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Laoximen is a neighbourhood with days counted, charming, exotic in the foreign eye, warm, and full of life. Still, at the same time, quite peaceful, Laoximen is one of the oldest areas of Shanghai and preserves the old way of living, given by the buildings, the street life, and their residents, many of them elders. In Shanghai, probably in China, it is a privilege to see the neighbourhood where one grew up still stand. It's because of the fast and constant change in cities. The local government pressures and makes tempting offers to buy each owner's house and even publishes the amount of money lost for not accepting that money and reinvesting. Still, many Chinese give a lot of importance to the place that often belonged to their ancestors, so sometimes it is possible to see one owner resisting there, in a demolished area, waiting to be bought and put down. At Laoximen, residents also oppose these offers from the local government, because their living style would be impossible in an apartment building or a villa in the suburbs. They seem to understand that urban development determines the way of life they can achieve.