Where have all the beautiful memories gone

In days when brand new high-speed trains have stopped hitting headlines and newsmakers like media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and British politicians have become "news breakers", thanks to the phone-hacking scandal, the closure of a small opera house in Shanghai is not even a storm in teacup. But for Shanghai residents, it is a typhoon.

Yalu Shuchang, a 91-year-old theater, known for Suzhou pingtan (an art form in which one or two actors sing and tell stories with simple musical instruments), will be closed later this summer because the community where it stands will be shifted. Local media reports say it is the last professional pingtan opera house in downtown Shanghai.

Pingtan, with its tender singing and interesting storytelling style, used to be the second biggest source of entertainment in Shanghai. In the 1940s and 1950s, Shanghai was home to 600 professional pingtan houses. I still remember that when I was a child, my grandma used to take me to a nearby pingtan house almost every weekend. Like going to church, it was a routine for many Shanghai residents.