Shanghailander

Shanghai coffee exhibition

Drinking coffee is an integral part of Shanghai culture. The Shanghai history museum recently hosted an exhibition about coffee and its history in the city. It closed on 1st March 2026.

Shanghainese people have been drinking coffee since the late 19th century. First only available in high end hotels and drunk by foreigners, it was adopted by many local people by the 1920s and 1930s. Cafe were plenty, some of them has survived through the ages like Deda Cafe. The first ones were owned by foreigners, soon joined by local competitions. The most famous company supplying coffee was CPC coffee.

CPC coffee, the main coffee brand in old Shanghai

From 1949, coffee became rarer to find until nearly disappearing. Coffee beans were reserved for a happy fews. In the late 1990s, the place to get a cup of coffee were still mostly foreign hotels, where it was really expensive. As western style café and restaurants opened again, coffee became more available and affordable. Nescafé also entered the market and it became a most take when travelling in China as it was sometimes hard to find out of cities.

The introduction of Starbucks chain in Shanghai in 2000 was really the renaissance of coffee in the city. When I came back to China in 2004, one of the top meeting place was the Starbucks store in Xin Tian Di (now closed). Although the franchise dominated the 2000’s, by 2015 it was being really challenged by competitors. Chinese brands such as Luckin or Manner popped out, as well as many smaller independent stores.

The coffee exhibition also displayed advertising for coffee brands from old Shanghai. This included the same “Max Well” branded menu from Royal Coffee shown in post “Shanghai Coffee Culture“. The 静安咖啡馆, Jing An Coffee shop was located on 1472 Bubbling well road, that is 1472 Nanjing Xi Lu / 南京西路 nowadays. It was the coffee shop of the CPC coffee brand. Office building United plaza is now on this location. This area of Jingan has many coffee stores, including some close to this original location.

Other brands of coffee were on display, like the above one.

The exhibition also included biscuit tins and ad for Culty Diary (bottom right), that I wrote about in post “Shanghai Milkman”. After the exhibition, it was the right time for a nice cup of coffee, with some biscuits.

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La juive de Shanghai

Although Marek Halter’s novel “La juive de Shanghai” (The jewish girl of Shanghai) has been published since 2002, I avoided reading it because of its original cover. The publisher’s choice of putting a Vietnamese lady in Ao dai over a book about jews in Shanghai was really weird, on the border of insulting. This shows a lack of understanding about Asia, which is regrettable for a book about Shanghai. The cover has now been changed.

Despite the title, only a small part of the book takes places in Shanghai. It tells the story of a Jewish lady from Warsaw, who is becoming the star of Berlin haute couture in the 1930s. As nazis extend their anti-semitic laws and actions, she must relocate back to Warsaw. The family later goes to Kaunas in Lithuenia in 1939, where the Japanese Consul gives them the visa to be able to leave. They take the train through USSR all the way to Japan, and finally take refuge in Shanghai.

Although the story of the 18.000 Central European jews who took refuge in Shanghai during WW2 was long time unknown, there are been a number of books and movies about topic. Most came to Shanghai on ships from Genova with Llyod Triestino, some being given a visa by Chinese Consul General in Vienna, Dr Feng Shan Ho / 何鳳山. A smaller number from Poland got a visa from Japanese Consul General in Kaunas Chiune Sugihara and went on the transsiberia train through USSR. After reaching Japan, many of them were transferred to Shanghai by the Japanese government.

Thanks to Marek Halter’s background, the book is fantastic at making us revive the atmosphere and the life of Jews in Germany and in Poland before WW2. It was a way for me to understand the background of Polish jewish lady Stéphanie Rosenthal before she went to live in France and then China in the early 20th century, with her Chinese husband. It also tells the story of people trying to leave Europe at any cost to save their live. The pace of the book is fast and easy to read, while historically correct. The parts before Shanghai are highly enjoyable.

The last part of the book is focused on describing the life of Jews in the Shanghai designated area, as defined by the Japanese occupation government. Actual historical facts are used, like the role of Victor Sassoon as well as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Company (JDC) and its managers Laura Margolis and Manny Siegel. The atmosphere seems right, thought the story is less active in this part and many themes mentioned remain underused. The includes the fights between Japanese collaborators and nationalists spies, as seen in 2007 movie “Lust Caution” and many Chinese movies and TV series.

There are also number of historical and cultural mistakes, making the story less believable. With a semi tropical climate, it is extremely rare to see “roofs covered with snow” in Shanghai, even in winter. This is meant to be Beijing. Similarly, the character cannot be eating “nems” in Shanghai, they are part of Vietnamese cuisine, not Chinese. This is a very common mistake by French people, who often eat Chinese food at restaurants actually run by Vietnamese.

The action is happening in the “Concession”, but which one? The International settlement or the French concession? The difference would impact the story heavily. Street names are mostly made up, when maps of Old Shanghai are widely available, and many other details are weird or wrong. A “Sassoon cigar company” that is mentioned never existed. One of the character takes refuge in Taipei on a flight that made no sense and did no exist in 1941. With some more historical research, this part would surely have been more believable.

All in all, this is a good book, but the title is somewhat misleading and the part happening in Shanghai does not feel as interesting as the rest. Other novels about the Shanghai jewish refugees have been published, such as French book “Shanghai la juive“. There are also many movies and biographies that tells this story in a more accurate way.

The book was published in French. Publisher’s website indicates an English version but I am not sure if it has been published yet.

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好东西 / Her story

I saw the movie 好东西 / Her story by random on an airplane. It’s only after watching it that I realised that director 邵艺辉 / Shao Yihui also made the movie 爱情神话 / “B for Busy” that I wrote about in 2022.

Both movies have a lot in common. They study the life of a few characters and their relationships over a short period of time. They are very intimate and make me feel like watching some French movies. Both movies are filmed around the streets of Shanghai former French concession. The city, its 1920s and 1930s buildings and its streets lined with pane trees are the main characters of the movies. Some of the indoor scene shows the details and charm of those old buildings, along with the (minor) drawback of living in those.

One of the main difference between both movies is the kind of people involved. B for busy’s characters were mostly talking in Shanghainese dialect, describing the live of a group of local Shanghainese people. This made it very popular in the city when it was out in 2022. Her story is about people who live in Shanghai but are not originally from the city.

Shanghai dialect is notoriously difficult to understand for non Shanghainese. Although they can grasp it after years living in the city, few non native speakers will ever master it. This is a real difference between local Shanghainese people and those that come to live in the city later in their live. when B for busy was the story of Shanghainese people, her story is the tale of non Shanghainese people who made the city their own. In real life, both worlds live next to each other and are intertwined, but they are still somewhat distant even today.

The director clearly is in love with Shanghai and its historical buildings. I was not surprised to find out that she actually lives in Shanghai, probably around those areas. I must admit that I spent a good part of the movie looking for clues about filming locations.

The main story is focused on a single mother and young singer that happen to become neighbours. They both live in the same old lane house and unexpectedly end up being good friend. The movie is the story of this friendship and of their privates lifes. It’s a light romantic comedy with a strong feministic focus. I found it really enjoyable to watch besides the Shanghai angle. Just like B for Busy, it’s great movie about life in Shanghai.

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1933 Michelin advertising car

Shanghai has constantly chased modernity. In Old Shanghai, inventions such as tramways, and electricity were introduced in their early days. This was also the case for automobiles. By the 1920s, Shanghai already had many cars and streets were often blocked by traffic jams. Along with cars came tires, as shown by the model of a car used for advertising Michelin tires in Shanghai.

The above car is part of a series of Michelin advertising cars models, distributed in France a few years ago. This model was used in Shanghai, in the early 1930s.

Michelin brand in Chinese in Old Shanghai was 咪吃兰胎 , which is different from Michelin modern Chinese translation, i.e. 米其林. The brand in Chinese is displayed at the front and the back on the roof. MICHELIN is displayed on both sides of the car.

The address for the advertising for Michelin’s tire demonstration is, “Rue Bourgeat”, “Corner of French Club”. This is located at the corner of Changle Lu 长乐路 / Rue Bourgeat and Maoming lu 茂名北路 / Route Cardinal Mercier. It is opposite the former Cercle sportif Français (today the Okura Garden Hotel) with Cathay mansions (Today Old Jinjiang hotel) on the opposite corner. The fourth corner is occupied by Lyceum Theater. In the early 30s. this was one of the main spot of the French concession.

The back of the model car with the advertising in Chinese characters is well reproduced, with characters easily readable (in traditionnal characters as they were used then). The meaning is the same as the English text including location near the French Club. The car had 2 license plates, one for the French Concession (that was also valid for the International Settlement) and one for the Chinese territory.

This car is a Morris Cowley Flatnose, produced between 1926 and 1931 at the Cowley plant of Morris Motors Limited near Oxford. The advertising support was probably added in Shanghai and removable.

Morris Motors cars were imported by Auto Palace Company Ltd. (利威汽车行, Liwei Automobile Co.) Auto Palace company was also the importer of Michelin tires, as show on above 1920 ad (Thanks to chinacarhistory.com). It makes sense that Auto Palace company used it’s own products for promotion.

The Michelin Supercomfort tires entered the market in France in 1932, so this adversitising car is probably from 1933. Moreover, French concession plates had 4 digits only in the 1920s, and 5 digits in the 1930. This car is plated 15552, so it’s clearly from the 1930s.

A friend forwarded the above ad for Yellow Taxicabs and Michelin Supercomfort. published in the China Press on 6th December 1933. The ad is explaining that thanks for the Michelin Supercomfort tires, Yellow Cab will have a smoother and more comfortable ride for the passengers. This looks very much like a cross advertising and must be from a similar time or later than the Michelin advertising car. This confirms the car is from 1933.

The level of details on this model is amazing. Some pictures must have been kept in the Michelin archives and used by the publisher for recreating the model series. No pictures of this vehicle are publicly available. In any case, this a really interesting piece of Old Shanghai and a great addition to my collection.

Below is a video IA created from a picture of the model picture, showing the car driving in old Shanghai.

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British Prime minister tasting 蝴蝶酥

On his January 2026 visit to China, British Prime minister Keir Starmer had a special taste of Old Shanghai. He had the opportunity to buy and taste the Shanghai pastry, butterfly cake or hudiesu / 蝴蝶酥.

Butterfly cakes have been around in Shanghai since the early 20th century, probably introduced by French bakers as they are directly related to French palmiers cakes. They survived through all the changes in China and are still a Shanghai delicacy, as shown in 2010 post “Tasting old Shanghai“.

Effort to promote Shanghai culture by local authorities have changed this local delicacy into a Shanghai icon. Tourists from all over China and the World are now tasting it while visiting Shanghai. With Keir Starmer visit, it gets new attention.

French luxury brand Longchamp has recently made a new special edition Shanghai edition of its pliage bag with a giant 蝴蝶酥 on it.

Another revisited symbol of Shanghai is the iconic former Normandy building by Laszlo Hudec, today name Wukangdalou / 武康大楼 where thousands of people get their photo taken nowadays. I used to live in this area 10 years ago and not many people paid attention then. It was recently the focus of a VR exhibition attracting many tourists (see post Normandy building VR exhibition) in the WuKang Lu tourist information center.

Taking pictures in front of the Normandy building

Both are items of western culture that have been appropriated by Shanghai. They both are true symbol of the mixed culture of the city, the Shanghai style or Haipai / 海派.

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Cité Bourgogne, Shanghai

As a long term Shanghai resident originally from Burgundy I have been asked and puzzled about Shanghai Cité Bourgogne. Here is the story of this icon of Old Shanghai.

Like many people, I first got to know about Cité Bourgogne when I walked the streets of Shanghai, specifically the corner of Shaanxi lu (Avenue du Roi Albert) and Jian Guo Lu (Route Frelupt). Although not far Avenue Joffre (today Huai Hai lu Zhong lu), the main road of the former French Concession, this area was considered out of the city center in the early 1930s.

Aerial view of central Shanghai in the 1930s

Shanghai is famous of its rows of back alleys lined by brick houses. These alleys are called “Lane” in English, “Li Long” 里弄 in Chinese and “Passage” in French. They form a maze of tranquility and coziness away from the noise and activity of Shanghai streets. Houses lining the alleys are mostly Shi Ku Men 石库门, named after the stone door frame closing the courtyard and facing the alley. Housing style evolved with time and wealth, from tiny houses to small mansions. As seen on above picture, most of old Shanghai used to be covered with lanes, the most common accommodation for Shanghainese in the 1930s, as shown on above picture. Cité Bourgogne is mostly noticeable because of its name.

Cité Bourgogne entrance on Shaanxi Nan Lu

If most Lilong had entrances marking the name of the `lilong in Chinese, this one is really special. Designed in Chinese revival style, it indicates the year of completion of Cité Bourgogne, 1930. Below it is the name “CITÉ BOURGOGNE” and the Chinese name 步高里 / Bù Gāo Lǐ. This is different from the original layout shown below, where only the Chinese name was written. The (fake) yellow stone and new indication was probably more recently, during a renovation. The good thing is that it attracts attention.

The lilong or lane in English has 78 houses, each of which were originally occupied by one family. As the house were quite large, it was clearly an upmarket residence. The houses were later subdivided and about 450 families now live in Cité Bourgogne. The location at the corner of Avenue du Roy Albert (today Shaanxi Nan lu / 陕西南路）and Route Frelupt (Jianguo Xi Lu / 建国西路) was on the edge of the urban area of the former French Concession, away from the city center. On the other side of Route Frelupt (Jianguo Xi Lu / 建国西路) was located the French shooting range, where Luwan stadium now stands. At that time, it was the South edge of the built area of the French Concession. A block further down was the Zhoajiabang creek, 肇嘉浜, the administrative border of the French Concession.

Cité Bourgogne Entrance on Jiang Guo Xi Lu

Cité Bourgogne was the property of real estate developper “Foncière et Immobilière de Chine” or FONCIM. This company was the real estate arm of ISS, an insurance company and one of the major French company in Shanghai then. It is mostly famous for its Art Deco building designed by LVK, including the Dauphiné, the Gascogne and many more. However, FONCIM also had a number of lilong including Cité Bourgogne, and 建业里 / Jian Ye Li that is now the Capella Hotel further on Jian Guo Xi Lu.

Although FONCIM used LVK for many of its buildings, it is not clear that they used them for Cité Bourgogne. It was clearly not the case for its other lilongs. Cité Bourgogne modern Shikumen style could fit LVK style, but the project is not mentioned in the 1934 14th July double page ad in Le Journal de Shanghai, showcasing the work of the firm over the period. I have seen secondary sources mentioning LVK as the designer, but no proof so far.

This lilong differs from many other with its archway towering the alleys, making is really memorable.

FONCIM had the habit of naming its buildings after French regions. Its buildings were named Le Béarn, le Dauphin´´e, Le Normandie, Le Picardie, Le Gascogne. Thus us is not surprising to have an another property called Cité Bourgogne.

I could not find a real link with the actual region of Bourgogne in France. nor with its wine that were sold in Shanghai at the time. However, since the name is so visible, people from Burgundy regularly ask about a possible link with the region. I even had the privilege to take the most famous Burgundy winemaker, Mr Aubert de Villaine, owner of the Word famous Romanée-Conti, for a tour to Cité Bourgogne. As a true Burgundian, I also made some research about Burgundy wines in Old Shanghai a few years ago, but not link came out between Cité Bourgogne and Bourgogne wine either.

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1925-2025 One hundred years of Art Deco

1925 was the year of the “exposition internationale des arts décoratifs”, showcasing the style that was later named as “Art Deco”. The exhibition lasted from 28th April 1925 until end October 1925. The 100 years anniversary is the opportunities for many events and exhibition to Art Deco all over the World.

The center of the action is obviously Paris, where many exhibitions and events take place. In October, the World Congress on Art Deco in Paris was organized by my friends at Paris Art Deco society. The main official exhibition is at Museum of decorative art in Paris. Named “1925-2025 One hundred years of Art Deco”, it is located in the same location that hosted the “Spirit of Bauhaus” exhibition in 2016-2017, an artistic movement closed related to Art Deco.

The exhibition mostly focuses on Art Deco for interior decoration, starting with posters of the 1925 exhibition.

Many items are shown including furniture, tapestry and glassware from the collections of the Museum.

A large part of the exhibition is focused the “French Embassy” project, that was showcased at the 1925 exhibition.

Dressing tables and fans like in below picture are also often in Shanghai Art Deco.

It also included printed textiles and a copy of the bear statue of François Pompon, a famous sculptor from Dijon.

The exhibition also includes clothings, somehow echoing the Resonance Art Deco Paris Shanghai 2024 exhibition.

This is a great exhibition for all Art Deco lovers. Parallels with Shanghai Art Deco are very visible during the visit. This a great window into a style that would soon spread to the rest of the World, and strongly influence Shanghai.

The exhibition will be shown until 26th April 2026. The same location also hosts an exhibition about the Orient Express train from the same period and style.

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Hungarian Architects in Shanghai

Having lived a number of years in Budapest before moving to Shanghai, I have always felt a special connection with the city. One of my interest in Old Shanghai has thus been Hungarian architects in Old Shanghai, in particular Lazlo Hudec.

A number of exhibition about Laszlo Hudec have taken place in Shanghai since the 2008 Year of Hudec in China that really helped rediscovering his heritage in Shanghai and then in Hungary. Laszlo Hudec story and work was totally unkown in Hungary when I lived there, but I have noticed more and more people in know about him nowadays.

Thanks to the continuous work of Virag Csejdy, founder of the Hudec Cultural foundation in Budapest (https://www.hudecproject.com ) and thanks the Hungarian-Chinese friendship association, a major exhibition about Hungarian architects in Shanghai is now taking place in Budapest. This will surely help to raise the profile of those Hungarian architects that found fame in Shanghai.

“Timeless Modernity — The Shanghai Legacy of Hungarian Architects” opened on 1st December 2025 and will last until 22nd January 2026. It focuses on the work and legacy of Laszlo Hudec but also Károly Gonda, Béla Mátrai & Rudolf Sömjén.

The exhibition is taking place in the China Cultural Center in Budapest:
Bosnyák utca 1
H-1149 Budapest

Unfortunately, I could not fit a trip to Budapest in my schedule during that time, but there are talks of taking the exhibition to Shanghai in 2026. I hope I will be able to see it then. In any case, this is a great excuse for a short stay in Budapest for old Shanghai lovers.

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Short visit in Swatow

Shantou / 汕头 in Guangdong province is famous for its food and seaside. It is also the location of Swatow former concession. This was the opportunity for a short trip.

Although located half way between 1842 original concessions of Hong Kong et and Xiamen, Swatow was only opened as a treaty port in 1860 with the treaty of Tianjin. British and American consulate opened on Mayu island of the cost in 1860. The British Consulate later moved to Queshi, on the other side of the river to Swatow city. The American Consulate moved to Kia Lat area, on Tai-Malo street (today 外马路) area. Other consulates opened in the same area including Japanese, German, Norwegian and French, along with a Astor House hotel. At the time, the road was close to the river, but land has been reclaimed here since and the area has changed a lot.

Large trading houses were located further West, around the most densely populated area. They included usuals Butterfield & Swire, and Jardine & Matheson as well as China Merchants. Banks such as HSBC and Bank of China were also located close to the keyside.

Although most of the sea side buildings have disappeared, the road going from the riverside inland has some interesting spots, starting with the Customs house on the riverside, that is now a museum. Hidden in the same area are the former customs quarter, but they are off limit for visitors. Further up is the Post Office that is still in use as its original function.

Going further up, one encounters the beautiful Art Deco Bank of Guangdong building built in 1935 by Guangzhou architect Yang Xizong 杨锡宗.

Further up is the beautiful guan yin miao 观音庙 temple and the old fire station with the hospital opposite to it (this is still the site of today’s Shantou hospital).

Further up on the road was the Consulate area. A French consulate official was dispatched in 1904 and the actual consulate opened in 1906. The building indicated on the 1924 map was built in 1923, located 11 Da Hua Road. Unfortunately, this building does not exist anymore.

Swatow did not have much trade with French companies, and France did not consider Swatow to be an important posting. Consular representative changed very frequently and often complained of the lack of activity. Looking into the foreign population of Swatow in 1933, I only found a few French people. Apart from PC Leblanc who was running the post office, and Jules Leurquin who was the French Consul, the only other French people were missionnaries.

This post focused on Tai-Malo street (today 外马路) were foreign consulates were located. Further posts will focus on Swatow old town and its beautiful architecture.

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