quick turn

We walked away from the park, down a part of Nanjing Road, the main tourist and shopping drag. I live near there. It's kind of the heart of Shanghai, actually. And I would never call Wangfujing the heart of Beijing or 5th avenue the heart of New York. But what else can I call it in Shanghai? That's my tiny limited experience talking, though. In any case,

She showed me down the west part of the road, which is a little quieter than the ridiculous section near my hostel (which, by the way, is on a pretty well insulated side-street). Trees lined the streets, and of course all the shops were open - they stay open until 10. Plenty of people with drinks and each other in each hand, smiling. Then all of a sudden the sounds I'd grown used to vanished, and we heard our footsteps step down an alley of old apartments. We could have been in Chengdu, Beijing, perhaps Great Barrington, maybe an old section of San Francisco, but definitely not the Shanghai I knew. As we walked down this little street and I gaped at its peace and warmth, my friend quickly informed me that 这个地方会快拆掉了。In other words, that place won't be in Shanghai for long.