There is a saying in the rural area of Shanghai: in the past, it is three generations that construct the house for one generation, and now, it is one generation that constructs dwelling houses for three generations. This is a vivid description for the changes of dwelling conditions of farmers in rural Shanghai, which reflects the bitterness of house construction in the past, and the delight of good dwelling conditions for the present time. In the twenty years since reform and opening-up, there have been four times for great changes in dwelling conditions of rural areas. Sometimes, we will surly have the complaints or we don't feel anything about the changes because we are in the situation because we are not bystanders. Thanks to the hard work of photographers, it is them who record our yesterday and today with their cameras.
In the past, farmers at rural areas had to save money for several generations before they could get started in house construction. There were dilapidated houses everywhere, which were shabby, people could not afford to remodel though. Nowadays, just in over twenty years, farmers' dwelling houses have been remodeled for twice or three times, and even some of them are remodeling their houses for the fourth time, with every new remodeling having higher standard than the previous one. During the twenty years, economy in rural areas has been taking strides in development and farmers are much wealthy than ever before. At present, there is a population of more than 4 million at rural areas and their per capita saving amount has gone beyond RMB 10,000. At the end of 1970's, the practice of "renovating planting fields as well as dwelling houses" was carried out in Xincun Village, Zhuangxing County of Fengxian District, which relies on collective financing and individual input, thus enabling over 300 farmer families to live in departments of "barrack style", and causing a sensation in farmers all over the country. This time, when we want to picture the apartments, it turns out that they are all bygones.