Shanghailander

Shanghailander on French TV

The blog Shanghailander.net was started a few years ago to tell stories about Old Shanghai to my friends in the city. It has now grown much further than this primary objective. There are about 800 people a month reading the blog online along with many others subscribing to the RSS feed. Foreigners who actually lived in Old Shanghai in the 1930’s wrote to me and I have even been involved in writing articles about the topic as well as becoming the tour designer for Shanghai Sideways.

The latest development has been TV programs. As many journalists came to cover the Shanghai EXPO 2010, they also were looking for other topics and point of view of the city. This lead to 3 French TV programs that were all recently broadcasted. The latest one was last Saturday on the main French TV station TF1. It’s a short program within the lunch time news showing a introduction to foreign style architecture in Shanghai. It can be viewed at: http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-we/le-pavillon-francais-vitrine-de-la-france-a-shanghai-5928495.html

The second one was a much longer 52 minutes report on EXPO 2010 and Shanghai history for ARTE TV, a French-German cultural channel. The section I took part of lasts for 10-15 mins and is focused again on Shanghai history and what remains of it today. It includes a number of footage in old Shanghai’s villas as well as an interview shot while driving my sidecar. It was broadcasted on French TV Channel arte last week, but will be shown again on 20th July at 5:00 am and on 31st July at 12:55 am. It can also be viewed at: http://videos.arte.tv/fr/videos/shanghai_dreams-3310384.html

The last one was a 52 minutes report broadcasted on French cable TV Telemaison. The 10 minutes part I appear in is also focused on Shanghai history, unfortunately it is not available on the internet. I only have it on DVD at home.
I have also been working on a series of documentaries about Shanghai history for Shanghai based channel Dragon TV, The film will be in Chinese which was a great challenge. It is still in production at the moment.

Old Shanghai tramways

As Shanghai grew as a metropolis, in the first half of the XXth century, transportation problems were are a serious issue, just as they are today. Although the city was not united but cut in three sections (the International Settlement, the French Concession and the Chinese City), investments were made for the city to develop. The first phases included actually paving the roads and building the dam to stabilize the Bund. As the city extended westward, much larger scale investments were required.

The fast growing city considered having tramway as early as 1898, but it is only in 1908 that the network actually opened. Three networks were created, ‘Shanghai Tramways’ run by the Shanghai Electric Construction Co Ltd in the International Settlements, ‘La Compagnie Francaise de Tramways et d’eclairage electrique de Changhai‘ in the French Concession and the ‘Chinese Tramways company’ in the Chinese city. Originally, the line were connecting, but not tracks were not crossing from one part to the other, so passengers crossing a border had to disembark and get into the car from the next company. This was changed later, see below). Just like today’s metro, Shanghai tramways were essential for the life of the city.

Map of the International Settlement tram network

– Down the Bund: The tram line was crossing the Suzhou river at the Garden Bridge (or Waibaidu Bridge) going all the way down the Bund down to the French Bund where it connected to the French Concession network. Not all lines were going the whole Bund down, but line number #2 from “Bubbling well road” (today Jing An Si), to ‘” “Marché de l’Est”, at the end of “Rue de la porte de l’Est”, today Dong Men lu.

tramways-001 — Nanking Road tramways – Line 2

– Nanking Road / Bubbling well (currently Nanjing Road East and West): Crossing the international settlement from East to West, the line went up to Jing An temple. As indicated on picture left, this was tramway line number 2. It had a very similar route to the today’s metro line #2 and part of Tramway line # 20

– Avenue Joffre (today Huai Hai lu): The main line of the French Concession was crossing the French Concession throughout the urban part all the way to the end of the concession near Xu Jia Hui. Going down avenue Joffre (today Huai Hai Lu), the route was going first going through the heart of the French Concession, turning left on Route Prospère Paris (today Tianping lu) through a less urbanised part built only in the 1930’s, finishing at Xu Jia Hui jesuit center.

There was also other lines going down Seymour Road / Avenue du Roy Albert (the current Shaanxi Bei lu and Shaanxi Nan lu. The same road is still followed by a trolleybus line.

Picture right is a Shanghai tramways ticket from Old Shanghai. Although it is difficult to date, it is clearly from the 1930s or before. The ticket shows 8 possible routes (a 1931 list shows 11 routes so it probably from the 1920s). This ticket was punched for route 5, “Railway station to West Gate Via Boundry, North Chekiang, Chekiang, Hoopeh and Rue Hue”.

Along with the tramways, the Shanghai Electric Construction Company also built a network of “Trackless trolleys” in the 1930s. Shanghai also had a competing bus network, green double-decker vehicles very similar to the ones used in Britain and in Hong Kong. They were operated by the China General Omnibus Company.

Shanghai tramways were stopped in the 70’s and the tracks removed but as seen above current lines often follow the same route as the old tramways.

More about tramways in other Chinese cities with this article from Paul French’s blog:
http://www.chinarhyming.com/2009/02/25/chinas-old-tram-systems-a-quick-round-up/

Shanghai – the movie

As old Shanghai is getting more and more popular, so do movies about the period. Following the steps of “Empire of the Sun“,” Tian Tang Kou” and “Lust caution“, this Hollywood old Shanghai movie comes with very high expectations. Recently presented at the Shanghai International Film festival, it is already shown in theaters in Shanghai but will only see its debut in America in September. Just like the Majestic theater was the perfect setting for viewing a 1930’s themed musical (see post about 42nd street), the best place to see the an Old Shanghai movie is surely the Grand Theater on People Square.

John Cusack plays an American agent posing as a pro-Nazis journalist coming from Berlin. He comes to Shanghai after the death of his best friend, killed in the Japanese controlled area. Reaching Shanghai just before Pearl Harbor and the invasion of the International Settlement by the Japanese troops, Cusack finds himself in a love triangle with Gong Li and her husband played by Cho Yung Fat. Chased by General Tanaka played by Ken Watanabe, they will go through all the trouble to find the murderer and help the resistance against the Japanese invader. The movies mixes a number of genres such as spy and gangster movie, romance and historical movie. Although not filmed in China but in Thailand, it captures perfectly the atmosphere of Shanghai. Quite a number of scenes are taken under a pouring rain that will be familiar to people actually living in the city. With its film noir atmosphere, it create a kind of wet version of Casablanca perfectly matching the dark image of the period. The Shanghai created in the movie is also pretty good from a visual and historical point of view. The scenarist and set makers have clearly make their homework and there is little in the movie that does not fit right in the look or the history books.

With my strong interest in Old Shanghai, I am surely not the best person to judge this movie independently. A few critics of the movie complained about the confused historical background. For me it was crystal clear, but I’m not sure how easy it is to understand with no prior knowledge about the topic. In any case, it is a great movie to watch, an achievement in term of picture and atmosphere and a true enjoyable time. You can see a trailer with the following link: Trailer

Shanghai, the movie is not the only large scale movie based on this period. “East Wind, Rain” also takes place in the same background, with spies acting betwen Kuomintang and the Japanese army. The 4 minutes long introduction session is superb, including the re-created dog race just like that one that existed in the French Concession on Rue Cardinal Mercier (Now Shaanxi lu, the building was used as a flower market until being teared down a few years ago). A lot of attention was given to make the movie look good, however the action is far to slow not making the movie really interesting beyond the pretty introductory scene. As a movie, Shanghai is just so much better.

Deda Cafe

After being badly damaged by transformation, the facade of 473 Nanjing Xi Lu found back some of its old grandeur when Deda restaurant took this spot. Although operating in this location since only 2007, Deda is a Shanghai landmark. Originally opened in 1897 on 177 Tang Gu Lu in Hongkou district, the restaurant has survived through all the turmoils of Shanghai history. The most well known one was surely the previous one on 359 SiChuan Bei lu, where the restaurant relocated in 1949.

The International Settlement and the French Concession had many restaurants, bakeries and coffee houses (See post ‘First Russian bakery and Tkachenko‘ ). Many of them were operated by foreigners, in particular Russians. As a matter of fact today’s Deda menu still has Borsch soup and potato salad coming with all set menus as well as a lot of deep fried dishes often found on the menu in Eastern Europe restaurants. The most amazing is not that the restaurant was opened such a long time ago, but that it has survived all the turmoils of Shanghai history since 1949. For generations of Shanghainese, Deda was a symbol of foreign culture and influence in the city. Although today’s menu does not compare with fancy new foreign restaurants, price is also much lower with lunch menus around 35 RMB.

Deda's first location — Deda’s first location

Today’s Deda main location on Nanjing Xi Lu is not an original old restaurant, but the renovation and design gives it a strong history feeling. Inspiration came more from early 1900 neo classic than 1930’s art deco but the whole atmosphere gets it right. Most patrons are Shanghainese regulars coming for nostalgia. Frozen through time Deda is like a re-interpretation of old Shanghai, on the Chinese side. There is a clear western influence but Chinese taste has also slipped through it, like the fried rice served with most dishes. The restaurant also includes a cake shop, another proof of survival of foreign cooking culture in Shanghai. The recipes have traveled through time, creating a mix of Central European sponge cakes and French tarts. Although quality is not on par with new stars of French patisserie like Paul price is also unbeatable with a slice of cake costing less than 5 RMB.

Seating in the coffee house by the window on Nanjing Xi Lu, I can also feel the vibrations of the metro line just below… just like similar vibrations of the tramway lines that used to run the same street in the 1930’s. Coffee drinking in Shanghai and coffee houses have a long tradition (see post ‘Shanghai Coffee Culture‘ on the topic) and sitting in Deda reminds me of coffee houses in Prague, Budapest or other cities in Central Europe. With its mix of Western influence and Shanghainese patrons Deda is just like a picture of Shanghai, a great mix of western and Chinese, modern and old at the same time, a true Shanghai institution.

Imagine Shanghai

My beloved city of Shanghai has seen many transformations in the last 30 years. Skyscrapers have been erected, taking the space once occupied by small brick houses. The city has moved from being a ghost of a distant past to the latest member of the brave new world of modernity. For a long time, the race was only toward the future forgetting the past whether near (like the Mao era) or far (like colonial Shanghai). Old Shanghai was seen as an exotic pursuit for a few foreigners (and some Chinese), as crazy nostalgic people of a distant era. The whole city and its past were just a shadow that would disappear at a fast pace, living space for the glorious future of better city, better life.

This time has also changed and along with the not always good renovation of the Bund buildings (see posts ‘dancing in the bank‘ and ‘the ruinovation of Plaza 353‘) came a new view of Shanghai history. This first took place in a form creating nice museums (see post about Shanghai history museum) and renovating of the old buildings, then integrating old Shanghai in advertising (such as the one for Bank of Communications) and creating new movies about the period creating a more vivid image of the period (see post about movie “Tian Tang Kou”). All those forms where somehow reserved for an artistic elite but the new image of Shanghai is now even in metro stations.

The brand new line 10 “Nanjing Dong Lu” metro station is the first decorated metro station of Shanghai. It is telling that this decoration is not about the brand new Lu Jia Zhui or about the expo…. but about old Shanghai. In the minds of people all over China, Nanjing Dong Lu (the old Nanking Road) was and still is the place to be in Shanghai. No true visit to the metropolis of the future could be complete in the past nor today without walking down Nanjing Road to the Bund. It is amazing to see the image of old Shanghai used as a public place decoration recalling an era that was best forgotten only a few years ago. Old Shanghai is becoming glamorous in the eyes of the Shanghainese themselves, this may be the best thing that could happen for the preservation of the last few bits remaining.

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Explore Shanghai in a sidecar: www.shanghaisideways.com

Brands of Old Shanghai

Shanghai has always been the city of trade. In the 20’s and 30’s it also became a massive manufacturing center, producing about 50% of the Chinese industrial output. In this modern city in contact with new products from abroad, entrepreneurial businessmen were starting fresh ideas and introducing new brands. Most of those brands disappeared after the take over by the communist party. As all factories became state owned and focused on industrial production, the very notion of brand was phased out. As consumerism has come back to China, new brands have been locally developed or introduced from abroad. The new fashion for Old Shanghai symbolism as high class and a sign of distinction has also seen the re-introduction of a few old brands. All of them do not play on the old Shanghai for their marketing, but some clearly do it successfully. This post shows a few examples:

Electrical appliances:
General Edisson (today’s GE) was already selling equipment in particular households back in Old Shanghai. The firm actually had at least 2 factories (one in today Nangpu district and the other near M50 on Mogashan lu). Although the GE brand for housedholds goods is not used in China, the GE brand and logo are quite a common sight.
Wasson Electric: This native Chinese brand was specialized in household goods. They are mostly known for their electrical fans that still can be found in antic shop. The brand has started to re-appear on electrical equipments in particular fans and electrical radiators. Wasson was quite a famous and high level brand in old Shanghai, but the new equipment marketed under this brand nowadays are mostly of low level.

Aquarius Tray — Old Aquarius waiter's tray

Drinks and mineral water: Coca Cola was already sold in Shanghai, bottled by the Watson Water company. Both brands are back in New Shanghai, though they are now competitors.

Another really interesting brand is Aquarius that was a brand of mineral water and soft drinks. The brand is now developed by DANONE who is revitalizing this classic brand of old Shanghai.

Cigarettes: One of the icon of China is surely the Double happiness that can be found everywhere. The original brand was developed by Nanyang brothers tobacco that used to have its headquarters and factory in Hong Kou district. The production was continued in Hong Kong by NanYang Tobacco after 1949 where it is still on sale. The current double happiness on sale in China is made by Shanghai cigarettes company.

Cosmetics and healthcare: Colgate was already one of the famous tooth paste brand in old Shanghai, now back again in China. One brand of cosmetics called ShanghaiVive is using the old Shanghai theme and claiming to exist since 1898. They show 1930’s time ads on their excellent website (www.shanghaivive.com.cn) that is themed after old Shanghai with a modern touch. Hopefully more brands will follow this wave.

Last seen in Shanghai

Crime novels are definitely one of my favorite literary genre, including classics as Raymond Chandler, moderns James Ellroy and contemporaries such as French author Ayerdhal. When the action takes place in a historical background, this is even more interesting. Favorites include include Boris Akunin’s “Erast Fandorin” series as well a Qiu Xiao Long “Inspector Chen” series (see link to post about “Red Mandarin dress“). It is of no surprise to the reader that my very preferred combination is a crime novel taking place in Old Shanghai. I have already written a post about “The Master of Rain” by Tom Brady. I recently found another one “Last seen in Shanghai”, by Howard Turk.

The story takes place in Shanghai in spring 1925, at the time of the May 30th incident, that saw a the British police firing on a crowd of Chinese demonstrator at the Louza station in the International Settlement (see the following link to Wikipedia’s article about May 30th movement). Since this period of time was crucial for China, it creates an excellent background for the story and the introductory scene. The main plot is focused on the murder of prime Chinese businessman Yang researched by Jake Greenberg, his old business partner. Running a casino, has an unclear past that will be revealed throughout the book (this is somewhat similar to Casablanca’s Rick). He is helped by his girlfriend Claire Turner, a reporter at the most important English newspaper in the city whose niece Jane has also been killed with Yang.

The story is quite interesting, bringing surprises along the way as well as meetings with a few famous people such as (then) undercover Shanghai communist leader Zhou En Lai. The author clearly knows about China history and integrates it into his writings. The interactions between several factions at play in China at that time are well described. The main character is an old China hand (a bit of a shadier version of Carl Crow), with quite a different attitude toward China from the main character of the “Master of Rain” and the whole foreigners-Chinese relationship is an important part of the story. The character of Claire Turner is surely inspired by Emily Hahn and other female journalists of the time. The plot is good and some of the characters have the right kind of background and behavior.

Unfortunately, the research about Shanghai itself is much thiner. It is disappointing to see that a number of historical details about the city are wrong, or just invented when they actually existed. Although right in the big picture, streetnames, locations and characters often lack precision when they claim for historical accuracy. It definitely feels like the author did not study much abouth old Shanghai itself apart from a few guidelines. Similarly, the use of some Cantonese worlds… where they should be Chinese, or even better Shanghainese does not help to make the story believable.

More importantly, the reader often feels like seeing the story from the outside, while never really being involved in it. The lack of description and scenery does not help either to become part of the story, particularly when the actual background is right the reader’s doorstep. Characters often lack depth and the pace of the book is not always well balance.Action scenes do not always feel real and atmospheric scene definitely lack depth and reality to them.

All in all, “Last Seen in Shanghai” is not bad to read but it is not the page turner that it could have been and definitely lacks depth in historical research. Although the book was published a few years ago, it does not seem to have attracted much publicity.

Laszlo Hudec’s old house

A great post about Laszlo Hudec old house on Comlubia Road (Today’s Fanyu Lu), by a great specialist of old Shanghai, Paul French.

http://www.chinarhyming.com/2010/05/17/some-posts-on-columbia-road-columbia-circle-and-amherst-road-i-hudecs-house/

Farewell to Shanghai General Hospital

As foreigners created a living space in Shanghai from the 19th century, they introduced various services to support life in the new city. I mentioned schools with the College Municipal Francais and postal services in previous posts. Hospital was another of the public services that were created.

The first foreign hospital in Shanghai was the Shanghai General hospital opened in 1864 on the Quai de France, or French Bund, at the corner of Rue Colbert (See post “Rue Colbert” for more on this street). This building was a few steps away from the new French Consulate building also located on the Quai de France (See post “Former French Consulate” ). The hospital was staffed with nurses from Les filles de la Charite de Saint Vincent de Paul, a French Catholics order.

The original Shanghai General Hospital on the French Bund

According to “Histoire de la concession Française” by Maybon & Fredet, the ground rental was stopped in 1875, and the hospital had to move. It was then decided to build a new one. The hospital needed a large area for a reasonable price and ground price in central Shanghai was already very high. After much debate, a plot was chosen on the North side of the Suzhou River in the International Settlement. “At that time, it was nearly still the countryside. Few people lived there as it was away from the Shanghai city itself.” Like for the General Post Office next from the new location, the choice was difficult and it took a long time to decide as the move would add 10 to 20 minutes of transportation in case of emergency. It is very amusing to notice that the same area is now considered very central and desirable.

View of Shanghai General Hospital in the 1920s

The hospital building was of Colonial British Style, that as now mostly disappeared in Shanghai. As the city developed more capacity and space was needed and more buildings were added on the same plot, a red brick building on the right and a neoclassical building on the left. The left one is probably from the 1910s as it looks similar to other buildings from this time. The right one is probably from the late 1920s or early 1930s looking at its architecture. Above picture shows that the garden on the Suzhou creek side was already well maintained, long before the recent recreation of the Suzhou Creek promenade.

In the 1930’s the nurses were replaces by another Catholics order, the “Institut des soeurs Franciscaines”. The picture right shows an operation theater staffed with nurses from this order. The Shanghai General Hospital was still one of the main hospital in the International Settlement, along with “Hopital Sainte Marie” (today’s Ruijin Hospital), the German hospital (today’s HuaShan hospital), Lester Hospital on Shandong lu and Shanghai Country hospital (today Huadong hospital).

As for many historical buildings in Shanghai there was little maintenance over time. The original middle building was replaced by a concrete cube probably in the 1970s. Both side buildings got added floors and transformation to gain space. The left building can be seen on the righ side of left picture. It suffered the most. The right building was kept in better outside shape. Both did not escape destruction in April 2010, just before the Shanghai Expo opening. Only a small red brick building on the right has been kept, being the last remaining part of the former Shanghai General hospital. It was the former morgue of the hospital.

August 2018: A new building has been built on this location and just opened as the Bellagio hotel. The fake Art Deco style is supposed to match the location’s history but has none of the grandeur of the original. The remaining building has been renovated and is mentionned as the former Shanghai General Hospital.

Shanghai Coffee Culture

Having lived a number of years in Central Europe, I developed an acquired taste for coffee houses. Long gloomy winters make them the ideal place to spend a nice afternoon in Budapest, Prague, Vienna and many other cities. They are the place to meet friends and chat for hours. Coming to Shanghai in 2004, a nice coffee house is what I missed the most. My first coffee place was Starbucks in Xin Tian Di, which was one of the few available then. Other coffee chains had not yet entered the market and there was little alternatives apart from hotels. The opening of Vienna Cafe in late 2004 was just what the doctor ordered. This Viennese coffee house was just like a smaller version of the Budapest coffee houses that I used to go to, making me feel instantly familiar and in love with this place. 5 years later, it is still one of my favorite coffee place in Shanghai (update 2023: Vienna Café closed around 2016 has sadly never been replaced).

Old Shanghai had numerous cafes and coffee houses. Many of them where located on or near Avenue Joffre (today Huaihai Lu), operated by French or Russian immigrants, often coupled with bakeries. One of the well known place for coffee was the Bianchi Store (See post Bianchi Pastry and Chocolate for more info). About the only surviving coffee house of old Shanghai is Deda Cafe.

Coffee drinking was brought by foreigners and started to become a symbol of fashion and modernity among Shanghainese. Just like in Europe with Parisian writers meeting and working in cafes, the new groups of Shanghai writers would meet in coffee houses to live the Bohemian live of artists. Cafes were much warmer than the small tinzidians during the arch winters and groups of friends would just make the coffee last long hours to save money.

I really became interested in Shanghai coffee houses when I found the document on the left side in an flee market. This is a advertising for the Royal Cafe, that was probably standing on the tables just like in many Shanghai cafes today. Maxwell Coffee was already very famous in the USA and made it to Shanghai from America. The most interesting is the name of the coffee house in Chinese: Jing An Coffee house. Like there are many modern coffee houses in Shanghai located around JingAn Temple, there must have been a few of them in old Shanghai, probably on Bubbling Well Road (today Nanjing Xi Lu) or the surrounding streets. I have searched for the precise location of the Royal Cafe in old directories, but could not find it. The ad is both in Chinese and in English, so I guess this coffee house was mostly frequented by Chinese people.

In 1938 Shanghai had 60 foreign cafes listed in the phone book. 9 companies were importing coffee including German trading firm Melchers and 11 companies where selling coffee in retail including Lane Crawford on Nanking Road (today Nanjing Dong Lu). Our friends at Mobfa wrote a great article about the biggest local coffee brand in Old Shanghai.

Coffee was also imported in large quantity. “The trade of China” 1934 shows that 186,095 Gold Units of Coffee was imported to China in 1933, and 170978 in 1934. Nearly 40% was imported from America and I guess a lot of if was Maxwell coffee that is advertised above. About 20% came form “Netherlands India” i.e. today’s Indonesia, being the famous Java Coffee. About 8% from “Straits Settlements” i.e. Malaysia where the tradition of white coffee drinking is still very strong.

Just like today, coffee drinking was the symbol of western habits and of modernity. Starbucks and the coffee chains of today found the right location to start operations here. No wonder Shanghainese took coffee and coffee house by storm… they already had experienced it in Old Shanghai.

Update 2023: Independant coffee shop have sprung all over Shanghai in the last few years. It’s a long was from the time when long gone Boona coffee was about the only one in town. One of my favorite in Shanghailander coffee store. Nothing to do with this blog but nice owner, great coffee and a love for Old Shanghai.