Tian'ai, The Shanghai Road of Love

 Graffiti is not widely tolerated on China, but this street in the Hongkuo district is an exception to that rule.  Hongkuo has long been home to the different in Shanghai.  It is where immigrants are drawn to today, but there was a time when that was where they were allowed to be.  So a street that is all about love does seem to belong there.  On one side of the street there are these bold paintings that are loosely love themed.  Some of them are gentle and romantic, and others, like the one pictured on the right, are bold and challenging.  The street is not very long, but it holds a lot of visual stimuli.

The left side of the street is decorated with love poems.  These are printed on plaques with traditional shapes.  The poetry is from around the world.  I found one by Pablo Neruda.  This side of the street is delicate and almost tender.  And then, at the very end of the street, is a green freestanding mailbox, where it is traditional to mail your love letter from.  We saw people stopping in front of it to have their picture taken there.  It is all a bit of free fun and I highly recommend it.