M:
In order to save space, some passages in Shikumen are designed to only build houses on the second and third floors, while leaving the first floor as a passage. This kind of passage is called a “guojielou”.

Mother & Daughter:
There were about a dozen houses in a lane, and the houses were all connected. We were most familiar with the neighbors who live in the same house with us. We were also familiar with the ones that lived in the back door of the opposite building…Generally, people get familiar with those who live close to them. We became familiar with each other because we cook in the public area, so we knew each other.

Sister & Brother:
People nowadays can't be said to be selfish, but now people are used to keeping the door closed. Even if they are neighbors who live at the opposite door, they won’t know the surname of one another. There may be some rare chances that they meet in the elevator, and they will ask one another where they live, but nothing else. Unlike before in a shikumen neighborhood, the neighbors were very aware of any relatives in your family. Everyone knew what happened, and there was no privacy, we just didn’t conceal each other.

Mother & Daughter:
Once, my mother's brother came, all my neighbors knew that. When he walked into the alley, they said, "Here comes your uncle." If the host did not have enough space for the guest to eat, he would be welcomed to borrow someone else's place. He would say, "There are guests coming today, and I would like to borrow the dinner table at your house for dinner." In the past during the planned economy period, when the guests came. If someone's house happened to run out of food, he would go to his neighbors to borrow some food. Sometimes the oil and salt are used up and you could also ask your neighbors to borrow them.

Mother & Daughter:
It could be described that neighbors are more like friends. With no privacy. Everybody could know what's going on. What impressed me most was that when I fell in love, and my home was too small with only a few square meters, so I went to the shikumen house where my relatives lived to date, and the neighbors live in the “tingzijian” called her children out to make sure my dating would not be disturbed. Everyone was very cooperative. As soon as I walked out, a group of kids followed me to see what was going on. No matter things happened to whose family, you would feel like the things were closely related to you.

Mother & Daughter:
Once, the girl lived upstairs broke up with her boyfriend and was so sad that she took medicine to commit suicide. Her sister came to call us, and we immediately took her to the hospital. Her family had all left for Xi 'an. So, we waited in the hospital until she woke up in the morning, and we brought her back to her brother. My brother was sick at home once when my parents were not at home, and the neighbors also took him to the hospital.

Mother & Daughter:
I just felt less lonely.

Mother & Daughter:
The interaction is what I miss most. When we moved out, the neighbors in the lane came to see us off all the way to our new house. Because we had lived together for decades, we built a connection tighter than relatives. My mother-in-law had lived in her lane for 40 or 50 years. When she was about to leave, there were tears in her eyes. Many people came to see her off and told her to take care. They knew they might not see her again.

F:
I didn't have any experience (with neighbors living in the same house) because our house was already merged into one family when we bought it. In my opinion, it’s not that people will naturally become close because they live in the same building as you may think. I once heard that a family wanted to refurbish the interior design, which can be even more disturbing and annoying in these kinds of old houses where walls generally are not sound-proof. People usually could talk this out. However, the middle-aged woman who lived in the same building was just fired, so she had to stay at home during the daytime. The noise was intolerable, she basically tried to block the door to prevent the construction team from getting.

M:At the very beginning, we did not get along well with the neighbors since people (living in one building) might argue for the best cooking spot in the kitchen. But now, we have already reached an agreement and we now help one another. For example, in the past, when I was still at work and my child went back home from school, the neighbors would prepare dinner for her.

F:
Think about this, you would argue with your parent during school break when living together with them. Now it is not even your parents who will live under the same roof and share the toilet and kitchen with you. Additionally, it is nowhere close to renting a house with others after graduation, since at the time, maybe it is your whole family that have to live in the narrow space with you in one room of a lilong house and share common space with others. There will surely be a lot of unpleasant moments.