Šangaj

Šangaj (Cyrillic: Шангај) is a neighborhood and local community of Novi Sad, in Serbian province of Vojvodina. Šangaj is located in northeastern part of the city and it covering the area of 0.13 km².

Name and history

The old name of the area was Vrbak. The first house built in the neighborhood was snack bar named Šangaj, hence the name of the neighborhood. Name Šangaj itself is a Serbian name for Shanghai, the largest city of the People's Republic of China, thus the neighborhood have same name as this Chinese city. Between two World Wars, the name of the neighborhood was Brančićevo Naselje ("the Brančić settlement"), named after Brančić who was the owner of the Šangaj snack bar.

From 1980s, city's authorities try to relocate the neighborhood, due to high pollution of nearby oil refinery.

Devastated by NATO bombardment, during the Kosovo War of 1999, Šangaj was hit severely when oil refinery was bombed several times, causing severe pollution and widespread ecological damage (See: 1999 NATO bombing in Novi Sad).

Population

In mid-2005, neighborhood had 1,827 inhabitants, according to the estimation from city's registry. The majority of the population are ethnic Roma, while a smaller part of population are Serbs.

Location

Šangaj is located in northeastern part of urban Novi Sad, on the old road to Kać, which is closed since early 1990s. Šangaj is completelly surrounded by industrial zone, and it is next to the oil refinery of Naftna Industrija Srbije. Neighborhood is close to the river Danube.

Transportation

Šangaj has only one road from and to the neighborhood, from Kaćki most ("Kać bridge") over Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal. Neighborhood is connected to the rest of the city by only one bus line, No. 21, from Banatić neighborhood.