Newcomers to Shanghai may be surprised by the large clothes drying racks jutting out from high-rise apartment buildings, especially in older apartment complexes.
But in the eyes of the people here, these drying racks are like colorful flags fluttering in the wind.
A clothes drying rack in Shanghai is usually a rectangular frame fixed to the wall, about 3 x 2 meters in size, extending from a balcony or window. After washing, clothes are arranged on long poles and carefully hung on the frame. Each bamboo or steel pole is long enough to dry 3-4 bed sheets at a time.
These drying racks are popular because people think they are more effective than clothes dryers and save electricity.
A clothes drying rack in an old apartment building in Shanghai, February 2024. Photo: Wang Gang/VCG
On sunny days, the sight of clothes drying in layers can inspire many artists. But on the other hand, privacy will no longer exist when people are willing to dry all their clothes, including underwear, on the street.
This may be one reason why Shanghai authorities believe that clothes drying racks are unsightly and negatively impact the city’s image. In 2010, officials announced a ban on people hanging clothes on windows on main roads. But for locals, this habit should be considered an “intangible cultural heritage” that cannot be eliminated.
Using the hangers requires a lot of skill. The two- or three-meter-long steel bars are very heavy because they are filled with heavy, wet clothes, so it is difficult to keep your balance while avoiding touching the dirty windowsill.
Two people chat while drying clothes in Shanghai, April 2022. Photo: VCG
There are still many opinions about the origin of clothes drying racks in Shanghai.
Writer Ma Shanglong believes that workers were the first to use this method. He speculates that the drying racks may have appeared in one of the residential areas built in the 1980s and 1990s, out of necessity.
"First of all, because the humidity in Shanghai is relatively high, when moving from ground-level houses to apartments, people still keep the habit of drying clothes outdoors. Second, the cramped living space makes residents lack space to dry clothes," said writer Ma.
According to statistics in the 1980s and 1990s, the average apartment in Shanghai was 13-15 square meters. A couple with children and basic furniture almost filled the room. Therefore, many families came up with the idea of expanding the balcony to increase living space.
"Because the balcony is used as a place to live, residents are forced to install shelves outside the window," the male writer shared.
Ji Bisou, another Shanghai writer, also built a clothes rack that he ran into the street. The popularity of the racks is linked to Shanghai residents' sensitivity to living space, a trait Ji calls "space hunger."
Zhou Liyuan, who lived on Huanghe Road in Huangpu District in the 1980s, was most impressed by the sight of her mother-in-law fighting with her neighbors over where to dry clothes. Every morning, her mother-in-law, a petite woman, would run outside with 7-8 large bamboo poles to occupy sunny spots. This often led to quarrels with her neighbors.
"The scene was very tense, my daughter-in-law did not dare to go out at that time because it was very chaotic," Zhou said. "Now that we meet again, my old neighbors still call my mother-in-law a 'warrior'."
A clothes rack extends out onto the street at a high-rise apartment building in Shanghai in 2011. Photo: Reneby/VCG
Pan Yuhua, who lives in an apartment in Jing'an District, said that a south-facing balcony and a large clothes drying rack were the criteria for choosing a home.
Instead of 3-meter-long clothes poles, many residents in Pan’s area are now using smart drying racks. But she said the new devices can only extend up to about a meter and are not as convenient for drying clothes as traditional bamboo or steel poles.
Despite its convenience, there have been some accidents with this classic drying rack. Previously, in an apartment building on Tham Xuan Street, Minhang District, a drying rack on the fourth floor was blown away by the wind and damaged the glass ceiling of a ground-floor apartment. Or some residents fell out of the window while trying to secure the drying rack. This has led some buildings in Shanghai to ban the use of this old-fashioned rack, despite protests from residents.
Minh Phuong (According to Sixth Tone )
Source
Comment (0)