ParqueShanghai

Image description: This is a photograph of an amusement park at night. In the foreground, we see a large Ferris wheel in motion, with brightly glowing colored lights. On the left, there are dense green trees. In the background, we see a historic building with two tall towers and a sloped roof, possibly a church or religious building. The lighting is soft, suggesting the photo was taken at dusk.

Anyone who was a child in the Rio suburbs in the 1980s certainly experienced the joy of combined visits to the Penha Church, with its never-ending staircase, and to the rides at Shanghai, set up right next door, one of Rio's most traditional amusement parks. This pairing of faith and childhood fun, however, was not always at the heart of Shanghai's identity, since the park inhabited several other spots around the city — and, some say, even around the country — before finally settling in Penha. The first of these, for instance, is said to have been the land where the Santos Dumont airport was later built. After that, it is also said to have passed through the Campo de São Cristóvão area.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of a park. On the left side, there is a circular structure with a dome, possibly a carousel. People are scattered around, some walking and others gathering near the carousel. Looking toward the right, we see tall, spread-out trees forming a green area. In the background, there is a road with some vehicles and more people walking. Further back, there is an elevated structure, possibly a fortress or historic building. The image is signed "CASCADURA" in the lower left corner.

Parque Shanghai still exists today, and people even say it has gained new life in recent years, with the calmer atmosphere made possible by the pacification process experienced by the surrounding communities. A fragile peace, we know, one that has already begun to cool again. Either way, the image of the lively dragon, the park's mascot, still gleams in the everyday life of the region known as the "suburb of Leopoldina." And if Shanghai is included in this gallery of disappearances, it is only as a pretext for us to turn our eyes toward it once more, and toward its cheerful invitation to relive what Sundays used to be like in the past.