The rapid increase in prosperity and the international modernization of Shanghai has been implemented on a mass scale at the expense of the displacement of lower-income traditional Chinese communities. As residents of a Shikumen area known as Lan Yan, Mr. Zhang and his daughter reflect upon the sense of closeness and community he and his neighbors have experienced for over a century despite their cramped living conditions. Lan Yan captures the essence of this community as a window in time before the neighborhood is doomed to be swept away by the surrounding high-rise metropolis.
—Anonymous