UNCOVERED SIGNS IN SHANGHAI
50,000원
Photography: Colleague Dong, Jiayu Shi and Jianwen Shen
Editor: Mira Ying, Richor Wang
Cover & title typography: Eonway Ying
Size: 105× 148mm (A6)
Pages: 372pp, full colour
Binding: thread-sewn soft cover, screen-printed PVC cover
Publisher: The Type
Languages: English and Chinese
Design: Yan Chen, Hengbin Yang (Atmosphere Design O"ice)
This new exciting book includes more than 170 previously unseen ‘ghost signs’ (with English transcription) that have been fortunately captured by photography over the past six to seven years through the cracks of the rapid urban regeneration in Shanghai. It is produced by The Type and three local photographers who have been tracking the ghost signs throughout Shanghai — Colleague Dong, Jiayu Shi and Jianwen Shen. The uncovered signs in Shanghai tell an extraordinary visual history. Over the past century, China’s language norms and writing patterns have undergone dramatic changes, and ghost signs become a microcosm of these changes: the rich, full-bodied signboards in traditional script often date back to the Republic or even late Qing Dynasty; the socialist slogans, in latinised pinyin or temporary extreme-simplified characters bear witness to the language and writing reforms after the founding of the People’s Republic; and the dedicated department stores with their former administrative division names and numbers are products of the planned economy in the 1950!60s.
Notes on Design
The book is in a small A6 format, echoing the grass root e"orts that made this visual preservation possible, the silence of the urban ruins in contrast to a grand narrative of city development. The translucent orange-red plastic sleeve, on the other hand, recalls the covers of dictionaries and colourful plastic notebooks common in the 1980s China. The lettering on the cover and chapter headings comes from the local type designer Eonway Ying. The character forms were inspired by his collection of hand-painted art lettering from the last century on advertisements and packaging.
This new exciting book includes more than 170 previously unseen ‘ghost signs’ (with English transcription) that have been fortunately captured by photography over the past six to seven years through the cracks of the rapid urban regeneration in Shanghai. It is produced by The Type and three local photographers who have been tracking the ghost signs throughout Shanghai — Colleague Dong, Jiayu Shi and Jianwen Shen. The uncovered signs in Shanghai tell an extraordinary visual history. Over the past century, China’s language norms and writing patterns have undergone dramatic changes, and ghost signs become a microcosm of these changes: the rich, full-bodied signboards in traditional script often date back to the Republic or even late Qing Dynasty; the socialist slogans, in latinised pinyin or temporary extreme-simplified characters bear witness to the language and writing reforms after the founding of the People’s Republic; and the dedicated department stores with their former administrative division names and numbers are products of the planned economy in the 1950!60s.
Notes on Design
The book is in a small A6 format, echoing the grass root e"orts that made this visual preservation possible, the silence of the urban ruins in contrast to a grand narrative of city development. The translucent orange-red plastic sleeve, on the other hand, recalls the covers of dictionaries and colourful plastic notebooks common in the 1980s China. The lettering on the cover and chapter headings comes from the local type designer Eonway Ying. The character forms were inspired by his collection of hand-painted art lettering from the last century on advertisements and packaging.
