Newcomers to Shanghai (China) may be surprised when they first see large clothes drying racks protruding from the sides of high-rise apartment buildings, especially in older residential communities. Full of colorful clothes and blankets to dry, these racks are also jokingly referred to by passersby as "multicolored flags flying in the wind".
The design is extremely simple: A fixed rectangular frame measuring about 3m x 2m stretches from the balcony or window. Clothes are hung on long poles, reaching out into the space to receive sunlight and wind. The poles, formerly bamboo, but now mostly made of steel, can be long enough to dry three or four bedsheets at a time. For Shanghai residents, drying clothes this way is more effective than a clothes dryer.
On a sunny day, the scene created by these layers of drying racks can make you stay for a few seconds to look. However, privacy and reserve gradually disappear, clothes, even underwear, are "exposed" to the sunlight for everyone to see.
Clothes drying rack in Shanghai
Walk around any corner in Shanghai and you'll likely see these clothes racks, especially outside traditional lane houses and high-rise apartment buildings built in the 1990s.
Before the 2010 Shanghai Expo, the city government was quite "an eyesore" with these popular clothes drying racks, because they could tarnish Shanghai's image as a modern metropolis. The government decided to ban people from drying clothes outside windows on many main roads. However, some locals believe that this age-old habit should be considered intangible cultural heritage.
However, one thing that needs to be recognized is how difficult it really is to use these clothes drying racks. The steel beams are 2 to 3 meters long and can be extremely heavy when filled with clothes, bedsheets or even blankets. Residents need to operate carefully, try not to touch dirty window sills, and maintain balance. Hold one end of the pole while trying to fit the other end into a semi-circular metal ring at the top of the frame to keep it in place.
It certainly looks like that, but accidents are not unheard of. In a residential area on Tham Xuan Street, Man Hang District, a drying rack mounted on the 4th floor of a building was blown away by strong winds, damaging the glass ceiling on the ground floor. Some people also fell from windows while trying to secure the racks while drying clothes. As a result, some residential communities are now banning the use of this old-fashioned rack design.
People chatting with each other while drying clothes, Shanghai
The hunger for living space in a crowded city
When and where exactly did these drying racks start appearing?
Although there are many historical documents and evidence from locals, it is difficult to find a definite answer. Ma Shanglong, a writer in Shanghai, said: “It was the workers who first started using this way of drying clothes.” He added that the racks likely first appeared in a residential community built specifically for workers in the 1980s and 1990s.
In Mr. Ma's opinion, the clothes drying rack appeared in Shanghai out of necessity . “First of all, the humidity in Shanghai is relatively high. Even though they moved from living in alley houses to apartments, Shanghai people still keep the habit of drying clothes outdoors. Second, living space in Shanghai is always very limited," Ma said.
In the 1980s and 1990s, one-room apartments were only 13 to 15 square meters. A couple with children along with their furniture will almost fill the room. “Therefore, many families have come up with the idea of going to the balcony to increase the space inside. Because of this, there is no place to dry clothes, so people have to hang clothes drying racks on buildings right outside the windows." Ma said.
Another Shanghai writer with the pen name Co But Tau, made his own wooden rack to dry clothes. He recalls: “In the 1980s, when clothes racks became popular, they were all handmade by people. The popularity of racks is closely related to Shanghainese's sensitivity to living space, or more directly known as their hunger for shelter.
Chu Le Nguyen lived in an alley on Huanghe Street, Huangpu District for many years in the 1980s. Recalling those days, what impressed her most was the image of her mother-in-law "fighting for territory" to dry clothes. . Early in the morning, a small but sturdy woman from Ningbo, a city in Zhejiang province, ran out with 7-8 large bamboo poles to take up all the sunny spots in the alley. Because of that, many quarrels arose among the neighbors.
Chu said: "Now when I meet my old neighbors, they still tease my mother-in-law and say she is a brave person."
Phan, who lives in an apartment complex in Tinh An district, said that the south-facing balcony and large clothes drying rack were the reasons she decided to buy this apartment. “Nowadays, many new residential areas use collapsible drying racks (not traditional clothes hangers), but when pushed all the way out, they only stretch about 1 meter. That's not convenient for hanging laundry." she said.
Source: Sixth Tone
