When Wang Aijuan, 70, moved into her new apartment on Hongmei Road in the Minhang District three years ago, what she thought would be a joyous chapter in her life quickly turned sour.

Hongmei Road in the Minhang District [file photo]

The Hongchun residential complex she now calls home sits astride a street of restaurants and bars popularly known as Foreigners Street 101. The acoustics and revelries fill the evening and wee morning hours with endless cacophony.

"Incessant singing, dancing, clapping, trumpets and acoustic drums," Wang said, looking very stressed out. "They are so loud that I can't hear the sound of my television programs. Chinese people like a quiet environment, but they (expats) like to party into the night."

In hot weather, when the partying moves outside, Wang said she has to keep her windows closed, to get any peace of mind. Unlike most of her Chinese neighbors who are too reticent to complain, Wang voiced her grievances to her local neighborhood committee.

"The majority of residents living in buildings most affected by the noise have chosen to tolerate it in silence," said Gao Xueqin, secretary of the Hongchun neighborhood committee.

The noise pollution ratcheted up more than five years ago when Hongmei Street became one of Shanghai's most popular hangouts for foreigners, she added.

Many people living in Wang's community are farmers displaced by urban development. They are pretty good-natured and a bit shy about confronting foreigners, Gao said.

A resident surnamed Lu, who wouldn't give her full name, said, "I don't know how to talk to expats, and I am hesitant about speaking out because I know these restaurants have to make money."

Smoothing the troubled waters isn't easy. Gao has organized three meetings, bringing together representatives of the street's management company, restaurant and bar owners, and residents. As a result, the situation has improved slightly, with some party noise quelled before midnight, Gao said.