Huge Swathe of Nanluogu Xiang to be Demolished

Dominic Johnson-Hill of Plastered T-shirts, one of the first stores on Nanluogu Xiang, informed the Beijinger yesterday [Saturday, November 6] that authorities are knocking down most, if not all, of the shops from Qianyuan Ensi Hutong off Nanluogu Xiang to the alley just south of that, Qinlao Hutong, to make room for a car park. This is a strip near the middle of Nanluogu Xiang, off the east side, that includes the long-term business Guitar Bar.

Johnson-Hill is part of a "chamber of commerce" comprising 10 longtime business owners on Nanluogu Xiang, and at a meeting on Friday the owner of Guitar Bar said he was recently notified that his bar was going to be demolished. "Everyone on the chamber of commerce was like, 'What the f---?'" Johnson-Hill says. "I was surprised I didn't know about this because I know most of the time what's going on in the area."

Johnson-Hill says they weren't given an exact timeframe, but speculates that construction will happen "quite soon, in the next month or two."

This news might come as a shock to most readers, but apparently the people who control Nanluogu Xiang have been trying to find a suitable spot to build a car park for a long time, as part of efforts to “improve” the area's infrastructure. And longtime Beijing residents who have seen how quickly powers-that-be sink their commercial-driven talons into creative hubs know that this latest development is just part of an inevitable trend. Rents have been escalating for two years now on Nanluogu Xiang, driving out many first-generation shopkeepers. The question is: how else can they phlebotomize this hutong?

"Traditionally, as the rents go up and the business types come in, you lose the creative feel, right?" Johnson-Hill said to us in a separate interview last Wednesday. "At the end of the day you’ve got art vs. numbers, and the numbers always win."

About the potential parking lot, Johnson-Hill says, "For me it's a bit disappointing because I just don't think it's necessary to build a car park right there next to Nanluogu Xiang, but it doesn't make me think it's going to turn into Qianmen.

"I'm just in awe of the changes that have happened in the last year or so. I just think the change is quite oustanding, and Nanluogu Xiang will lose some of the appeal it’s had. With the car park right there, it's going to feel a little more commercial and less residential."

Stay tuned for more details as they come to hand.

Nov 10: For a further update on this story see here.