96 ANCHAO LU A lilong compound, as shown in figure 2, always has a front row(or, in some cases, a few front rows) facing the street. Those living in units inside the compound had to pass through the front yard to enter their living room. However, the front row units had no yard, and the living rooms of these units could be entered directly from the sidewalk (figure 3). These living rooms were often used for business purposes rather than for housing; most often, they were used as small stores or shops Establishing a store in a lilong neighborhood usually followed a pattern: a man (store owners were usually male)managed to save or borrow enough money a front unit in a lilong compound; he would then move his family into the floor and turn the living room into a small store. As Shanghais population cor mainly of immigrants from other parts of the country, this living arrangement was obviously efficient: it simultaneously solved the problems of residence and employment (Informants I-2, I-5, I-7) The rent for a lilong house varied by neighborhood and by the quality of the house itself. Although the front units had the advantage of being suitable for use as a store or shop, rent for such houses was not necessarily higher than that for units inside the compound. In some cases, the rents for front-row houses were slightly higher than for those inside, varying from 10 to 20 percent(1-5, I-11). The reason for the small disparity in rent was that front-row houses were less comfortable to live in. Street-facing units had no yard, suffered from noise and dust from the stree and were easy targets for thieves and burglars. In a way, the owners of these stores tolerated a less comfortable life in order to earn a livelihood. Yet, being without a living room was not considered a big deprivation in Shanghai. To this day, to use the"living room"as a living room is considered a luxury(I-10, 1-12) These were small stores in every sense: a normal living room in a lilong house is a rectangular room of about 20 to 30 square meters of floor space, although a few adjacent"living rooms"were sometimes put together(i. e, the walls between the rooms were dismantled), resulting in a fairly large store(I-5). The stores were of course, open to anyone who walked in but, since they were located in residential areas, the majority of the customers were local residents. In fact, a great many of the customers lived in the same block in which the stores were locate Among the most common stores in these neighborhoods were those that sold grain, coal, cotton fabrics and goods, groceries, hot water, condiments, snacks fruit, wine, meat and vegetables, and other products. Other shops offered such ervices as tailoring, barbering, repair of household items, and currency exchange and there also were laundries, tea houses, and public bathhouses. In short, in Shanghais lilong neighborhoods, the merchandise and services most closely related to daily life could be purchased within a block of one's home(I-3, I-4, I-12) For example, the neighborhood stores along a section of Hart Road(today Changde Road) between the intersections of Bubbling Well Road(today's Nanjing Road West)and Avenue Foch( today's Yan'an Road Central)(see Table 1; Shi Songjiu 1989: 353-92)included everything from a dentist to a blacksmith to a wineshop In this typical lilong neighborhood, with several lanes, each leading to an entrance to a compound, residents could do virtually all their shopping for daily necessities within a few steps of their homes without crossing the street to the other side of e block(1-3, 1-9, I-5) Ao The types of stores listed in table 2 were not too different from those on Hart ad, but they were located in a very different type of town: Waigang, Jiangsu Informants are cited by code; see the List of Informants in table 4.A lilong compound, as shown in figure 2, always has a front row (or, in some cases, a few front rows) facing the street. Those living in units inside the compound had to pass through the front yard to enter their living room. However, the front￾row units had no yard, and the living rooms of these units could be entered directly from the sidewalk (figure 3). These living rooms were often used for business purposes rather than for housing; most often, they were used as small stores or shops. Establishing a store in a lilong neighborhood usually followed a pattern: a man (store owners were usually male) managed to save or borrow enough money to rent a front unit in a lilong compound; he would then move his family into the second floor and turn the living room into a small store. As Shanghai's population consisted mainly of immigrants from other parts of the country, this living arrangement was obviously efficient: it simultaneously solved the problems of residence and employment (Informants 1-2, 1-5, 1-7).~ The rent for a lilong house varied by neighborhood and by the quality of the house itself. Although the front units had the advantage of being suitable for use as a store or shop, rent for such houses was not necessarily higher than that for units inside the compound. In some cases, the rents for front-row houses were slightly higher than for those inside, varying from 10 to 20 percent (1-5, I- 11). The reason for the small disparity in rent was that front-row houses were less comfortable to live in. Street-facing units had no yard, suffered from noise and dust from the street, and were easy targets for thieves and burglars. In a way, the owners of these stores tolerated a less comfortable life in order to earn a livelihood. Yet, being without a living room was not considered a big deprivation in Shanghai. To this day, to use the "living room" as a living room is considered a luxury (1-10, 1-12). These were small stores in every sense: a normal living room in a lilong house is a rectangular room of about 20 to 30 square meters of floor space, although a few adjacent "living rooms" were sometimes put together (i.e., the walls between the rooms were dismantled), resulting in a fairly large store (1-5). The stores were, of course, open to anyone who walked in but, since they were located in residential areas, the majority of the customers were local residents. In fact, a great many of the customers lived in the same block in which the stores were located. Among the most common stores in these neighborhoods were those that sold grain, coal, cotton fabrics and goods, groceries, hot water, condiments, snacks, fruit, wine, meat and vegetables, and other products. Other shops offered such services as tailoring, barbering, repair of household items, and currency exchange, and there also were laundries, tea houses, and public bathhouses. In short, in Shanghai's lilong neighborhoods, the merchandise and services most closely related to daily life could be purchased within a block of one's home (1-3, 1-4, 1-12), For example, the neighborhood stores along a section of Hart Road (today's Changde Road) between the intersections of Bubbling Well Road (today's Nanjing Road West) and Avenue Foch (today's Yan'an Road Central) (see Table 1; Shi Songjiu 1989:353-92) included everything from a dentist to a blacksmith to a wineshop. In this typical lilong neighborhood, with several lanes, each leading to an entrance to a compound, residents could do virtually all their shopping for daily necessities within a few steps of their homes without crossing the street to the other side of the block (1-3, 1-9, 1-5). The types of stores listed in table 2 were not too different from those on Hart Road, but they were located in a very different type of town: Waigang, Jiangsu '~nformants are cited by code; see the List of Informants in table 4