Behind the modern skyscrapers of Shanghai, a significant link to the Chinese city’s pre-colonial urban heritage has survived in the Laoximen neighbourhood. Once the location of the west gate of the former walled city, the area’s history dates back 500 years and is home to some of the last examples of colonial buildings from Shanghai’s first time as an exclusive foreign trade port. Redevelopment has steadily chipped away at Laoximen, with the latest plan poised to erase the northern part of the…