CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Introduction

1    Foothold

Foundations and Original Residents (1910s–1940s)

After the Communist Revolution (1950s–1970s)

A New Generation Comes of Age (1970s–1980s)

Alleyway Homes as a Microhistorical Stage

2    Haven

Domestic Artifacts as Historical Witnesses

Home Searches: The Cultural Revolution in the Alleyway

Petty Urbanites: Reinventing Privacy in the Reform Era

Thrift, Bricolage, and Nostalgia for the Alleyway

3    Gossip

A Cultural Genealogy of Shanghai Gossip

Alleyway Space as a Milieu for Gossip

Several Lifetimes to a Life: Women on the Margins

A Room of Her Own: The Whispers of Aunt Duckweed

4    Demolition

Demolition Micropolitics

Ruins of the Old Neighborhood

Nail Houses and Rustless Bolts

Coda

NOTES

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX