Shanghai’s Forgotten Ferries: A Commuter’s Tale

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Despite modernization, Shanghai’s ferries continue to connect diverse lives across the Huangpu River. After 30 years, Shanghai’s ferry ridership had dropped to only a 10th of its 1980s peak. But apart from those taking the ferry to sightsee, who else still relies on these river crossings? In the 1980s, the Huangpu River Ferry transported more than 1 million people daily between the city’s Puxi and Pudong districts, sitting to the west and east of the Huangpu River, respectively. It was the golden age of the Shanghai ferry as well as its busiest: At the time, there were in total 22 ferry routes along the river, with stops every 1.4 kilometers on average. The annual passenger record reached an astounding 370 million. The ferry was once the preferred commute for many of the city’s dwellers. With 1 million residents making the trip each day, the Huangpu River was once a magnificent scene. In 1985, Xinmin Evening News captured a typical morning at Tangqiao Ferry Port in Pudong: At 7 ………………………………