Are hutongs really all that bad there? When I was in Beijing, they were nice areas typically, albeit they smelled worse because of things like drainage not running as low, but overall it didn't seem terrible and many of them were pretty big areas for local business.

I ask because I always thought Shanghai was more developed pretty much everywhere in comparison to Beijing. I mean, I'm sure the actual commie-blocks were the same (I visited one that was actual nearer to the center of the city and it was ridiculously run-down) but hutongs often consist of people living in houses their grandparents' grandparents once lived in, so they're usually reasonably well kept.