Built by French businessmen during the 1930s, Cité Bourgogne is a new-style shikumen neighborhood, a design popularized in the early 1900s as the demand for housing exploded. One of the things about new-style shikumen is that they had smaller living spaces, which forces people out into the lanes to socialize, cook, read newspapers, exercise and nap. It’s dense. As of 2019, about 450 families live in the lane. It's one of the better places in town to get a sense for what old lane life was like.