I was walking on Sunday, a depressingly gray and foggy day in March and found myself walking towards the Cool Docks. On the way there I came across some neighborhoods that contrasted sharply with most others in Shanghai in that they were nearly abandoned. I discovered that by exiting river-side and walking south from the Cool Docks, you'll be walking down deserted streets and taking in ramshackle neighborhoods prosaically textured by the influences of time, neglect, and pollution. What results is actually kind of pretty, in a sad sort of way.

A welder works outside of Starbucks...

Photos by Stephan Larose