gulou yin yang

There's a big ol' woe is Chinese "progress" story over there at NYT. An historic shantytown neighbourhood is due to be Disneyfied, right along with their schoolchildren. Off the bat, a natural bifurcation of opinion takes place, one y'always gotta laugh at.

This bifurcation of story perspective branches the views of various academics, sociologists, historians, and other sniffy liberals who don't live in Gulou, from those of the people who actually live in Gulou -- have done so for a long time -- and who express themselves thusly,

“Tear the whole place down,” said Zhou Meihua, 72, who shares a 200-square-foot pair of rooms with three generations of family members. “If we get enough compensation, we’ll happily move out.”

While the liberal elite, who most assuredly do not live in Gulou, yowl,

"Oh, no! Save the quaint shantytown of Gulou! How quaint it must be to live in a shambles! We must save the small people in their precious small place."