Rue Lafayette (today Fuxing lu, 复兴路）was going through most of the French Concession. The Western part was a high class neighborhood dotted with upscale residences, as seen in movie “Love and duty“. The middle part was more urban and popular. This is where Lafayette Cinema was located.
Built in 1933 following a design from Laszlo Hudec, the Lafayette Cinema is a classic streamline design. It was build of steel and concrete, with a long horizontal front, contrasting with a vertical line that was also used as a beacon for the location. The style is very similar to Laszlo Hudec other streamline design cinema, the Grand Theater on people square, that also opened in 1933. The beacon was visible from far, attracting the attention of passer-bys.
Located on 323 Route Lafayette, the Lafayette Cinema was single screen, with 850 seats. As opposed to the Grand Theater which was one of the top movie houses in Shanghai, the Lafayette Cinema was catering for a more popular audience. It was a second-class theater that was showing movies a few weeks after premiering, for a cheaper price. It was very popular with a Chinese audience. The owner was Mateo Beharas, a French Jewish businessman from Marseille who was mostly known for importing Tissot watches in China. The family also owned the Zekiang Cinema (today Zhejiang Cinema), on 123 Zhejiang lu, that was also designed by Laszlo Hudec and built in 1930.
Lafayette Cinema façade in 2014
Having survived all those years, the Lafayette cinema saw a nice restauration of its façade in the 2000s. It even survived an exit of metro line 10 being built within the building. The building was then turned into a cultural center and the façade was quite similar to the original one.
Unfortunately, it has been renovated again recently and heritage protection was surely not on the scope of the new owner as shown on picture above. Hopefully not too much damage was done on the façade and the overlay can be removed later on.
It seems that historic official plaques are no protection against bad taste. This reminded me of another ruinovation a few months ago (See post Crime scene on Rue Henry).
The 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs is seen as the spring box of the Art Deco style, from which it spread all over the World. At that time, it was mostly called modern style and evolved in various sub-branch. One of the later one is called “streamline design” in English, or “Style paquebot” (i.e. sealiner style) in French. I recently got an opportunity to visit a very specific paquebot style building in Paris, thanks to Paris Art Deco Society.
Located at 1 Rue Jacques-Callot, in Saint-Germain des Prés, the Callot building was designed by Roger-Henry Expert and completed in 1933. In the same year, Roger-Henry Expert also designed the passenger deck of the SS Normandie steamship, an Art Deco showcase. The Callot building was originally housing the architecture department of the nearby “Ecole des beaux-arts”. It is now one of the campuses of the architecture school ENSA-Paris Malaquais, thus it was an architecture school since conception until today.
It was extremely avant-garde at the time, and probably influenced many of the architecture students who then helped spreading the style all over the World. The ground floor space is an exhibition hall. The best spot of the building is probably the 5th floor offers a fantastic view over many Paris historical buildings.
View from the top floor
The metal structure supporting the glass roof looks quite similar to the structure of the Normandy building over the 1st class deck. Both were designed by the same architect. Tiling similar to the SS Normandie tiling style can also be found in Shanghai, see post “Déjà vu from Paris to Shanghai“.
5th floor of Callot buildingNormandie steamship 1st class deck
Streamline design buildings were also built in Shanghai, the most visible being the former empire Mansion at the corner of Huai Hai lu / 淮海路 (the former Avenue Joffre) and Changshu Lu / 常熟路 (the former Route de Say-Zoong). Up the same street stands another steamship style building, not far from the former location of the “Jardin Français“. Another example was the Lafayette cinema that has recently disappeared (See post “Goodbye to Lafayette Cinema“).
Side of Empire MansionAnother beauty up the street
Long after the end of streamline design in the late 1940s, the style was still popular in Shanghai. Many buildings form 1990s Shanghai still show remains of streamline design, as shown in post “Frankenstein Art Deco“, where the link with the original Callot building is still clearly visible.
The ground floor of the Callot building has an newly refurbished exhibition space that would be just right for a Art Deco exhibition. Hopefully such exhibition will happen soon.
In the 1920s and 30s, the French economic presence in Shanghai was marked by a small group of large, influential companies. They made a major contribution to the development of the French Concession and supported France’s influence in China.
Messageries Maritimes: a vital link with France Founded in 1862, Messageries Maritimes played a key role in transporting goods and passengers between France, Indochina and China. Based on the Bund, it enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the transport of tea and silk to Europe. Great figures such as Étienne Sigaut and Jean Cochet have marked the history of this company, which has also experienced tragedies, such as the sinking of the Georges Philippar in 1932, in which the famous reporter Albert Londres perished. Messageries maritimes helped form the CMA-CGM group, France’s leading shipping company. (For more information on the MM, see post : “2 months in rationnaire”).
Compagnie Française de Tramways et d’Éclairage Électrique: Essential Infrastructure Created in 1906 with the support of the Banque de l’Indochine, this company managed the tramway network and electricity supply for the French Concession. It experienced tensions with local authorities, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, and had to deal with several strikes. Despite these challenges, it became one of the largest French industrial companies in the Far East. Listed on the Paris stock exchange and regarded as a “Père de famille” stock, it had to cease trading abruptly in the 1950s.
Banque de l’Indochine: a financial pillar in Shanghai Founded in 1875, Banque de l’Indochine quickly established itself as a major player in Shanghai’s commerce and finance. In 1898, it opened a branch in the Jardine Matheson building, offering financial services crucial to the opium, cotton and silk trades. In the 1930s, 93.5% of its profits in Shanghai came from foreign exchange and trading operations. Banque de l’Indochine merged with Banque de Suez to create Banque Indosuez.
The International Savings Society: A French success story in Shanghai Founded in 1912 by René Fano and Jean Beudin, this savings and lottery society expanded rapidly. By 1930, it had 130,000 subscribers and diversified into insurance through Assurance Franco-Asiatique. Personalities such as Étienne Sigaut and Michel Speelman were instrumental in the company’s growth. Faced with major difficulties, ISS disappeared in the 1950s.
The Gascogne apartments built by FONCIM
FONCIM: Shanghai’s architectural heritage A subsidiary of ISS, FONCIM left an indelible architectural mark on Shanghai. Drawing on the talents of renowned architects such as Léonard, Vesseyre and Laszlo Hudec, it contributed to the rapid urbanization of the French Concession, particularly after the 1917 expansion. Financed by ISS profits, FONCIM was one of the main landowners. FONCIM houses and apartments were often leased to other French companies to house their staff. One example is the CFTEE leasing houses from FONCIM.
The Bouvier Empire: a dominant figure in Shanghai Félix Bouvier, an accountant turned influential entrepreneur, left his mark on Shanghai with his investments in Grand Garage Français and Union Mobilière. He was most famous for creating the Champs de Course Français (also called “Le Canidrome”), a betting center for greyhound racing. Nicknamed “the uncrowned king of the French of Shanghai”, he had close ties with Du Yue Cheng, an influential and sulphureous figure in the Chinese business world.
Import-export companies: a flourishing trade Several French companies played a central role in the import-export of a variety of products: Olivier Chine was a major exporter of tea and silk. Racine & Cie, and Egal & Cie dominated the wine and food trade. In 1934, France exported 31,000 liters of champagne, 25,000 liters of bottled wine and 762,000 liters of bulk wine to Shanghai, illustrating the importance of this trade. For more information this topic, see article “French wines in Old Shanghai”.
The former Normandy building, now Wukang da lou / 武康大楼
What remains today? The Messageries Maritimes building still stands on the Bund. Streetcars disappeared from Shanghai in the 70s, but some trolley-bus lines still follow the same route. French companies, especially FONCIM, left their mark on Shanghai’s architecture. Most of the Art Deco buildings in the former French Concession are attributed to them, including Le Gascogne, the Normandie (now called WuKang Da Lou / 武康大楼) and the Cité Bourgogne.
Following the success of his TV series 繁花/Shanghai blossoms early 2024, Wong Kar-Wai’s movie “In the mood for love” or “花樣年華” as been re-released in China this February. 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of the movie, that is shown in restored director’s cut. This is a great opportunity for many young Chinese people to view this great movie.
The 2000 Cannes Festival Palme d’Or has not lost any of its beauty. The light and pictures are still incredibly beautiful. The tender play of actress Maggie Cheung (also staring in the movie about Ruan Lingyu “Center stage”) and actor Tony Leung is still touching the spectator.
Great lights and qipao
Set in Hong Kong in the 1960s, In the mood for love tells the story of an impossible love between both characters. Although filmed in Cantonese, the movies also includes Shanghai speaking sub characters, showing the extend of the Shanghai diaspora in Hong Kong at that time, in which director Wong Kar-Wai grew up. The movie is also famous for the 20 something qipao / 旗袍 also called Cheongsam / 长衫 in HongKong worn by Maggie Cheung. They were all made by an Old Shanghai master, underlining the link between the movie and Shanghai.
Last but not least, the amazing music from Japanese composer Shigeru Umebayashi stays with the viewer long after the end of the movie. In the mood for love is one of my favorite movie and does not seem to age even if I did not understand dialogs in Cantonese (subtitles are only in Chinese for this release in China).
Located in the heart of the Old city, walking distance from Yuyuan Garden and the City God temple, Xiaotaoyuan mosque / 小桃园清真寺 is the largest mosque in Shanghai.
Although a first building was erected in 1917, the current building dates from 1925. The date of 1343 is actually written over one of the entrances, equivalent islamic equivalent to year 1925 in christian calendar. The name of the mosque is written in both Chinese and Arabic at the front of the main building.
Outside façade
The building on the street is hidden by the trees of a park.
Façade of the main building
The main building actually reflects its time of construction. The façade shows similarities with the one of the Shanghai Club on the Bund that dates from 1911. This is particularly true for the columns at the entrance and the windows of the windows on the top of each side wings.
Floors of the buildings are nicely decorated in a way that is very similar to other Old Shanghai buildings from the same period. The prayer hall is very spacious, but does not offer much details in terms of decor.
The mosque has 4 towers and one minaret. They are only really visible from the neighboring foot bridge over the main roads. The women mosque is located a few meters away, a smaller pink building that was built in 1920.
Xiaotaoyuan mosque is located on 52 Xiaotiaoyuan lu, 52 小桃园路。It’s easy to access by subway, from Laoximen station.
In more than 20 years in Shanghai (and counting), I spent many years in the former French concession but one location in particular remains a clear favorite. This was on Route Kaufmann (today Anting lu / 安亭路), where I spent 10 years. Living at the back a small lane really felt like living in Old Shanghai, and many post of this blog were inspired by the area.
Named after a former Yunnan Postal Service officer who was killed during WW1, Route Kaufmann was a wealthy and eclectic area. It was also very international as confirmed by a friend whose Chinese professor in the US once lived on Route Kaufman before 1949. This was still a fantastic place to live around 2010, and it took a real effort to move out as explained in post “Leaving Route Kaufmann“.
Location of Route Kaufmann 1913 (red dot)
As shown as above map from 1913, this area was the countryside when the French Concession was officially extended in 1914. As Route Kaufmann is on the western side of the French Concession, it was probably divided in plots and occupied from the mid 1920s. This area of the French Concession was divided in blocks that were sold to developers.
French style house on 130 Route Kaufmann, designed by LVK
The FONCIM plot probably also included Route Cohen (Gao An Lu / 高安路), that runs parallel to Route Kaufmann on the Western side. The West side of Route Cohen also counts many buildings developed by FONCIM with design from LVK, mostly apartment buildings.
FONCIM buildings on Route Cohen, designed by LVK
On the East side of route Kaufmann, a large share was sold to Asia Realty Company (ARCO), an American real estate company that flourished in Shanghai at that time. The East side is also the location of the King’s Lynn Apartments where Chester Fritz and Bernardine Szold Fritz, lived for a while. The cadastre shows this plot as property of ARCO, although I have not seen ARCO sign like on Brooklyn Court, another ARCO property.
King’s Lynn apartments
On the East side, ARCO commissioned Hungarian architect Laszlo Hudec to create houses on the plot between Route Kaufmann and Route Dufour (today Wulumuqi Lu /乌鲁木齐南路）, with some on the Eastern side of Route Dufour.
Hudec buildings West of Route Dufour
The list of inhabitants of rue Kaufmann in 1933 shows that many people lived on 9 Rue Kaufmann, which is the above mentioned King’s Lynn apartment. Chester Fritz had already left the building on that year. The Lubeck family, of one of the director of the CFTEE, Carlos Lubeck is also mentioned at number 132. I was also told that Ma Ying-chi / 马英驰, the minister of Justice of Republican China lived in 130 at some point, but in 1933 this was the home of the reverend F. Rawlison.
There is a large gap between #4 and #126. Although the cadastre shows that the land between these number was already divided, many of the buildings on the streets were not built yet. For example, the large Art Deco House located on 46 Anting lu now part of the Anting Villa Hotel, was not built yet. Similarly, on the odd side, nothing much seem to exist besides #9.
Another missing part then was today’s Anting Lu 81, the lane were I used to live in. While living there, I realized that our small lane had its own name on French Concession maps. It was called Rue d’Adina, Route d’Adina, or sometimes “Route privée d’Adina”, Chinese name was 安地那路. This was very unusual for Shanghai street name, so I started to research it. This will be the topic of further posts.
During our latest trip to the beautiful island of Gulangyu / 鼓浪屿 also called Kulangsu, in Xiamen / 厦门, I realized that my first trip there was exactly 20 years before. Things have changed on the island, but I still love going there.
Old house on Gulangyu in 2005
My first ever trip to Gulangyu was in the first days of January 2005. It was part of group tour to Fujian, mostly focused on the World famous Tulou, aka Hakka buildings. Xiamen and Gulangyu were a side trip before taking the plane. I only spent a few hours there but got under the charm of the island and its old villas.
The beautiful house hosting Night Lilly B&B in 2007
The next trip took place in February 2007, way before mobile internet and AirBnb. I heard from friends of this charming place in the heights of Gulangyu. The Night Lily guest house is long gone, but it was really charming. There was no other hotels on the island, apart from the horrible state owned one. The house was really remote and difficult to find. GPS and mapping were not available yet so we navigated the small streets of Gulangyu with a paper map… and got lost many times. Shanghai was cold and grey, Gulangyu was sunny with 20 degrees… a real paradise of silence as we barely met any tourists on the island.
Unrenovated beautiful villa on Gulangyu in 2007
We went again to the island in February 2008. Night Lilly was closed, but some new home stay and guest house had opened. We stayed at the Art Deco Boat house. The weather was really cold and we spent a lot of time in a new cafe in the former German consulate. We also climbed the Sunlight Rock and took the (now gone) Gulangyu cable car.
Gulangyu cable car and Sunlight rock (2008)
2009 trip brought some news, a real modern hotel in an old Gulangyu villa. This trip was also the first post about Gulangyu on this blog, “The revival of Gulangyu“. Old houses started renovation, but many remained in their original state like the beautiful Huangjia garden, before becoming a luxury hotel.
Huangjia Garden before renovation (2009)
Following trip in 2012 was to attend Gulangyu International Piano festival. By this time, the island had already turned into a tourist attraction, but it still had its charm at night as described in post “Night on Gulangyu“.
It took us ten years to go back to Gulangyu. One of the first trip in early January 2023, we went right after the CoVid pandemic when travel became possible again. In the meantime, Gulangyu had become a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017 followed by a massive increase in tourism. Luckily, right after CoVid visitors were few. This time we stayed in a different part of the of the island, on the West side that was more local and industrial. It was also the first opportunity to view the inside of beautiful Huang Zhongxun estate, part of the Hui-Bon-Hua family in Saigon, that I came to see every year, now the National Record Museum as mentioned in post “Rain on Gulangyu“.
The Huang Zhongcun house on Gulangyu (2005)
The next trip in January 2024 was also the opportunity to find the former French Consulate in Amoy, that was located on Gulangyu. The history of the Consulate is described in details in post “French Consulate of Amoy“.
Former Amoy French Consulate on Gulangyu (2024)
In the most recent trip, in late December 2024, we stayed in a place overlooking the main beach, just below the Sunlight Rock. The mansion was built famous overseas Chinese merchant of Indonesia Guo Chuyang in the 1920s. Xiamen had a lot of connection with South-East Asia, as explained in post “Xiamen, the South-East Asia Connection”. Guo Chuyang was one of them.
The Guo Chuyang mansion (2024)
This trip was an opportunity to visit all the places that I love on Gulangyu. I also had the chance to visit the reopened Ba Guan Lou / 八卦楼, the largest mansion on the island that is also the organ museum.
There were a lot of visitors on Gulangyu as we landed on a Sunday, which was not so pleasant. Fortunately, by Monday most people were gone and the island was more tranquil. In 20 years of Gulangyu, the island has changed and has transformed into a tourist top spot. Best to visit it in the winter during a week day to get away from the crowd and enjoy its charm. And most importantly, stay overnight on the island.
As a lover of crime novels and Old Shanghai, new book “City of lost souls” by Martin Petersen just fits the bill perfectly.
1930s and 40s crime movies are often called “Film noir” (black movies in French). This comes from the original “Roman noir” (“black novel” in French), a particular type of crime novel also called hardboiled crime fiction. Characters of this kind of stories are often disappointed with life, having a cynical attitude. Besides classics like Raymond Chandler, the best modern author of the genre is probably James Elroy (See post “Perfidia” for more details). One of the best film noir is “Casablanca” with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman that is some clear parallels with Old Shanghai.
A number of authors have tried to recreate Old Shanghai in crime novels. Some of the best attempts at Shanghai noir so far were Tom Brady’s “The master of rain” and MJ Lee “Death in Shanghai“. French readers can also enjoy Bruno Birolli’s “Le music-hall des espions“. “City of lots souls” is a great new addition with many of the genre’s cliches including a private detective, a femme fatale, a mystery and gun fights. The story keeps the reader turning the pages and the book is highly entertaining.
Author Martin Petersen has long been studying Old Shanghai history, and it shows in the book. Events fit right, characters are realistic and the author includes many smell, taste and noise that make the book feels like real. The book includes a large number of secondary characters that really existed, including media man Carl Crow, French jesuit Robert Jacquinot de Besange and Du YueSheng that are well played. It also reflects rightly the feelings of foreigners living in Shanghai at that time, including the attitude to Chinese people and drinking habits. Sometimes description of buildings and places are a little too long, but never boring.
The real Robert Jacquinot de Besange
There are few mistakes in Shanghai geography, with distances being sometimes underestimated compared to reality. For example, it is clearly not possible to see the French Park from Black stone apartments as mentioned in the book. Another point is the New Asia hotel, being mentioned as the headquarters of the Japanese in 1932… when it was actually built in 1933 on the ruins of the attack. A final point is about the Canidrome, that was not build by Henry Morris. Although located on a part of the former Morris estate, it was built by a group of French investors and run by French man Felix Bouvier. Still the author knows Old Shanghai well and errors are only minors, mostly on the French side.
The plot is interesting without being too complex, while taking the readers to various places in the city and beyond. Martin Petersen definitely got some inspiration from one of my favorite book, “Foreign devils on the Silk road” by Peter Hopkirk. The story is built around historical facts and feels right. The action is well paced making it a real page turner after having understood the weird and sometimes annoying page ordering. As a collector of Old Shanghai items and lover of film noir I recommend this book. Hopefully there will be some more episodes.
