China shipping containers used as homes near Shanghai

About Shanghai’s container city

Soaring property values in China have some Chinese living like hamsters in tall stacks of shipping containers. For less than $80 a month, rural migrants can rent out a stark steel metal container on the outskirts of Shanghai. In 2001, officials tore down a similar container village in Pudong, consisting of over 100 “homes”, because it was “too dangerous”. The teetering stack of containers in Shanghai, however, has been housing Chinese migrant workers for over a decade.

Hey Old Man, can I rent a shipping container!

The origin of the unusual city comes down to a single 70-year-old man (known to the renters simply as “Old Man”) who bought the empty containers from a local customs official. Originally planning to use them for storage, he paid to have the containers stacked on the side of a road. He then snaked electrical and water lines through the stack to each container before deciding they would be better suited as homes for migrants pursuing the exploding, but expensive, Chinese “rat race”.

Soon his entire village was populated with workers, One young migrant followed the entrepreneurial lead of Old Man and turned her container into a small supermarket selling food, drinks, and other daily necessities to the other nearby container-dwellers. A container city had been born.

Old shipping containers become a shipping container city

Lest you think the life of a container-dweller is too miserable, one occupant noted:

“The iron containers are quite solid, and I do not have to worry about leakages during rain or the roof collapsing.”

Check out pictures of the Shanghai Container Village below.

China shipping containers used as homes near Shanghai
A tenant and her child stand beside their container apartment in Sanlin Town in suburban Shanghai, east China, March 22, 2013.
Landlord Zhang Baofa climbs into his container apartment in Sanlin Town in suburban Shanghai, east China, March 22, 2013.
A tenant visits his landlord’s container apartment in Sanlin Town in suburban Shanghai, east China, March 22, 2013.
A tenant stands beside her container apartment in Sanlin Town in suburban Shanghai, east China, March 22, 2013.

Image Credits

In-Article Image Credits

China shipping containers used as homes near Shanghai via China Underground
China shipping containers used as homes near Shanghai via People Daily by News.cn
A tenant and her child stand beside their container apartment in Sanlin Town in suburban Shanghai, east China, March 22, 2013. via People Daily by News.cn
Landlord Zhang Baofa climbs into his container apartment in Sanlin Town in suburban Shanghai, east China, March 22, 2013. via People Daily by News.cn
A tenant visits his landlord's container apartment in Sanlin Town in suburban Shanghai, east China, March 22, 2013. via People Daily by News.cn
A tenant stands beside her container apartment in Sanlin Town in suburban Shanghai, east China, March 22, 2013. via People Daily by News.cn