Some of Shanghai's communities had initiated a similar tour project, Ding says, but Caoyang is the only community that keeps the tradition and enriches it, thanks to its historical significance.

Caoyang New Village is well known in Shanghai as one of the first and most successful workers' settlements. It was constructed in 1951, two years after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

A large piece of deserted land in southeast Shanghai was turned into a community housing about 1,000 families. Each segment has living units divided over three floors, with a communal kitchen and bathroom area serving three dwelling units on each floor.

The community then expanded in the following decades to nine villages with about 20,000 households. It became the first community in Shanghai that opened up to the outside world, a window to showcase new China's achievements in improving the living conditions of workers, who used to live in thatched shacks or shabby dormitories.

"It was like a dream that workers can live in houses with kitchens and bathrooms. Moreover, we had facilities like schools, a hospital and post office, which made it like a modern community," Ding says.

The earliest blocks in the community were preserved for their historical value, while others were later demolished to make space for modern buildings.

Today, visitors can also have a glimpse of past glory by visiting the newly opened village history exhibition room, where old-fashioned radios, treadle-type sewing machines and other items hark to the 1960s and '70s.