51 stalls

"51 Stalls" (51 Tan) is an ongoing documentation project. As one of the participants in the 51 People Project at the 11th Shanghai Biennale (2016-17), the artist used quick sketches to depict street vendors from her perspective as a customer or passerby, observing their stall layouts, structural logic, materials, spatial strategies, and street conversations—all intricate and full of human interest. By the time of publication, many of the vendors featured in the book were no longer to be found. Vendors built their businesses on fleeting trust with moving crowds, yet they became the easiest and most apparent targets for urban governance.

In 2021, when the first edition sold out and a reprint was being planned, 51 People invited the artist to add four stalls from post-pandemic Shanghai streets and two "gleanings" that were not included in 2016, totaling 45 entries. Animesh Narain, an Indian friend of 51 People who has lived in Shanghai for many years, was asked to re-translate the text within the drawings into English. This aims to bring the stories of these local streets to a wider audience in another language—the scenes and characters that appear and disappear on Shanghai's streets have broad significance in the contemporary Global South.