gentrify

中国本土には３年前に黄龍、九寨溝のある四川省に行ったことがあるだけで北京、上海にもまだ行ったことはありません。　THE NIKKEI WEEKLY, July 19, 2010 にTrendy Shanghai spot exposes gap between rich, poor と題された記事がありました。　その中に憶えたい単語があったのでその個所を引用します。
It has been over two months since Expo 2010 Shanghai China began. The changing face of Shanghai behind the scenes of the world's largest exposition is also the future face of China. One neighborhood in particular, rapidly gentrifying. Tianzifang, is a good example of the tensions confronting Chinese society.
"gentrifying" が分からないので辞書で "gentrify" を調べます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: renovate so as to make it conform to middle-class aspirations ("Gentrify a row of old houses")
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: to change a place from being a poor area to a richer one, by people of a higher social class moving to live there; The area where I grew up has been all modernized and gentrified, and has lost all its old character.
便利な単語ですね。　万博が開かれている間に上海に行って見たいとは思いますが多分都合は付きそうもありません。