|
Home>News Center>Life | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Noise has bars over a barrel Maoming Nanlu, one of Shanghai's best-known bar streets, has suddenly gone quiet. "The music is hard to hear, the bars are almost empty now. What's the matter - isn't this a bar street?" asked a foreign visitor.
Maoming Nanlu, just like any other "booming" bar street in the city, used to be full of people and very noisy around midnight. But since May 25, when the local district government launched a noise control inspection along the bar street, it began its new life as a quiet - or at least quieter - street. "After the inspection, the number of customers decreased by 80 to 90 per cent in less than one month," said a bar owner named Hui (not his real name). "There have been far fewer people around here recently" said a cigarette vendor on the street. "Business has been slow". However, one regular patron of the bars along the street didn't seem too worried and said "It's just a phase - the authorities had a similar clamp-down four years ago." Irritating noise Maoming Nanlu has a plaza to the west and Ruijin Hotel to the east and several residential houses at the corner of Yongjia Lu. There are not many residential communities nearby. The noise control inspection arose from a complaint from a resident living at the intersection of Yongjia Lu and Maoming Nanlu, according to a report published in The Bund. "Actually, we received several complaints before about the noise in Maoming Nanlu, some from residents and some from guests in the No.3 building of Ruijin Hotel," said an official with the Luwan District Environmental Protection Bureau who was unwilling to give his name. "During the first round of inspections, more than 10 of the bars were found to be producing excessive levels of noise at night," he said. One bar had a reading of over 80 decibels of noise and others were more than 70 decibels, he said. The noise level was higher than that found in the more busy areas of the city, such as Xujiahui and People's Square. According to the regulations, Maoming Nanlu - which is listed as a second-class area housing residential, industrial and retail buildings - is not allowed to have sound levels above 50 decibels after 10:00pm. During daylight hours, the limit is 60 decibels. So, on May 25, the district government, called in the police, the industrial and commercial administrative bureau and the environmental protection bureau and sent city environment supervisors to check noise levels along Maoming Nanlu. Every night, there were some 20 officials working and walking along the street. "We just carried out the action in accordance with the regulations. Anyone breaking the regulations will be fined or even stopped from doing business," the official said. "After a month-long inspection, all the bars now conform to the regulations." Moaning business "There is an old saying: 'You cured the crookback but also killed the crookback'," said an official named Ting (not his real name) with the Shanghai Culture Plaza Company which leases premises in the street to bar owners. He has worked for the company for eight years and has a complete picture of the development of Maoming Nanlu as a bar street. The street not only attracts rowdy party crowds but also draws in hundreds of taxis honking their horns at 4:00am or 5:00am trying to pick up passengers. "Before the inspections, I could make 20,000 to 30,000 yuan (US$2,420 to US$3,630) every night, but now ..." Hui sighed. He said on that day he had made only 30 yuan (US$3.60). A passer-by had come in to buy a bottle of mineral water because she was thirsty. "The business is even worse than it was in the SARS period." Hui had two bars in the street. He closed one and has kept the other going. Ting said: "Unlike Xintiandi, Maoming Nanlu is run by individual investors without government support. The bar street was born after years of competition in the market." According to Ting, there are three kinds of bars along Maoming Nanlu: bars without music; bars licensed to play music; and, bars with a live band. "It is impossible to keep sound levels at less than 50 decibels at night," Hui said. Some bar owners once made a noise test of their own - they said they stood at the doors of their bars and talked loudly into a mobile phone. The resulting decibel level also surpassed the standard. "It's not only the bars making noise, but the taxis, pedestrians and retailers," he said. Hui was fined 28,000 yuan (US$3,386) during the inspection period along with five other bars. He also removed the sound system in his bar at the direction of the inspectors. Now he has connected two small speakers taken from a computer. "The music is too low to be heard on rainy days," he said. "Bars not only sell drinks, they also sell the environment. Without music, bars cannot exist any longer." Another bar owner (also unwilling to give his name) said: "I think the bar business is a normal business and we pay millions of yuan in tax every year. The bar business here also provides jobs for over 500 people. "Though the operation of the business has some negative effects such as drugs, fighting and noise, the whole situation is healthy and suits a city like Shanghai." He suggested that the best way to correct the problem was not to ban music, but to direct bars to take remedial action themselves. And some bars have already taken steps to control noise levels. The Chicago Bar installed double-layered toughened glass in all its windows. Another bar at No.170 Maoming Nanlu hired a Beijing sound control company to install double glazing. "We are willing to take any remedial action and we don't want to touch anyone
else's cheese," he said. "We just hope our business will run as smoothly as
ever."
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
