000 550,000 346,700 127.31
Note: * The table’s content is based on data provided in source material with the correction of a
few calculation mistakes which occurred in the original table. For the sake of the focus on public
housing, this table also excludes figures of self-organized houses near these sites during the same
period.
** The number before each site in column 1 corresponds to the numbers indicated in Figure 5-6.
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** This area also includes those small open spaces near the building blocks with each neighborhood.
(Source: Record of Urban Planning in Shanghai , 1999. p. 514.)
A uniformed planning method was applied to all designated sites: parallel

rows of two-story high housing blocks with the living-space side facing south
O
or southeast. Ten, twenty or thirty households were to be built in one row, and
every 100 or 200 households formed a cluster with an open space of an area
C
around 5 Chinese mu (about 333 m²) which were to be used as playgrounds
and plantation areas. The distance between two buildings was fixed at 1 to
1.5 times the building height. Similar to the idea in Caoyang Village planning,
T
cooperative shop, clinic, bank, post office were to be organized in the center of
each site, schools were to be place in locations which ensured that all students
O
could walk to school within 10 minutes, while small markets, hot water supply
stations and grocery stores were scattered around the site for daily convenience.
N
Necessary plots were reserved for constructing a cultural center, sport center
and cinemas in the future. The width of inner roads was set between 12 to 18
meters while external urban roads were between 30 to 45 meters. Plantations
O
were to be organized along all major roads as well as on plots unsuitable for
building construction.
D
Regarding the housing typology, sample houses were built following a

selected design from ten proposals. With further discussions around its design,
structure, style and building material among professionals, administrative staff
and workers’ representatives, necessary modifications were made to the original
drawings. Finally, the standard unit plan was decided on June 14th, 1952, just one
month later than the first 1,002-household program was completed in Caoyang
New Village. Each unit was composed of five bays, two stories for the living-
space part, one story for facility-space part with a sloping roof. Ten households
lived in each unit, five on each floor, who shared two kitchens, four toilets and a
laundry space that were all located on the ground floor under the sloping roof.
Four households were accommodated with an average living area of 20.4 m²
201
and the other six of 15.3 m². [Figure 4-11]
a c
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O
C
d
Figure 4-11 neighborhoods of the 20,000-unit model (No. 2-6

T
Village)
a: part of the neighborhood plan (source: Wang, JZXB ,
O
1956:6)
b: unit plans and section (source: Lv, 2001)
c: building model (source: PZJZ , 1994)
N
d: image of the neighborhood along the street (source: Wang,

b JZXB , 1956:6)
Although the new typology inherited features from the earlier 1,002-household
O
typology mentioned above, this later version was in fact built at a lower
standard in terms of both spatial design and building cost. For example, despite
D
a small increase in the kitchen size, five families instead of three were sharing
a kitchen, which produced more congestion and potential conflicts. Another
example was the lowering of height, from 3-meter each floor to 2.75-meter
for ground floor and 2.6-meter for the first floor. Nevertheless, local residents
seemed to have little problem with the housing standard, which was generally
considered in compliance with the economical capacity and the basic demand of
workers.
Started at the same time on all nine sites on August 15, the 4,000-household
project in Caoyang New Village was completed in June 1953. It was divided
into five neighborhoods, forming villages No.2 to No.6 (Cui 1998:146). During
202
the same period, construction for public facilities was continued. Among
them, a cultural center, bookstore and permanent clinic center serving for the
entire Caoyang New Village were completed and opened in 1953. [Table 4-4]
In the same year, it was announced by the national Xinhua News Agency that
Caoyang New Village had become the first workers’ housing village in China
(Cui 1998:145).
Table 4-4: Early phase development of Caoyang New Village by 1953
Stage Village Housing u��
nit Household Total ��
living Average living floor
name numbers numbers floor area area per household�
(m²) (m²��
/h�)
I 1951-1952�
��) No.1 167 1,002 32,366 32.31
II (1952-1953) No.2 52 520 9,016.8 17.34
No.3 83 830 14,392.2 17.34
No.4 70 700 12,138 17.34
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No.5 92 920 15,952.8 17.34
No.6 103 1,030 17,860.2 17.34
(Source: data in volume 3 to 5 are double checked from several local records on housing and urban
planning, i.e. Housing Construction Records of Putuo District (1994), and the last column is the
further calculation result.)
O
Stage III (1954-1958): Village 7 & 8 – populace of apartment unit plans and the
new perimeter block neighborhood layout
C
As reviewed in the previous chapter, since the establishment of the Architectural
Society of China in 1954, more discussions on housing had been organized
and communicated through its key journal – Journal of Architecture (JZXB).
T
Following the growing Soviet influence in urban planning and architecture,

standard design in apartment unit plans and perimeter blocks for neighborhood
O
layout became characteristic in housing design and residential area planning

respectively.
N
As a direct result of a few housing competitions organized at different levels,

more standardized housing plans for multi-floored apartment blocks were
O
produced. Despite small variations amongst these plans, a combination of

two or three apartments became a prototype as the so-called unit-plan. Often
accessed via an inner corridor or outer gallery and a public staircase hall, each
D
apartment is composed of an independent entrance door, its own kitchen,

bathroom and one to three bedrooms. While majority of bedrooms were often
arranged on one side (normally facing south or southeast), supplementary
spaces like kitchens and bathrooms were often placed on the other side (facing
north or northwest). Three basic installations – a washbasin, toilet and bathtub
– were normally provided in most bathrooms. Although many apartments
remained shared by two families due to the pressure of the housing shortage,
this was indeed an early introduction of modern apartments to average people.
[Figure 4-12]
In 1954, nineteen 3-floored and nine 4-floored apartment buildings were built
203
PY
O
Figure 4-12 standard unit plan in 1954 (source: SHZZ 1949-1990, 1993)
C
following standard unit plans at the northeast corner beyond the original
boundary of the Caoyang site. At the same time, its neighborhood layout
T
differed greatly from the fish-bone-like parallel row model that was commonly
seen in the two first master plans of Caoyang New Village. [Figure 4-13] Unlike
O
the easy acceptance and application of the perimeter block layout concept
in north Chinese cities, this is probably one of few examples to be found in
N
Shanghai’s residential areas, where the Soviet influence on urban planning and
housing encountered resistance from local professionals. Indeed, as indicated in
the later construction of the new neighborhood Village Seven within Caoyang
O
New Village, it is clear that the Soviet block layout was abandoned.
In addition to the completion of Village Seven and the inclusion of Village Eight
D
on its northeast corner in 1958, more multi-floored (3 to 5) apartment housing

blocks were constructed within neighborhoods of Village Two, Three and Five
between 1956 and 1958 as more land became available. By adopting similar
standard unit plans recommended by local authorities, multi-floored apartment
blocks became the predominant housing typology, replacing the earlier
dormitory-like typology.
Stage IV (1960-1976): Lowered housing standards, dominance of multi-floored

apartment blocks and increased public structures
This is a rather special period for the development of Caoyang New Village, as
204
a b c
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O
C
T
O
d
N
Figure 4-13 impact of perimeter block layout (source: Ji Ping, JZXB , 1956:2)
a block layout in Village Two (1953)
b block layout in Village Eight (1954)
O
c block layout in Village Seven (1957)

d comparison between two schemes
D
it was for many other places around the country. The period has been widely
ignored or scarcely mentioned in most literature. But based on a careful and
closer study on relevant information scattered in different sorts of materials
(texts, drawings, pictures, etc.), it is still possible to sketch out a general picture
of the transformation that took place at this stage, which may prove to be
more interesting than commonly imagined. During this period, new housing
construction appeared mainly in the dominant form of five or six storied
apartment blocks laid out in repetitive rows. [Table 4-5, 4-6]
205
Table 4-5 Continued constructions and renovations in Caoyang New Village between 1960-1980
Construction year Location (village) number of blocks Total floors
1960 I 48 2 to 3
1963-1974 II 21 5 and 6
1966 I 4 5
1967 V 9 5
Since 1970 VI 9 5
3 4
1974-1980 II 27 5
1976-1980 III 22 5
1978-1980 V 6 6
(source: all data has been cross checked and taken from local records, including Records of Housing
Construction in Putuo District (1994), Records of Putuo District (1994), Records of Housing
Construction in Shanghai (1998).)
Table 4-6 Technical indexes around the mid 1970s
Category E��
xisting Expected
1 T��
otal population (person) 69,843 101,700
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2 R��
esidential area (hectare) 75 90.3
3 T��
otal floor area (��
m²�) 559,806 914,806
4 Floor area of residential buildings (��
m²�) 485,005 785,005
5 Floor area of public buildings (��
m²�) 74,801 129,801
6 N��
et density (person/hectare) 931 1126
7
8
Floor area per capita (��
m²��
/person)
L��
iving floor area per capita (��
m²��
/person)
O 8.02
6.94
8.99
7.72
Note: Figures in row 7 and 8 are not provided in the original table, but calculated based on figures
C
in row 4 and 5 divided by those in row 1. (source: SUPO, 1979:161, table 21-2)
In contrast to the emphasis on public life and activities, and largely affected
by the national “three-line” construction policy and other war-preparation
T
activities, investment in new housing construction dropped considerably since

the early 1960s. Following the new slogan – “seeking for newness in production,
O
seeking for simpleness in everyday life” advocated since 1964, the objective of
housing construction followed more strictly the principle of “more, faster, better
N
and economical”26. Housing standards were again lowered considerably. In most

cases, the standard average floor area for each housing unit was decreased from
50 m² to 30 m². Each unit was shared by two or three households with shared
O
kitchens and bathrooms with reduced facilities and installations. And in some
extreme cases, separate bathrooms were not provided. Instead families used a
D
small room at an end of each floor, where night soil buckets could be emptied.
[Figure 4-14, a-f]
However, in contrast to the limited housing construction, the construction

of public or collective space and structures was stressed during this period.
As indicated from two adjusted plans made around 1976, there was a steady
increase of collectively used facilities and services. Following the principle
of people’s commune to build an all-inclusive community, in addition to
completing many originally planned public facilities, new types of facilities and
services were introduced and planned in the hopes of reorganizing the New
Village in both social and spatial terms.
206
PY
O
C
T
Figure 4-14 examples of unit plans with different standards commonly used in Shanghai
between the 1960s and early 1970s
O
a) Model 1959-6: two complete units, each can host two or three households; b) Model 1960-7:
three complete units, each can host two households; c) Model 1961-5: without unit door, two or
three households sharing one set of kitchen, toilet and bathroom; d) Model 1961-6: two sets of
N
kitchen, toilet and bathroom facility rooms, each shared by three or four households; staircase
combined with outer gallery, offering better ventilation; e) Unit plan in 1962: four units two with
full facility rooms, each unit can be shared by two households; staircase combined with a long
outer gallery with better chance for cross ventilation; f) Unit plan in 1971, small and incomplete
O
apartment houses accessed from a long outer gallery with a public sanitary collection place in the
middle; g) Unit plan in 1975, small but complete apartments accessed from a short outer gallery
(source: a-d from JZXB , 1962:2; e from JZXB , 1962:6; f and g from source: SHZZ 1949-1990 , 1993)
D
Stage V (1977-1985): Village 9 and emergence of pinpoint blocks
As the economic situation was gradually relieved, housing standards were

again raised in the mid 1970s. After the first discussion in 1958, the idea that
each household should have a complete apartment with its own kitchen and
bathroom reemerged and was more commonly realized in large-scale housing
developments from the second half of the 1970s onwards27. During this period,
earlier approaches in housing design and construction practice, such as
“combining short- and long- term goals and putting emphasis on the latter”, and
“rational design, irrational use” were heavily criticized. More discussions were
207
devoted to the proper interior space division within each apartment. Standard
unit-plans featured various combinations of small but complete apartments.
[Figure 4-14, g] Meanwhile, pressured for land saving, in addition to the
popular five- and six-story walk-up apartment blocks, a new housing typology,
the so-called pinpoint block, also appeared in this period. This typology could
be easily placed in small and irregular plots while simultaneously offering
variety in built form. [Figure 4-15]
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Figure 4-15 a typical
unit plan of pinpoint
housing block adopted
in Caoyang New Village
The plan itself had been
O introduced at a much
earlier time under the
call for maximize the use
C
of land in early 1960s. It
was adopted in the stage
development of Caoyang
New Village only in late
T
1970s as it didn’t appear

in the adjusted master
plan drafted around 1975.
O
(source: JZXB , 1963:7)

N
In Caoyang New Village, both examples could be found. In 1977, adjacent

land was confiscated near the southwest corner of the original site and twenty-
two 5 or 6-floored walk-up apartment blocks were built and formed Village
O
Nine. Construction also continued in the other villages and at least thirty-five
pinpoint blocks were built since the mid-1970s. [Figure 4-16] Meanwhile, the
D
original 3 and 4-floored buildings were transformed to 4 or 5 story high blocks.

As well, extra rooms were added to the south façade of those built under the
20,000-household model so that each household could receive extra 9.5 m². The
result was that by the mid-1980s, all kinds measures had been tried in order
to increase the floor area in housing in order to meet the growing housing
shortage caused by the rapid population increase in cities. By the mid-1980s, the
total area of Caoyang New Village site had been expanded from 94.63 hectares
to 180 hectares, reaching a total floor area of 1,697,800 m² in its residential
buildings, accommodating about 32,000 households and with a total population
of 107,00028. [Figure 4-17]
208
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Figure 4-16 locations of
O inserted pinpoint housing
blocks in Caoyang New
Village
C
(source: by author, based
on the Caoyang New
Vi l l a g e l a yo u t p l a n i n
1980s from SJJTJ , 1998)
T
O
N
O
D
Figure 4-17 administrative division and housing development in Caoyang New Village
1950s-1970s (source: by author)
a: administrative divisions in Caoyang New Village; b: housing clusters built in stages
209
4.3 Changing composition in land use and emphasis on public
space
If one simply compares the land use plan for Caoyang New Village in 1956 and
1975 respectively, it is clear that there was a big increase in land area for both
residential use and pubic facilities accommodated by expanding the original
size of the site. Equally impressive is the obvious decrease in public green,
which was mainly caused by the increase in building density as a response to
the demand for more housing and public facilities. [Table 4-7] As a result, minor
creeks, other undefined pieces of land, and sites that used to be concentrated
with historical farmhouses were transformed into new sites for housing or
public building programs. When we take into account the project’s more than
doubled population - from 31,391 in 1956 to 69,843 in 1975, such an adjustment
seems to be a reasonable and practical solution. Objectively speaking, with such
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changes in land use composition and building density, the original “garden
city” or “green belt” concept that Caoyang’s planners might have had in
mind became increasingly difficult to recognize. Instead, as Wang himself has
admitted in his 1956 article, since there was no tailor-made technical index for
O
settlement planning in China in early the 1950s, the planning of Caoyang New
Village was an exploratory process in setting up the proper index within the
C
national urban context.
Table 4-7 Comparison of planned land use index in 1956 and the mid-1970s
Average ��
land area
��
T
Category Area (hectares) Percentage��

(%)
per ��
capita��
(m²)
year 1956 1975 1956 1975 1956 1975
O
Residential 38.63 90.3 40.82 61.9 14.7 8.9
Public facility 16.47 30.0 17.40 20.6 6.3 2.9

N
Public greenery��* 27.53 12.0 29.14 8.2 10.5 1.2
Road 11.97 13.5 12.64 9.3 4.5 1.3

O
Total 94.63 145.8 100 100 36.0 14.3
Note: * land under the category of pubic greenery doesn’t include small pieces of open and green
D
space around residential and public buildings and along streets.

(source: based on figures in W. Dang 1956:7, Table 4 and SUPO 1979:161, Table 21-1.)
Nevertheless, further analysis on such changes has suggested another important

fact – given the limited resources and means of the era, there seemed to be a
constant emphasis on public space. An indisputable fact is that the average
private living space had hardly changed, but remained at the average of 4m² per
person or 14 to 20 m² per family despite of the changing composition and layout
of housing unit plans as has been mentioned previously in the typological
analysis. Together with the sudden drop in the standard of shared facilities
such as kitchen and toilet space, it is fair to conclude that housing standards in
210
general during this period had remained low and gave little considerations to
private space (Lv 2001). In contrast, one cannot ignore the fact that great efforts
were made to provide considerable pubic space and facilities, which in my
view, shall be read as “the solution” to deal with such a problem by taking into
considerations in both practical and ideological terms. In short, to understand
the uniqueness and strength of post-1949 settlement planning in China, the
planning and organization of its public space is a vital dimension.
Here we propose to study Caoyang’s “public space” in two categories: the

firs refers to public buildings that are more defined by specific services and
activities and which are attached to such structures, including schools, hospitals,
theater, libraries, etc. The second refers to open spaces that are less defined in
terms of their attached functions and activities, including parks, open space
along water ways and in between buildings and blocks, etc.
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4.3.1 Public services
In the eyes of Andrew Watson, Caoyang New Village, which he visited in 1971,
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is a good example of many post-1949 settlements that featured the provision of
numerous integrated public services. In his book Living in China , he noted:
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Much of the new development is planned in integrated housing estates.
An example of this is the Cao Yang Workers’ Settlement in the northwest
suburbs of Shanghai. This estate belongs to the Shanghai Housing Bureau
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which began to build in 1951. At first it had a population of 1,200 [1,002]

households with a total of 5,000 family members. By 1971, it had expanded
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to 15,000 households and 68,000 people. Nearly all the inhabitants are
active or retired industrial workers, and most of them have been rehoused
from slums. As it has grown, the settlement has set up eight districts,
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each with its own caretaker and maintenance office to look after general
upkeep and repairs. Daily needs are served by the general store, vegetable
market and small clinic within each district. The settlement as a whole has
a department store, a bank, a post office and a larger clinic to meet more
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important demands. Serious illnesses are treated at the nearby municipal

hospital. The education of the settlement’s 35,000 children is in the hands of
its 7 secondary schools, 14 primaries, and 13 nurseries and kindergartens.
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When the inhabitants want to relax, there are gardens, a swimming pool, a
cinema and a cultural center. 29
Through analysis of the first two master plans of the 1950s, he suggested that
public facilities and services were a central theme from the very beginning of the
planning process. According to the initial 1951 proposal, an area concentrated
with all major public buildings and services were to be located along the central
spine of the site – Lanxi Road [see Figure 4-3, b]. With slight adjustment in the
size and location of a number of public services such as the hospital and school
in the northern part of site, the general layout of major public facilities remained
unchanged. As shown in the stage development plans of these facilities, all of
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these facilities were completed by the mid-1970s and made the area the true
centre open to the entire community. A cultural center, cooperative shop, clinic
and kindergarten were completed by 1953 and a cafeteria, post office and
bank were finished by 1957. In 1960, a 1000-seat theater was built, for movie
viewing and other forms of opera shows. The first clinic was founded in 1953
and supplemented by another in the Putuo District in the same year. The latter
was expanded into a local hospital which served the entire Village. By the mid-
1970s, more than a dozen public facilities were provided in the area, ranging
from cultural to health, from commercial to servicing, from entertainment to
dinning, from administrative to security, etc. As a commonly adopted planning
scheme, such a socially and spatially juxtaposed center became the vital zone
for the entire community, whose central role remains vivid even today. [Figure
4-18]
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But in addition to this radially concentric scheme, what was equally and
even more important was the setup of a series of public facilities/services
beyond this central area. In response to the new socio-spatial reorganization
in both urban and rural areas during the Great Leap Forward and the People’
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s Commune Movement, large urban settlements, such as Caoyang, responded
with a structural change in their planning since 1958; the changes reached a
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climax by the mid-1970s. As a result, many small scale everyday-related public
services were organized by the resident committee at the village level, including
locally-run day-care centers, primary schools, reading rooms, integrated service
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stations, preventive health station, 24-hr grocery shops, etc. Given the limited
financial and material means at the time, most of these restructuring programs
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didn’t lead to concrete spatial changes with new buildings and space, but were
accommodated within existing structures. For example, the integrated service
station was often paired with a reading room; a preventive health station often
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shared space with the resident committee, either using rooms on the ground
floor of a housing block, or in a low-cost temporary structure nearby. Therefore,
aside from the central zone, several sub-centers were formed and had grouped
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services within each village, which led to the formation of a kind of networking
system in all fields - education & culture, health & sanitation, commerce &
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trading, administration & finance, and the street/neighborhood-based industry.

[Figure 4-19]
When compared with the 1956 plan, one can see that the increase was not only
in numbers, but also in typologies. For example, while there were seventeen
types of public service programs with a total floor area of 32,937 square meters
completed by the mid-1950s, the number of typologies had almost tripled (to
fifty two) and the total floor area reached 94,134.5 square meters by the mid-
1970s. If we take into account population growth30, the average floor area of
public buildings for every 1,000 people increased from 1,054 to 1,345 square
meters (D. Wang 1956; SUPO 1979:170-172).
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a b
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O
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c e
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Figure 4-18 stage development of public center of Caoyang New Village

a early plan of the public center; b stage development 1952 – 1975; clockwise: 1952-1953 cultural
center, cooperative shop, clinic, kindergarten; 1954-1957 cafeteria, post office, bank; 1958-1960
cinema; 1961-1975 extension of shop, cultural center, clinic into hospital, administrative
center, security office, guest house; c plan of public center by mid 1970s; d plan and bird-view
perspective of the public center in mid 1970s; e images of some public facilities clockwise:
cooperative shop, restaurant, bank, post office, cinema
(source: a from Wang, JZXB , 1956:6; b-d from Examples of Residential Area Planning, 1979; e
from SJJTJ , 1998)
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Figure 4-19 public facilities in Caoyang New Village by late 1970s (source: by author)
Although the 1.35 m² per capita floor area in public service space were quite
limited, not to mention that much of this was built as simple and temporary
structures, it is important to keep in mind two other figures of the time. One
is the 3.64 m² per capita plot area of public buildings (excluding the land for
roads, rivers and greenery). And the other is the 6.9 m² per capita floor area of
living space (including shared spaces such as kitchens, toilets and staircases)31.
Since the family-based private space within such a collective dwelling model
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only existed indoors and often excluded shared indoor spaces, the private floor
space per capita was lower in strictly speaking terms. In contrast, since services
and activities in the public realm cross the boundary between indoor and
outdoor spaces, such as public baths, grocery stores and basketball courts, it
can be calculated that public space available for the community was somewhere
between 1.35 and 3.64 m² per capita.
In short, the increase in gross floor area and the relative proportion of public/
private space confirms the central and dominant role of public services in
urban settlement planning. Despite their often simple and shanty appearances
in architectural and technical terms, it can be argued that the most important
contribution of this experience was the recognition of a combined social and
spatial configuration of all kinds of pubic services in a network structure.
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4.3.2 Landscape presence
Another important aspect in Caoyang’s spatial planning has to do with

its landscape. Here the term landscape is used according to the definition
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commonly used in modern Chinese settlement planning. Landscape generally
covers three types of greenery: that shared by all community members and
which is accessible from major roads within the settlement (juzhuqu lvdi ); that
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shared by a smaller group that is accessible only from secondary roads within
each neighborhood (zutuan lvdi ); and that located between buildings and used
mainly by a few families (zhaiqian lvdi ). In the Caoyang case, the planned park
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near the center and the open space along the curving creeks/major roads that go
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through the site certainly belong to the first category. Small squares either within
each neighborhood or along secondary roads belong to the second category.
Open space between buildings within each neighborhood can be regarded as
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the third category. A closer look at how these landscape spaces were planned,
modified and developed in Caoyang New Village’s phased development shall
help to get a better understanding of its role in shaping the overall environment
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as well as public space. [Figure 4-20]

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As a suburban area between the core city of Shanghai and the nearby town of
Zhenru, the topography and landscape of Caoyang site by the early 1950s was
not much different from those in the Yangzi Delta region, which featured flat
farming land freely crossed by small creeks and dotted by loosely grouped farm
houses. Yet shown in the model made in 1951 in Figure 4-3, besides the clear
layout of the curving road structure and row-by-row housing blocks, various
areas were had trees, suggesting a strong notion of public green and open space.
Whether located inside a housing neighborhood or next to and around a public
facility, such green areas were envisioned to be shared by the new community.
Although there had been slight changes in the road structure and plot division
in the implementation process, as shown in the 1956 plan, the landscape concept
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Figure 4-20 structural elements and open space in Caoyang New Village by late 1970s
(source: by author)
remained. Different landscape elements such as creeks, ponds, trees, bushes and
grass were indicated in various sketches, including the master plan, detailed
neighborhood plan, elevation and perspective. Such a drawing language may
be easily read as expressions from involved planners. Because of the continued
expansion and densification of the settlement, its landscape and open space
became decreased in terms of absolute floor area, but became increasingly more
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systematically organized and networked. [Figure 4-21]
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a
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b
Figure 4-21 evolution in built space and landscape network between early 1950s and late 1960s
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a: evolution of built space; b: evolution of open space and landscape network (source: by author)
Photos taken from different angles between the 1950s and 1970s have shown
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that new trees and bushes had been planted along roads and waterways. The
initially planned 2.8 hectare park east to the center was officially opened to the
public on May 1, 1954. And another 1.29 hectare orchard was founded in 1957,
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which was turned into a plantation nursery in the 1960s and finally transformed
into a new park in 198632. In 1978, a 0.7 hectare green area was built along Caoan
Road between No. 2 and No. 8 villages in the north. Despite the fact that some
of these open spaces were later used as sites for new housing, there were still
715 pieces of small green spaces within the settlement by the end of the 1970s.
Either around housing blocks or next to streets, these spaces were marked with
plantations, flowerbeds, mini-landscapes or sculptures (PTQZ 1994:636). All
kinds of activities, especially among the young and the elderly, were carried out
within such spaces on a daily basis, ranging from strolling, jogging, taiji playing,
gaming, chess playing, reading and chatting,. [Figure 4-22]
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a
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b
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c d
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e f
Figure 4-22 Caoyang’s open space and landscape by late 1970s
a: trees planted along the small creek; b: next to the public center; c: outside the youth club; d:
waterfront park; e: within the neighborhood; f: front of the house (source: a from Shanghai ,
1958; b and dfrom SJJTJ , 1998; c and f from Examples of Residential Area Planning , 1979; e from
Watson, 1976)
When compared with the planning of lilong neighborhoods or more traditional

settlements, such an enthusiasm and stress on landscape in the public domain
was unprecedented in Chinese history. As privileged property, landscape
gardens were historically owned by families with a higher social status. They
218
were unthinkable luxuries to ordinary Chinese. In 1868, when the first public
park was introduced to China and constructed in the British Settlement in
Shanghai, the local population was prohibited from entering (which remained
the case until 1928). The park represents a component of the humiliation and
injustice typical in colonial history 33. According to Chen Yunqian’s study,
such a long lasting dispute largely affected the discourse and development of
modern parks in China. For the nationalist government, who was in power
between 1920s and 1940s, public parks were not only important for public
health and leisure reasons, but also bore educational and political functions. In
congruence with the rising nationalist movement, parks built during this period
had particularly strong nationalistic features in terms of their naming, spatial
layout and architecture (Chen 2004:93-100; 2005:82-95). A good example was the
nationwide campaign of constructing memorial parks for Sun-Yetsen after his
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death in 1925. This event led to 276 newly built and renamed parks under the
name of Zhongshan (Sun Yet-sen’s other name) in various cities between 1925
and 1949. As Chen points out, the enthusiasm of the nationalist government in
constructing or renaming Zhongshan Park reflected the tendency of politicizing
public parks by state power as a carrier of a certain ideology and symbolic
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space for nationalism, in addition to its leisure function in everyday life (Chen
2006:1-18).
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Following such a logic and perspective, it may also be argued that the renaming
and constructing of People’s Parks in many cities, after the communist
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government took power in 1949, has more-or-less the same motivation, which
is to pass the message that the people are the new masters of the state. But
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different from the former regime, efforts were also made to have such symbolic
spaces not only in the center, but also in the periphery. As has already been
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reviewed in Chapter Three, the emphasis on landscape and forestation since

1958 was an important element behind the enthusiasm in mass plantations
in the city and countryside. As a pilot project, Caoyang New Village also had
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a leading role in this respect, which implemented exactly the “four-next”

plantation principle as later promoted by the municipal government. Whether
it is a space planted with trees or flowers, or filled with water, or just an open
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space marked by trees or flower beds, all these spaces can be regarded as
multiple functional spaces that support both concrete activities for ecological,
health and leisure concerns, as well as symbolic functions of the new political
and ideological agenda. In contrast with the poorly maintained housing
conditions, local government, committees and specialized maintenance teams
provided continuous care and effort to Caoyang’s landscape system, which
makes it the most impressive aspect of the settlement environment even today.
[Figure 4-23]
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a b
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c d
Figure 4-23 recent development of landscape and open space in Caoyang New Village
a: in front of the house; b: within the neighborhood; c: next to the creek; d: near the public center
(source: author, photos taken in May, 2006)
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4.4 Everyday life experience

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How did people actually lived in such a settlement and what was their
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experience? Based on reports available in historical materials and contemporary

interviews, we are able to look more closely at the everyday life and experience
of those who had lived in Caoyang New Village since the early 1950s.
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4.4.1 Report in People’s Pictorial (1952)

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Under the title of “Hosts of Caoyang New Village”, the experiences of two
families appeared in a report in the key national propaganda magazine,
People’s Pictorial , in August 195234. [Figure 4-24] In a group of black and white
pictures, the family of a young working couple – Xu Shenhua (husband) and
Kong Aju (wife) together with their two young babies – was presented as a
typical household who began a new life in the new settlement. The houses,
trees, roads, baby carrier, bicycles, clothes, even the facial expressions of the
couple looked new and fresh. And, quite obviously, all these images were to be
read and understood in big contrast with earlier living conditions. The female
worker Chen Suzhen recalled how she lived in the slum area in the short text
next to the pictures: “The life before the liberation [1949] was like those of cows
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a b c
Figure 4-24 a young working couple’s family in Caoyang New Village in 1952
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a: going to work together; b: study together at home with Mao’s picture hanging on the wall; c:
strolling with their two children along the street (source: RMHB, 1952:8; PZJZ , 1994)
and horses. There was no way to see any sunshine from the house, and the
ground was full of water when it rained. One cooking pot and one bed would
already make the place too crowded to place another table”. As later stories will
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help demonstrate, the sudden improvement in housing conditions, and living
conditions in general, led to a common and strong experience and feeling of
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progress and honor among most of Caoyang’s residents.
4.4.2 Foreign visitor’s impression (1970s)

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In his visit to the Caoyang settlement in 1971, Andrew Watson recorded thd
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detailed life of a retired silk factory worker Gu Zhaoyi and her family:
(…) Mrs. Gu’s room is on the ground floor of a three-storey (originally

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two) block. Her furniture consists of a bed, a chest of drawers, a large

cupboard, two tables some mirrors, and many chests and suitcases. There
is no carpet on the bare concrete floor. Although there is nothing luxurious
about it, Gu Zhaoyi was proud of her home and the advances it represents
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over the poverty that once faced most Chinese workers.

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Both Gu and her husband draw a pension of 40 yuan (8.75 pounds) per
month and their monthly rent is 3.1 yuan plus 1 yuan for electricity and 0.7
yuan for water. Mrs. Gu’s daily routine is like that of many of her neighbors
and other housewives. She gets up at 6am, has breakfast and tidies up. The
she does her shopping. Since everyone east fresh food, and pre-packed or
tinned food is expensive, a trip to market is made by most families early
in the day. Lunch is usually eaten around 10am. … In the afternoons, Mrs
Gu goes to meetings as she is a member of the local residents’ committee.
When she is not busy, she catches the bus into town to do some shopping
or visit a friend. She is also active in community affairs generally, looking
after children for working parents or going shopping for those who can’
t manage it. In most Chinese cities, old folk do jobs like these and remain
important members of society. (Watson, 1977:108) [Figure 4-25]
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Figure 4-25 price list of daily use
items in Caoyang New Village
in early 1970s
This price list contains the most
common consumption items in
daily life, which gives some ideas
of what a Chinese worker can
do with an average wage of 50
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yuan per month in 1971. (Source:
Watson, 1976)
Indeed, when more housewives were motivated to work like their husbands or
brothers during the People’s Commune campaign, it was very common to see
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people helping each other with the housework, including food shopping and
cooking, clothes sewing and baby-sitting. For the same reason, those who had
little time to cook also welcomed the introduction of collective kitchens and
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cafeterias.
And if we follow Watson’s book in portraying the general scenery of life for
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Chinese families in cities, through his texts, price lists, series of photos, one is
able to get a better impression of how ordinary people actually lived during the
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years between the late 1960s and early 1970s:

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While wages have tended to rise over the past 25 years, prices have on the
whole remained stable and in some cases even dropped. This has given
city dwellers a strong feeling of economic security. All prices are subject
to firm government control, and those items that are in scarce supply are
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rationed. This was true of many goods during the economic crisis of the
early 1960s, but steady recovery of the economy has eliminated most of the
rationing restrictions imposed at that time. At present, the two major items
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that are still rationed are grain and cotton. Every member of s household
is issued with coupons to cover his allowance. The grain ration varies
according to individual’s work but is usually between 35 and 50 jin (17.5-25
kilos) per month. The annual cotton ration depends on the harvest and is
changed every year. In 1965 in Sian[Xi’an], it was 25 feet per head. In 1971,
Mrs. Gu and her husband each got 20 feet.
Most families find it easy to meet their basic food and clothing expenses,
though those with many children and one wage earner have little left over.
People with few dependents can save quite a lot, and even pensioners like
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Mrs. Gu find themselves fairly well off. Nevertheless, very few families
waste anything. Wrapping paper, string and empty bottles are carefully
saved and re-used. Clothes are patched and worn until they have no
life left. Although everyone tries to have a best suit of clothes, fashion
don’t change and there is no pressure to keep up with one’s neighbor or
continually seek after something new. Advertising in the way it exists in
the western countries is completely unknown. The luxuries most eagerly
sought after are bicycles, radios, watches, cameras and sewing machines.
Rather more everyday treats are sweets, ice-cream and a meal out. Items
such as televisions and fridges are only produced in small numbers.
They are much too expensive for individuals and are usually bought by
institutions. (Watson, 1977:110-111)
In the eyes of another foreign visitor, similar scenes were captured in the
everyday living environment of Shanghai. Shirley Maclaine, who visited China
in 1973, described the environment and life in another workers’ settlement,
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Fengcheng New Village that was built roughly at same time as Caoyang:
The Fengchen workers’ settlement in Shanghai looked very similar to the

housing for low-income class in any American cities. A group of simply
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built four-floored buildings surrounded a courtyard, where children were
playing balls and washed laundry were drying under the sun. On the
day of visit, we visited several tidy and practical apartments. Someone
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told us that each unit with two bedrooms could accommodate a family
of six people, the couple occupying one room and the children with their
grandparents occupying the other. These were homes for city workers who
composed the majority of the total 15,000,000 urban residents of Shanghai.
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According to Maclaine’s note, the average income and living expenditure level
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in 1973 was comparable to those recorded by Watson. In addition, she also

noticed more details in the domestic scenery:
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Their average wage was 48 yuan per month. One family made a detailed
list for us on their expenses: monthly rent 2.5 yuan, 0.5 yuan for electricity,
2 yuan for a pair of shoes, 5 yuan for a combined clothes and pants, 2 yuan
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for annual medical expense [per person], 2.5 yuan for annual educational
fee [per person], 0.2 yuan for the cost of a meal. One radio cost about 40
yuan and a bicycle about 75 yuan.
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With such an income and expense, a family can make a comfortable

living. These houses were simple and austere. Portraits of Chairman Mao
at his different age were often hanged above a closet, decorated with a
vase of flowers, a porcelain bottle, or a radio. During the daytime, beds
in the living room were used as benches. There were often several hard
backboard chairs. A bulb without cover was dropped from the ceiling for
lighting.
The bedroom was with more characters. Chests and wardrobes were
often decorated with children’s graduation photos or photos of the whole
family. Chairman Mao’s quotations were inlaid in the mirror. Children
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were in charge of room cleaning, men shared with all kinds of housework
including washing clothes and ironing. However, just like in the rural
communes, women were still very much willing to cook. 35 (Maclaine,
1975:154-201)
Several other literature written by visitors to China during the same period all
seem to suggest that what Watson and Maclaine observed and described are
indeed quite representative scenes of the new dwelling experience of ordinary
urban households in China during the 1970s. [Figure 4-26]
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a O
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b
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d
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c e
Figure 4-26 everyday living in Caoyang New Village

a interior of Mrs. Gu’s shared kitchen of; b buying rice at cooperative shop; c fish market; d
public bathhouse; e youth club (source: a and c Watson, 1976; b, d and e from PZJZ , 1994)
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4.4.3 Memories recorded in recent documentary film (2003)
In a documentary film made for a TV series entitled Pictographic City in 2003,

some of Caoyang’s earliest residents recalled those early days in a proud and
nostalgic way36:
When we just moved in, our door number was 180. Each door number
referred to six households. Buildings were all two-story high. … There
were no other villages when we moved in, just Caoyang No.1 Village. …
The moving-in itself was a big and exciting event when every resident was
rewarded with red flowers and celebrated with the sound of fireworks and
(traditional) instruments such as gongs and drums. (Zhao Aiying, 82-year
old)
Everything was new. Kitchen was well furnished and everything was
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in order. Walls were white, and window frames were red. Ground floor
was filled with stone slabs and the first floor together with staircase was
wooden. Before I came to see it in my own eyes, it’s hard to imagine how
nice it could be. It’s something I never dreamed of. That’s why I even woke
up with smile at night in those days. (Wang Honglu, 83-year old)
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Such words are trustworthy if one truly understands what these newly built
houses meant to inhabitants when compared with their former shelters. Indeed,
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people who were able to move into newly built public housing neighborhoods
like Caoyang New Village were happy and proud, for it meant not only
the physical improvement in terms of family living, but also formalized
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honorable social status – inhabitants were members of the leading working

class. Regarding the “new” life in the “new village”, 68-year old Wu Qingyuan
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recalled that it was common that everyone was willing to help each other and
people were happily living together as in a big family. In the days when radios
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and televisions were still scarce, a weekly group study organized by the street
or neighborhood committee was a routine part of collective life. At such events,
people with a better educational background would read the news and lead
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discussions on up-to-date topics. Other forms of collective activities also took

place once in a while such as the cleaning of the public sewage system.
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Summary
As analyzed above, the whole process of settlement planning, construction
and management of Caoyang New Village differed greatly from that of the
pre-1949 lilong neighborhoods. While the latter maximized floor space and
had a plot ratio according to the logic of the profit making real estate industry,
mainly conducted by the private sector, the post-1949 new village settlement
was organized and completed by the public or semi-public sector with the
provision of basic living space for maximal numbers. The generous planning
and provision of public facilities and spaces in these new living environments
can be read as both an active response to the social and political agenda of the
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time, and also as an important compensation for the rather low standard and
limited private space. Among such efforts, the setting up of many locally-run
institutions for education, health, industry, and environment by local residents
at the grass root level following the people’s commune principles since the late
1950s may be read as a creative and ambitious attempt to organize a communal
way of everyday living and working. According to early reports and recent
interviews, despite accumulated problems the area as it appears with its simple
and basic material forms, limited space and most of all the poor building
maintenance in later decades, most of Caoyang’s residents still enjoy and cherish
the strong and close relations established amongst neighbors and within the
community.
As a pilot project for public housing and settlement planning, Caoyang New
Village has been copied and reproduced in many large-scale urban settlements,
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not only in Shanghai, but also in many other Chinese cities37. As contemporary
cultural critics have commented, Caoyang New Village can be read as a
representative case of the post-1949 urban settlements, in that it epitomized
a unique spatial politic shaped by communist ideology mixed with a strong
utopian sentiment that prevailed in Mao’s China.O
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1
This debate was started with a serial documentary titled “Pictographic City (Xiangxing
chengshi)” produced by HNTV shown in the summer of 2003. In this show, several
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contemporary cultural critics were invited to comment on the representative physical

and spiritual characteristics of three Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangzhou. Debate was mainly between Zhang Hong and Zhu Dake over which
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settlement model is more representative in Shanghai, pre-1949 lilong neighborhood or

post-1949 workers’ new village. More information can found at: http://www.hunantv.
com/block/city/a1001.html
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2
Wang Dingzeng. “Shanghai Caoyang xincun zhuzhaiqu de guihua sheji (Planning and
Design in the Residential Area of Caoyang New Village in Shanghai)”, in: JZXB , 1956:2.
pp.1-15. Wang Hua, “Guanyu juzhuqu xingshi de guihua yu sheji (Discussion on the
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Form of Residential Planning and Design)”, in: JZXB, 1956:6. pp.51-57.

3
Major official records include: Shanghai Urban Planning Office, “Caoyang New
Village in Shanghai 1951-1975”, in: Examples in Residential Area Planning in Cities and
Towns, Vol. 1, 1979; Shanghai Zhuzhai 1949-1990 (Shanghai Housing 1949-1990 ), 1993;
Shanghai putuo qu zhuzhai jianshe zhi (Housing Construction Record of Putuo District
in Shanghai ), 1994; Cui Guanglu (ed.), Shanghai zhuzhai jianshe zhi (Shanghai Housing
Construction Record ), 1998; “Caoyang New Village”, in: Shanghai chengshi guihua zhi
(Record of Urban Planning in Shanghai ), 10:1:2, 1999.
4
Zhang Hong, “Shanghai:Jiyi yu huanxiang zhi du (Shanghai: City of Memories and
Fantasies)”, in: Journal of Tongji University (social science section), 2005. Vol.16 No.6
pp.37-43; Wang Xiaoyu, Wenhua Maidanglao (Cultural McDonald ), Hunan Wenyi Press.
2006; Li Yun, “Gongren xincun yu shehui zhuyi chengshi xiangxiang: cong shanghai
226
de zaochen zhong de chengshi jingguan tanqi (Workers’ New Village and Socialist City
Imagination: Discussion from the city landscape in Shanghai’s Morning)”, in: Beijing
daxue yanjiusheng xuezhi (Records of Beijing University Graduate Students), 2006, No.1.
5
Two master theses from Department of Architecture at Tongji University, including: Fu
Chen (2005) Shanghai gongren xincun daocha yanjiu jiqi wenhua renleixue sikao (A Case
Study & Anthropological Thinking on the Workers' Village of Shanghai ); Wu Yan (2003)
Erhi shiji chu zhi wushi niandai Beijing Shanghai liangdi juzhu xingtai bijiao yanjiu
(Comparative Study on the Dwelling Morphology in Two Cities (Beijing and Shanghai)
between Early 20 th Century and 1950s ). Lu Duanfang. “Travelling urban form: the
neighborhood unit in China”, in: Planning Perspectives , 21, Oct 2006. pp 369-392.
6
Chen is generally considered an important figure in creating for the new country. His
reputation and popularity not only came from his excellence in commanding the People’s
Liberation Army who received the highest military rank as one of top ten great marshals
in 1955, but also from his potentials in administrative affairs, who later became the
foreign minister. Moreover, he was also known for his talents in poetry and calligraphy.
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In short, he was a man with both civil (wen ) and military (wu ) strengths, fitting the ideal
model of a great man in the Chinese society.
7
Zou Yiren, Jiu Shanghai Renkou Bianqian de Yanjiu (Research on Population Changes
in Old Shanghai ), Shanghai People’s Press. 1980. Table 17 on page 108-109, Table 21 on
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page 113. Other official figures also suggest similar population scale that by the end
of 1951, the total population of Shanghai was 5,300,000 with 4,500,000 living in the city
proper. See: Cui, op. cit. p.21.
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8
Translation is based on original Chinese text quoted in: Shanghaishi Putuoqu Zhuzhai
Jianshe Zhi (Housing Construction Record of Putuo District in Shanghai) , Shanghai
News Publishing Bureau (internal materials), 1994. p. 48.
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9
This site description is based on an analysis of a series of historical maps of the area
between 1930s and 1950s, and a summary of several key literatures, including Housing
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Construction Record of Putuo District in Shanghai (1994), p.49; Record of Putuo District
(1994), p.630; Shanghai Housing Construction Record (1998), p.144.
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10
Housing Construction Record of Putuo District in Shanghai (1994), p.50; Cui, op.
cit. p. 144. Because of the Korean War and the followed economic sanction on China,
there had been a considerable drop in exchange rate between the old Chinese yuan
and foreign currencies (mainly US dollars) from 1: 42,000 in March 1950 to 1: 26,170 in
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December 1952. The calculation here was based on an estimated rate of 30,000 to cover
the construction period between September 1951 and May 1952.
D
11
Zhao Zukang(1900-1995) received his undergraduate study in China between
1918-1922 and a continued study in Cornell University and practice in the US between
1930 and 1932. Originally educated as an engineer specialized in road construction both
in China and the US, he was highly credited for his earlier contribution to nationwide
road planning and construction between 1932 and 1945 and later devotion to the urban
planning and construction of Shanghai. After he was appointed the director of Shanghai
Municipal Public Affairs Bureau in 1945, he showed great enthusiasm in urban and
regional planning. He set up the Shanghai Urban Planning and Research Committee in
1946 and supervised the stipulation of three drafts of the Regional and Urban Planning
of Greater Shanghai between 1946 and 1949. Although being a non-communist, Zhao was
regarded as one of those highly respected techno-experts that the Chinese Communist
Party considered essential for the new socialist construction cause. Until he became
vice mayor of Shanghai in 1957, he had been appointed as directors for several related
227
municipal bureaus and organizations of the city. It is reasonable to assume that it was his
well-accumulated experience, reputation and authority in pre-1949 period that allowed
him to prepare and utilize all available resources and play a leading role in the urban
planning and construction of Shanghai during the early post-1949 period.
12
These information is based on author’s two interviews with Wang Dingzeng at his
Shanghai home dated on July 21, 2004 and February 21, 2006.
13
Here, Wang refers to the respected figure Sun Yet-sen’s views on housing issues as
appeared in two important works, which were regarded as the primary guidelines for
the nationalist government when Sun became the founder and leader of the Nationalist
Party. One is the volume of Industrialization Plan (Shiye jihua) within Nation-building
General Plan (Jianguo fanglue) wrote between 1917 and 1919, the other is Nation-
Building Guideline (Jianguo dagang) in 1924. Both have classified housing as one of the
four basic living conditions and priorities in public affairs for the nationalist government
to engage in.
14
Wang, Dingzeng. “Woguo zhanhou zhuzhai zhengce fanlun (General Discussion on
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the Postwar Housing Policy in China)”, in: Zhongyang Ribao (Central Daily Newspaper ).
Chongqing. July 1, 1945.
15
This conclusion is mainly based on Song Mingbo’s study on Wang Dingzeng as well
as Caoyang New Village project and confirmed in author’s recent talks with Wang.
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See: Song Mingbo, Ding-zeng Wang: Buildings and Essays (master thesis), College of
Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, 1996. p.14.
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16
There has been a slight difference in recording the road width. According to the
recently published Record of Housing Construction in Putuo District of Shanghai (1994),
and the Record of Housing Construction in Shanghai (1998), major roads in Caoyang
New Village are 21-meters wide and secondary roads are 12-meters wide. This increase
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in road width can be a result of later transformations. But so far the author has not able
to find more detailed information on this transformation process regarding when, why
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and by whom.
17
In two talks with the author dated July 21, 2004 and February 21, 2006, Wang recalled
his educational experience in the US between 1935 and 1938 when he studied at
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University of Illinois at Campus Urbana-Champaign. Mainly following the Beaux-Arts

tradition, Wang knew little about the “garden city” and Modern Movement. In terms
of settlement planning and housing construction, he was more impressed by a several
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settlement projects he visited of the 1930s which employed the green belt town planning
theory. And according to an interview by Lu Duanfang on October 30, 2004, Wang learnt
about the neighborhood unit theory only through booklets published by the Shanghai
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Public Affairs Bureau in the mid-1940s (Lu, 2006:376).

18
The Resettlement Administration established under Rexford Tugwell, Roosevelt’s
“think tank”, was to carry out experiments in land reform and population resettlement
to combat the economic crisis. Following garden city principles, three planned
communities were built during the New Deal of the Roosevelt Administration, including
Greenbelt (Maryland), Greendale (Wisconsin) and Greenhills (Ohio). More information
and discussion on this subject can be found in: Joseph L. Arnold, The New Deal in the
Suburbs: a history of the Greenbelt Town Program 1935-1954 . Ohio State University
Press. 1971.
19
Shanghai Railway Record . Shanghai Social Science Academy Press. 1999; Shanghai
Changning District Record . Shanghai Social Science Academy Press. 1999; Shanghai
Putuo District Record . Shanghai Social Science Academy Press. 1994.
228
20
See: Shanghai Urban Planning Office, “Caoyang New Village in Shanghai 1951-1975”,
in: Examples in Residential Area Planning in Cities and Towns , Vol. 1, 1979. p. 160.
Although it does not mention the construction of Village Nine (completed in 1977),
before the book was published, it seems understandable as suggested by its title that the
article was finished prior to the construction of Village Nine. Because the whole book
was to be edited based on a collection of examples from all over the country, there might
be difficulties to add the latest development despite the fact that the book was published
only in 1979.
21
See: Record of Housing Construction in Shanghai. 2:1:2. Shanghai Social Science
Academy Press. 1998. pp.147-148.
22
See: Section “Caoyang New Village”, in: Record of Urban Planning in Shanghai , 10:1:2.
Shanghai Social Science Academy Press, 1999.
23
Even after an extra floor was added in 1960, the average 13m-distance between two
buildings was still quite impressive. Later on, this open space was partly turned into
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neighborhood bicycle sheds.
24
In 1960, a third floor was added on the top, which meant that each unit was to
accommodate nine households all together, entering through the same unit gate at the
ground level.
25
26
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Record of Housing Construction in Shanghai . 1998. p.146.
Shanghai Zhuzhai 1949-1990 (Shanghai Housing 1949-1990 ). Shanghai Science
Popularization Press. 1993. p. 57.
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27
Such an idea was originally raised at the Forum on Housing Standards and
Architecture jointly held in Shanghai by the Ministry of Building Industry and the
Architectural Society of China, May 18 to Jun 4, 1958.
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28
Shanghai Institute of Architectural Design and Research, Housing Construction Office
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of Putuo District, “Caoyang Housing Estate”, in: Collective Illustrations on Residential

Area Constructions in Shanghai . 1998. p. 81.
29
Watson had spent two years working and living in China between 1967-1969, and
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revisited China in 1971. More details can be found in Andrew Watson. Living in China.
Totowa: Littlefield Adams & CO. (NJ). 1971. pp.107-108.
30
The estimated total population is calculated based upon two figures: the statistical data
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of the population of Village 1 to 5, 26,241and the rough calculation of the total population
in Village 6 with 1,030 households multiplied by 5, an average number of family
members, leading to 5,150. This calculation is also confirmed by statistics published in
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1979.
31
These two figures are also calculated based on the statistics provided by the Shanghai
Urban Planning Office in the same article published in 1979. Given the fact that almost
every family had one or two of its young members leave their urban homes following the
movement of “young educated youth going to the countryside” between the late 1960s
and late 1970s, it is difficult to tell whether this moving population was excluded from
this density population or not.
32
The plantation nursery was moved to a new location of 1.07 hectares next to the District
Landscape Management Office on the Zaoyang Road and was again turned into a park
in 1987.
33
Since the first public park was built in the British Settlement of Shanghai in 1868, there
229
had been continuous protests against the discrimination rules set by foreign authorities.
According to rules announced on parks in British Settlement in 1885, and those in
International Settlement and French Settlement in 1909, Chinese people were not allowed
to enter any public parks except for those who were servants of foreign families and
later a few who possessed special permits. It was until 1928 that such rules were finally
removed by the foreign municipal council and all public parks became accessible to
anyone who could afford an entrance ticket. Yet in reality, for the majority who still had
to fight for basic shelter and food, parks remained to be an unthinkable luxury.
34
The Labor Insurance Department of Shanghai Workers’ Union, “Caoyang xincun
de zhuren (Hosts of Caoyang New Village)”, in: Renmin Huabao (People’s Pictoria)l .
August, 1952. p.30
35
Quotation text used here is a translation based on a Chinese version of the book.
36
Original texts are from http://cul.sina.com.cn/l/a/2003-07-09/37865.html translated by
the author.
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37
According to Shanghai Housing 1949-1990 , by the end of 1987, there had been 383
residential areas in Shanghai whose names were ended with ‘new village’, covering a
total floor area of 19,481,000 square meters, including 858,000 square meters in public
facilities. Among them, 39 were over 100,000 square meters in their total floor area. All
together, 424,000 households had been living in those ‘new villages’, composing 19.2%
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of the total households in the city. Even after the urban redevelopment in recent decades,
by inputting the phrase “workers’ new village (gongren xincun )” at the largest Chinese
internet search engine (www.baidu.com), we may still find quite a lot of residential
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quarters in many Chinese cities are in one way or the other built following such a model.
T
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N
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D
230

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Chapter 4

and housing design/construction. However, in contrast with its high profile in

4.1 Program Initiation and Site Selection

4.1.1 Investigation and proposal

As mentioned in the first chapter, the nationalist-led municipal government

Figure 4-1 slum housing in Shanghai by 1949

In order to develop our production further, the physical living conditions

This report should be considered as the first concrete step in preparing a

workers in Putuo District: 1) the location should be close to existing territory

4.1.2 Site selection and condition

After comparing five potential locations, the investigation team considered

town Zhenru further north. [Figure 4-2]

Figure 4-3 location of Caoyang in early 1950s

4.2 Project organization, planning and implementation

4.2.1 Project organization

were to be paid by the municipal government, other civil infrastructures and

On September 16 th, the construction formally started. Joined by students

4.2.2 Key figures in the planning team

Like many other administrative institutions that retained and continued

background information on the key figures or the so-called masterminds of the

Chief master planner: Wang Dingzeng

in China in 1935 and continued to study in architectural engineering at

was published in a key national newspaper on July 1, 1945. In this article, he

In an article titled “Urban Reconstruction and Solution to Housing Shortage”,

housing projects, which he considered mainly as a gesture when failed to solve

title, “Review on Clapping Down Illegal Structures in Shanghai” (D. Wang

Jin Jingchang (1910-2000) studied civil engineering at Tongji University between

insisted on the importance of the combined learning process on theoretical

Pennsylvania University in 1929, Ha Xiongwen (1907-1981) studied in the same

4.2.3 Development in settlement planning

Although it is difficult to find original documents and drawings related to the

When compared with a revised master plan for implementation as appeared

b: analysis of major elements (source: by author)

1956:6). Meanwhile, as the first large-scale housing project to be realized under

Figure 4-6 early development of Caoyang Village

b: perspective drawing of the central area (source: SJJTJ, 1998)

Category Area (hectares) Percentage����

Residential 38.63 40.82 14.7

Public greenery 27.53 29.14 10.5

(Source: D. Wang, JZXB . 1956, No. 2)

(Source: D. Wang, JZXB . 1956, No. 2)

Viewed in many professional’s eyes, Caoyang’s planning had followed

sewage pipes, communication and traffic” (D. Wang 1956:2-3). By drawing a

capitalism, Soviet professionals proposed a new urban planning scheme – city-

Plan period, it is not difficult to imagine the increasing pressure on native

Major changes in master plan after 1958

a: two-tier structure in early planning; b: three-tiered structure after 1958

4.2.4 Stage development and housing typology

between 1966 and 197520.

The second version of phasing appeared in the Record of Housing Construction

As revealed in further reading on the evolution of master plans, especially

that enables a more objective description of all major construction activities

both spatial and social terms.

Stage I (1951-1952): Village 1 - 1,002-household program

As mentioned above, the first phase development of Caoyang New Village

Stage II (1952-1953): Village 2 to 6 - part of the 20,000-household program

Table 4-3 20,000-household program (1952-1953)*

A uniformed planning method was applied to all designated sites: parallel

Regarding the housing typology, sample houses were built following a

Figure 4-11 neighborhoods of the 20,000-unit model (No. 2-6

d: image of the neighborhood along the street (source: Wang,

Following the growing Soviet influence in urban planning and architecture,

layout became characteristic in housing design and residential area planning

Category Area (hectares) Percentage��

Category Area (hectares) Percentage��