End the tale of two cities

Although the movie Slumdog Millionaire has snatched eight Academy Awards for the Indian city of Mumbai, Shanghai clearly does not want its slums to be known by the rest of the world, at least not for too long. That's why the city's Party secretary Yu Zhengsheng has paid many visits to the areas since he took office 16 months ago, trying to find solutions to wipe them off the city's landscape.

Yu has been appalled by the poor living conditions he found in crumbling houses in such a modern international city, known for the country's tallest buildings and the fastest Maglev in the world.

During a visit to an old town area in Zhabei district last week, he said Shanghai should not have mansions and high-rise buildings on one side but dilapidated houses and shanties on the other. On another trip, he had even used words like "complete darkness" to describe the life of people living in shacks.