Shanghailander

How did “Love and Duty”come to Uruguay?

I have been researching the story of the book and movie “Love and duty” / 恋爱与义务 since more than 3 years. This movie was lost in the 1930s and found again in Uruguay in the 1990s. How did this happen?

The movie “Love and duty” was out in 1932, a few years after the book publication in 1924. Like the book, the movie was a great success. The story of the fight between tradition and modernity, as well as the melodramatic theme of the movie attracted the public attention. At the same time, the amazing performance of leading actress Ruan Lingyu helped to turn the movie into a block buster.

As a silent movie, it contained some written dialogues both in Chinese and in English, showing an interest for non Chinese audiences and export outside of China. The Lianhua movie company was registered in Hong Kong and Malaysia-Singapore was an easy target for export. Although I did not find proofs that “Love and Duty” was shown there, it is highly plausible as Chinese was spoken by many people and the link between mainland China and South-East China has long been very strong.(see post “Xiamen, the South East Asia connection”). The movie was shown at the Sino-International Library in Geneva. It is possible that it was also shown in other places in Europe or the USA, but no trace of this has been found either. So how did a copy end up in Uruguay?

Intertitle of the movie love and duty in Chinese and English

Physical films used in the 1920s to make movies were very fragile and many movies were lost during this period. Using highly flammable nitrate-based material, the movie sometimes burned down during processing or projection. The actual film could also lose its images when not properly stored. It is estimated that 75% of all silent movies were lost. Love and Duty was lost, no copy of the movie was known to have survived.

This all changed when a nearly full copy of the movie was found in 1993, in Montevideo in Uruguay. This small country of South America, crushed between Brazil and Argentina, was the probably the least predictable place where to find a lost Chinese movie from half of a century ago.

The main character of this story is another Chinese who spent time in France is the early 1900. Born in 1871, Li Shizeng / 李石曾 was an educator and a politician. He moved to France in 1902 to study French intensely before studying in 1903, at agricultural school Ecole Pratique d’Agriculture du Chesnoy, south from Paris. After graduation three years later (1906), he went to study botanics at Sorbonne University. He focused the properties of soy, probably in the same track followed by Stephanie Rosen-Hoa (see post “Stephanie Rosen-Hoa at Sorbonne University” for more details).

Li Shizeng also took part of the publication of a magazine in Chinese and esperanto, like Hau Nan Gui and Stephanie Rosen-Hoa. As Chinese students in Paris were few, it is highly probable that he was friend with them during Sorbonne time, as they shared a passion for changing Chinese society and politics as well as for esperanto.

He created a soy processing and tofu factory in La Garenne-Colombes, in Paris suburb, in 1908. Called “Usine de la Caseo-Sojaïne), it was visited by Sun Yat Sen in 1909. Li Shizeng came back to China in 1911, before the revolution. He and initiated the work-study program along with Cai Yuan Pei and returned to France in 1913 to organise it from Montargy. This program would later enrol many high profile Chinese youth, including Deng Xiaoping and Zhu Enlai.

Li Shizeng returned to China in 1919 to teach at Peking University and at the Sino-French University, the sister institution of Institut Franco-Chinois in Lyon. As a French and esperanto speaker in education circle, he was surely in touch with Hua Nan Gui and Stephanie Rosen-Hoa, forming part of their litterary circle, along with Cai Yuan Pei. (see post Horose litterary circle for more information). In 1924, he was appointed manager of the Palace Musuem in Beijing, the former emperor’s forbidden city.

One of the main figure of education in China, Li Shizeng also created the Sino-International Library in Geneva in 1932 during a stay in Switzerland. The organisation was designed to promote Chinese culture around the World, it was funded by the Nationalist goverment. It was a tool of promotion of China to Europe, in particular to the League of nations also located in Geneva. The movie Love and duty was shown at its premises. In 1932, the library moved to the Chateau de Montagère. A Shanghai branch (Section de Shanghai) of the BSI was located at Route Fergusson 393 in the former French Concession.

Li Shizeng spent much of WW2 in the USA with some trips to Chongqin. In 1948, he returned to Geneva, as the communist troops where approaching Beijing. In 1950, Switzerland became one of the first country in Europe to recognise the new People’s Republic of China. Li Shizeng moved along with the 200.000 books of the Sino-International Library to Montevideo in Uruguay. The collection was hosted by the Uruguayan National Library. Li Shizen moved to Taipei in 1954 and died there in 1973. The collection Library stayed in Montevideo.

In 1993, the core content of the library was brought to the National Central Library in Taipei. It contained approximately 100.000 books, including ancient Chinese books. It also contained the 6000 volumes of the Gujin Tushu Jicheng (古今圖書集成), the Chinese encyclopedia from the QIng dynasty, newspaper and magazines from the library, and 3000 photographs. A copy of the movie “Love and duty” was also discovered among those documents. The lost movie was found back.

Restoration was done by Cineteca di Bologna’s L’immagine Ritrovato laboratory in 2013. The movie shown along with the Godess, another Ruan Lingyu major movie, at the 2014 Shanghai Film Festival. This marked the return of the movie to Shanghai, nearly 80 years after being filmed in the city.

No other movies seem to have been included in the library. Due to his connection with the couple Hua Nan Gui – Stéphanie Rosen-Hoa, it was probably Li Shizeng’s personal decision to take a copy of the movie with him, probably as a showcase of Chinese modernity in the 1930s, as the film was a major block buster then.

Researching this article, I found that a similar story happened to one of my favorite movie. Art Deco masterpiece, Metropolis from Fritz Lang, had a 25 minutes section lost… that was retrieved in 2008 in Argentina.

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Sun Yat Sen tomb in Nanjing

As founder of the Guomintang and Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yat Sen has shaped a lot of Chinese modern history. Leading China after the 1911 revolution, he later retreated in Gangzhou when the country was fragmented. He died in Beijing on 12th march 1925.

As a symbol of unity of Republican China, a mausoleum was a great way to carry on his legacy. As he wanted to be burried in Nanjing, the project was started in 1925 and design was completed in 1926. The chosen site for the Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum was the Purple mountain or Zijishan / 紫金山, close to Ming emperor tombs. The mausoleum was designed by Chinese architect Lu Yangzhi / 呂彥直 who got the project by winning a national competition in 1925. The project started in 1926. Lu Yangzhi supervised the it until his death at 28 years old in 1929. Fellow architect Poy Gum Lee took over the complete the project.

After the 1927 Northern and the victory of the Guomintang, new China ruler Chiang Kai Shek had moved the capital from Beijing / 北京, the Northern capital, to Nanjing / 南京, the Southern Capital. The location was no random, as Nanjing had been the capital of China several times, the latest period being during the early part of the Ming dynasty, from 1368 to 1421. This was also briefly the capital of China right after the revolution, when Sun Yat Sen was president and to be burried in the Mausoleum then under construction.

The Mausoleum itself is of republican style, also called neo-confucian style. This style is a mix of traditional Chinese architecture and modern construction methods. It follows the same codes as followed by Chinese architects for centuries. At the same time, introducing reinforced concrete pillars and stone building instead of wood allows for more durable and more spectacular buildings. It is a good metaphor for Republican China, that wanted to go towards modernity, while maintaining tradition.

The Mausoleum is made of three stations on the mountain, linked by 392 steps. Following the tradition Chinese tombs, the final station offers a great view from the mountain, following Chinese fenghui. On a rainy day, the view was splendid as a light myst covered the new constructions afar, creating a feeling of timelessness.

Third station where everybody wants a picture

Most visitors go to the see the inside of the memorial at the third station. Pictures are not allowed there. The hallway is dominated by a large statue of Sun Yat Sen. It is a marble copy of the original bronze statue by French sculpture artist Paul Landowski, who also made the Christ statue in Rio. (see post “From Boulogne to Nanjing” for more details). The original bronze statue is at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial hall, at the bottom of the hill.

The body of Sun Yat Sen was brought to the mausoleum on 1st June 1929. It is located in the marble sarcophagus located at the back of the main station, which was not open to the public when I went. Nanjing has a lot more to offer in terms of Republican architecture and I will surely go there again.

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Shanghai Qipao exhibition

This major exhibition at the Shanghai museum has been on since late last year. I was lucky enough to finally see it on its last day, on 5th May 2026.

Qipao is the iconic Old Shanghai dress called Qipao / 旗袍 in Mandarin or Cheongsam in Cantonese. An early 20th century dress inspired by traditional Chinese robes, it has become the symbol of the Chinese women dress.

Qipao was worn by 1930s movies stars like Ruan Lingyu. It is also a major point of 1990s Hong Kong movie “In the move for love“. One of the most beautiful qipao picture was taken by Sam Sanzetti in Shanghai in the 1930s. A red qipao is also the center piece of Shanghai based inspector Chen’s novel, Red Mandarin Dress.

A number of rare qipaos were already on display amongst many Old Shanghai items at the 2024 “Resonance Art Deco Paris-Shanghai” exhibition . This Qipao exhibition was solely focused on Qipaos, showing a vast range of pieces and the evolution of the dress from the 1910s until today.

Qiapo disappeared from mainland China in the 1950s, but florished in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other locations. It was brought back to Shanghai in the 90s and has seen a return in fashion from the mid 2010s.

The exhibition included many pieces that were rarely seen before. It also gave background information on the period, through pictures and magazine covers.

It was a great exhibition with no chance for an extension as the Shanghai Museum is now closed for renovation.

This kind of large scale exhibition are a great way to promote Shanghai culture and make Shanghai history more known to the general public. Hopefuly more will come.

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Horose Conference at the Shanghai French School

On 16th April 2026, I had the pleasure to give my presentation about Stéphanie Rosen-Hoa / Horose at the Qingpu Campus the Shanghai French School. A similar conference took place in 2025 for the French people in China’s historic society. This presentation was part of a series of conferences for high school students and parents.

The story and live of Stéphanie Rosen-Hoa (aka Horose, aka 罗琛华) and her husband Hua Nangui / 华南圭, one of the early French-Chinese family was highly relevant for students. Many of them being from French-chinese families themselves, they could easily relate to the topic.

The success of Horose book “Love and duty” / 恋爱与义务 published in Chinese, then in English and becoming a bestseller and turned into a movie was an inspiration for students.

The presentation taking place in Shanghai, participants were particularly interested in film sets locations in the Former French Concession.

The conference took place at the Shanghai French School Qingpu campus. The same conference is planned at the Shanghai French School Yangpu on 14th May.

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Stephanie Rosen-Hoa at Sorbonne University

The story of Stephanie Rosen-Hoa, aka Horose who wrote the China best seller “恋爱与义务” , later published as Love & Duty in Shanghai has been one of my research center for a while (see post “The story of Horose or S. Rosen-Hoa” to the original post on this topic). Information has been difficult to find, but a breakthrough has recently come up with some surprises.

We know that Stephanie Rosen-Hoa studied at Sorbonne University, as she published a thesis in 1910. The thesis was about germination and anatomical structure of plantago (also called Plantin). This plant has been long used to make remeades.

The thesis is dated from 1910. At that time, Sorbonne University offered two different tracks on scientific studies. One was focused on mathematics (differential and integral calculation, mechanics and astronomy), the other one on physics (phyics, chemistry, mineralogy-geology, botanics and zoology). Stephanie Rosen-Hoa clearly attended the physics track. Her thesis director was M Louis Matruchot, a French specialist of mushrooms who was conference master at Sorbonne University.

Although Stephanie Rosen-Hoa went to Sorbonne University a long time ago, I have asked the French national archives to extract the student records. It took a while to come, but it was worth the wait as in brought some surprises.

First of all, I only got the student record for year 1910. The name used in the record is “Madame Rosen-Hoa”, as Stephanie Rosen-Hoa was already married to Hua Nan Gui since 1908. The first surprise is that Stephanie Rosen-Hoa is noted as born in “Wielun, Russie”. This is a different city from Kalisz, where the Rosenthal family was supposed to be. Wielun is about 80 km from Kalisz, which at that time probably took one to two days. Wielun was a smaller city than Kalisz, with about 8.000 inhabitants, when Kalisz has more than 20.000 then. Both cities were located in the Russian part after the split of Poland in 1793, although Kalisz was much closer to the border with Prussia.

Both city had a substantial jewish population, with the jews making the majority of the artisans. Archives of jewish families in Wielun show 512 record for the family name Rosenthal. This was quite a common name in Wielun then. The family of Stephanie Rosenthal must have moved to Kalisz on a later basis, as Stephanie always mentioned Kalisz as the city where she grew up.

The other important information from this record is the actual birthdate of Stephanie Rosen-Hoa. It is indicated as 21st October 1883, which is slightly different as the one from her death certificate (27th September 1883).

Stephanie Rosen-Hoa was registered as studying for the “diplôme d’étude”. This must be the “Diplôme d’étude supérieur” , a diploma requiring one year of study after the license diploma which itself took two years to complete. From that, I can assume that Stephanie Rosen-Hoa spent at least 3 years at Sorbonne University, entering the university in 1907, possibly earlier. It is probable that she actually came to France a few year before, probably around 1900-1905, but I have found no proof so far.

The other part of the records focuses on lab attendance. As Stephanie Rosen-Hoa was researching botanics, she had to do some lab work. Those experiments were not free as show by below records, counting the payments for using the “Laboratory of Mr Bonnier”, the president of the jury for Stephanie Rosen-Hoa thesis.

Thanks to Sorbonne records, I was able to get more information about the studies of Stephanie Rosen-Hoa at Sorbonne university. The search continues for more details about the life of this fascinating lady and her French/Polish-Chinese family. For more posts on this topic, please follow this link.

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Jessfield Park

As spring has come to Shanghai, many people go to the park for a bit of fresh air. One of the city’s favorite is Zhong Shan Park, but many people don’t know it has been there for more than a century, originally under the name of Jessfield Park.

Although Shanghai has changed a lot since 1935, the above Jessfield park is still recognisable on today’s Shanghai map. Saint-John University on it’s North side is also still there. Originally used as a military field, this plot of land was turned into a park in 1914.

The park was named Jessfield Park, it was located at the end of Jessfield road (today Wan hang du lu / 万航渡路). Just like the Bund garden, it was first restricted to foreigners, but became open to all people from 1928.

Jessfield Park, Shanghai, 1932, Ephgrave Collection, Ep01-216 (thanks to Paul French)

The park was of English style with grass, trees and ponds. Regular concerts from the municipal took place in the park. Long before electric amplification, sound of the band was amplified by a bankshell, a special structure designed to amplify sound. Those were very popular in the 1920s and 1930s, before the rise of electric sound amplification. The original can be seen on the top righ corner of above picture. It is still standing today, as shown on picture below. Designed in art deco style, it probably dates from the late 1920s or early 1930s.

Few people noweadays seem realise what the original purpose of this construction was. Next to the main lawn of the park, stands of little pergola surrounded by statues.

This construction is the original that was completed in 1935. It survived turmoils of history very well.

Jessfield park pergola (picture virtual Shanghai)

As the city expanded Westward, houses where built around the park. The tallest apartment building then was West Garden apartments. The building from 1928 was designed by Russian architect Alexander Yaron.

Jessfield park with view over West Garden apartments (Shanghailander collection)

This particular building still stands today, although it is now surrounded by much taller towers.

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Union Brewery building

A recent trip to Shanghai Ecological park along the Suzhou Creek was the opportunity to go and revisit the former Union Brewery factory, a Hudec building that has mostly been forgotten.

Union Brewery / 友啤 started as German owned company in the late 19th century. It then became a Scandinavian owned company. By 1931, it was purchased by investors including ED Sassoon & Co, owner of the Cathay Hotel (today peace Hotel) and Calbeck Mc Gregor, which imported Lanson Champagne to China. A new factory was commissioned in 1935, design was given to Laszlo Hudec. It was completed in 1936.

The 28.800 sqm area also included a large streamline design building. The right part with the angle is very typical of streamline design, echoing Paris Callot building completed in 1933 (see post Paris streamline building).

Comparing the 1937 British map and today satellite, it is clear that the area was surrounded by factories, in particular cotton mills. All those factories were using the river water and dumping used water in it. The Suzhou creek was not as clean and nice as today and sometimes had weird color due to textile dying process in the factories on its sides.

Above sketch shows that only a few buildings remain. The pond on above photos is probably where the main building once stood.

The above add gives a sense on how the beer factory looked inside. Surely very modern and efficient at the time of construction. It had the production capacity for 1 m crates of beer / year, and claimed to be the largest in Asia.

Union Brewery was one of the leading beer brand in Shanghai, along with its competitor Ewoo beer, owned by Jardien & Matheson (Ewoo / 怡和 in Chinese). One of the large company of Shanghai, Union Brewery was listed on the stock exchange. It made both pilsener and brown beer. Beer was advertised as “good for health for young and old”. It was a modern and fashionable drink.

In the 2000’s, the former United Brewery building became the (now long gone) entertainment complex Pier One, with restaurant Mimosa, bar Monsoon and night club Minx. It appears to be currently unused. It is located at 130 Yichang Road / 宜昌路130号 in Putuo district.

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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 down 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. Our friends at MOFBA have written a detailed history about CPC Coffee company.

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 the little read bags became a must 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 a Manner store 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. For more info about Coffee Culture in Shanghai, see post: Shanghai Coffee Culture.

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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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