A longtang (Chinese: 弄堂; pinyin: lòngtáng, Shanghainese: /loŋ¹¹ dɑ̃⁴⁴/, Wugniu: lon⁶-daon⁶[1]) is a lane in Shanghai and, by extension, a community centred on a lane or several interconnected lanes.[2] It is sometimes called lilong (里弄); the latter name incorporates the -li suffix often used in the name of residential developments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Shanghai longdang is loosely equivalent to the hutong of Beijing. As with the term hutong, the Shanghai longdang can either refers to the lanes that the houses face onto, or a group of houses connected by the lane.[3][4][5][6]
A large variety of housing styles are called "lilong residences" in Shanghai. Of these, the best known and most characteristic is the shikumen (simplified Chinese: 石库门; traditional Chinese: 石庫門), two- or three-storey terrace houses with a wall and large gate in front of each dwelling. Other types include the more modern "new style lilong" (新式里弄); the simplified "Cantonese style lilong" (广式里弄; 廣式裡弄); the high-end villa-like "garden lilong" (花园里弄; 花園裡弄); and the higher density "apartment lilong" (公寓里弄). Colloquially, they are referred to as "lilong houses" or, as an English translation, "lane houses".
- ^ Qian, Nairong (2007). 上海话大词典. Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House. ISBN 9787532622481.
- ^ Frommer's Shanghai Day By Day - Page 162 Graham Bond - 2011 1912 "1917 China's first shopping mall, the Sincere Department Store, Lilong, or Longtang Li means 'neighborhood', and long means 'alley'."
- ^ Walking between slums and skyscrapers: illusions of open space in ... - Page 160 Tsung-yi Michelle Huang - 2004 "Shanghainese call lilong, their characteristic residential design, as longtang. 'Long' means alley or lane and 'tang' parlor or hall. "All houses are facing the lanes and lanes become the public space used by all residents. Enclosed, the whole ...
- ^ Postsocialism and Cultural Politics: China in the Last Decade of ... - Page 196 Xudong Zhang - 2008 "As long means a lane and tang the front room of a house, longtang either refers to a lane that connects houses or a group of houses connected by lanes. Longtang however might not be so explicit as lilong for the li in lilong means ..."
- ^ Narrating Architecture: A Retrospective Anthology Page 474 James Madge, Andrew Peckham - 2006 "Four sketches by Feng Zikai of Shanghai's alley life: clockwise from top left: lowering a basket down to the alley to purchase ... these activities were certainly not considered in the original design of the lilong, but were gradually introduced in the practice of everyday life within the community. A local writer, Shen Shanzeng, has named this special way of living as 'life in the alley' (long-tang ren-sheng)."
- ^ Cities Surround The Countryside: Urban Aesthetics in Postsocialist ... - Page 320 Robin Visser - 2010 "Chunlan Zhao refers to the generalization that Shanghai without its longtang is no longer Shanghai, in From ... archway; li means neighborhood; long ... means alley. ... The earliest lilong compound resembled the lifang residential ward in imperial capitals, but instead of being enclosed by ..."