Agrarian Identity:Shanghai’s Forms And Ideas Of Farming

When I came in China and lived in Shanghai, I began slowly to realize the importance, and the pervasiveness of rurality even in the center of Shanghai. Shanghai, was a city I had always looked as an ultra-modern megalopolis, synonymous with the anti-rural, or even with the anti-agricultural. Nevertheless, we can find planted crops of cabbage in some places, green onion crops in others, and even a pigeon farm... In my thesis, I organise, in three chapters, different forms and statuses of farming that can be seen in Shanghai. Firstly in Shanghai, there are appropriate spaces for agriculture, sometimes it is traditional agriculture, sometimes it is industrial agriculture, and it is always specialised professionals who work in this field. We can find this agriculture on the periphery of Shanghai. Secondly, Shanghainese also farm in inappropriate places, especially in public spaces. This is an agriculture that discreetly invades the entire city, in public parks, street furniture, etc. This is an agriculture that is practiced by a certain community of people who have a strong connection with agriculture, but who do not necessarily do farming as their day job. Finally, in the city of Shanghai, there is a farming activity in private and personal spaces, which is a leisure-agricultural and/or business-agriculture. Some people are looking to reconnect themselves with the agricultural cycle, while others are are looking to create a new kind of agriculture, much more organic and/or entertaining. In any case, Shanghai wants to officially integrate or reintegrate agriculture in the city. Originally, farming was never a part of urban development, but for the future of the city, and to avoid suffocation while increasing growth, agriculture and urbanism must be reconciled.