Shanghailander

Souvenir from Shanghai

Old Shanghai postcards from the 1930s are common to find in auctions on the internet. What is much rarer are postcards from before WW1. Here is a fine example from 1907 sent from Old Shanghai to France.

Postcards were invented in the late 19th century, originally one side for the address and one side for the message. The real modern postcard is called “divided back”, still in use today. It was officially adopted in the UK in 1902, France in 1903 and by the Universal Postal Union in 1907. This postcard from 1907 must have been one of the early ones.

The card is stamped 20th jun 07. China only joined the Universal Postal Union in March 1914. Before that, major countries had their own post office in Shanghai, including the German post office on Guangdong Lu. The French post office where this postcard was posted was probably on Rue Montauban (today Sichuan Nan lu / 四川南路) close to Rue du Consulat (Jinling Lu / 金陵路) as seen on the below map of the French Concession in 1900.

As this was posted in a French Post Office, this stamp is also French. It shows “République Française” on the top and “Chine” on the bottom. So this was truly posted at a French post office in China. It is stamped “Shang-hai / Chine”.

This card is multi-views postcard, those were the luxury type of postcards according to Thomas Brand’s “China in those days'”, the reference book on the topic. The illustration looks like two photos that seems to have pinned on the main card, along with some “Chinese” elements including a triangular yellow flag, pane tree leaves and Chinese lanterns. The caption “Souvenir from Shanghai” is on a banner. Picture left is of Hongkou market, captioned “Central market”. The Central Market or Hong Kou market was located on Woosung Rd / 吴淞路.

Picture right is “Broadway” the main street of the Hongkou side of the concession, that used to be the American concession until 1863, today Damin Lu / 大名路. Although it is captioned souvenir from Shanghai, it is only made of two views from Hong Kou district, so it is more like “Souvenir from Hongkou”. A specific shop is represented on the left side of the picture, “Japanese Art Curios and Leather Goods”. Its title is noticeably clear compared to other shops. Funny enough, on can clearly see postcards on sale in the front windows. The card probably bought in a store just like this one.

The card was sent from Shanghai to maritime military base in Brest, France. The receiver was Jean Gaget, an officer on the French navy ship Dupetit-Thouard, an armored cruiser. Since the card was sent from a friend to a navy soldier, it was probably sent by a mariner on a stopover in Shanghai.

Meanwhile in India

Old Shanghai crime novels have long been an interest of mine as part of this blog. A number of them are really good, including City of lost souls, 2024 and the inspector Danilov series, recreating Old Shanghai atmosphere, sounds and smell while keeping the historical context. Taking place in modern Shanghai, I have also tremendously enjoyed inspector Chen novels by Qiu Xiaolong, including Red Mandarin dress. Besides Old Shanghai, crime novels are also a good way to explore other places in 1920s and 1930s as well as their connections with Old Shanghai. I read Babylon Berlin, taking in place in 1930s Berlin a few summers ago. For a trip to 1920s India, I turned to Abir Mukherjee’s “A rising man”.

1920s Calcutta and 1920s Shanghai have a lot more in common that I expected. First of all, Calcutta transportation was mainly done by hand pulled rickshaw. The japanese invention that is so often assimilated with Shanghai also made its way to India. Calcutta also had tramway network, similar to Shanghai.

*Image Credit: bjornmoerman.blogspot.com*

Although large areas of India were largely controlled by Britain throughout the 17th century, the actual control of India by the British government, known as the British Raj, started in 1858. In China, the 1842 Nanjing Treaty opened 5 treaty ports including Shanghai. The world “Bund” in Shanghai Bund is even from an Hindi word band (बंद / بند), showing the influence of the Indian experience on Brits coming to China.

Brits also imported the same club culture and segregation between the white rulers and the local population. The Shanghai Club scene seemed to closely ressemble to Calcutta one. However, in Shanghai this seems to have receded in the 1930s in turn for a more mixed society. This did not seem to have happened in India, with British control making the separation even stronger.

Trade connection was very strong between India and the Chinese treaty ports. Opium was the main export, grown in India and then transported to China in a triangular trade. The main traders were Shanghai British based Jardine & Matheson and Butterfield & Swire. Although they originated from Shanghai, that had strong business links with India. Jewish families originally from Baghdad, also moved to India in the centuries before then on to Shanghai in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Sassoon and Kadoorie families who dominated Shanghai where from Mumbai. The Ezra family, another preeminent Jewish family in Shanghai originated from Calcutta.

Another strong link was through the police and the military. Although the Shanghai police force of the international settlement was not directly a British force, it employed many former military and policemen who had served in the UK or in India. The British forces even brought their Sikh guards that were common in India, to serve as guards and traffic police in Shanghai.

“A rising man” takes place in April 1919, with the Amritsar Massacre in the background of the story. More than 350 people were killed when the British forces opened fire on a crowd protesting against repressive colonial ruling and the arrest of important Indian leaders. This post WW1 period also saw the emergence of the May 4th 1919 movement in China, that was also protesting against colonial rules in China. The Amristar Massacre is also sadly similar to the 1925 Louza lu police station incident, when Chinese protester confronted the police which fired on the crowd. Just like the Amritsar massacre, the Louza Lu police station incident sparked a much wider nationalistic movement demanding the end of colonial rule.

“A rising man” is a great way to get some exposure to British India and an understanding of the British Raj. It’s also a page turner crime novel with fascinating characters and a twisted story. Calcutta and Shanghai had a lot more in common than I thought at first. This made it an even more enjoyable read.

The wild side of GuLangYu

For this 9th trip to the beautiful island of Kulangsu (today GuLangYu), we chose to use the ferry to the west side of the island. The Gulangyu Neicuo’ao Wharf (鼓浪屿内厝澳码头) is located where the Foo kien Tanning Co factory used to be. This side of the Island is away from the port of Xiamen and could only accessed on land via the long costal road in the 1930s. As a consequence, it was more secluded and old villas are rarer that on the other side. This whole area is now covered with parks and modern hotels. This makes it a nice place to disembark, but lacks the real Gulangyu feeling. However, one does not have to look too far to find nice surprises.

Behind some more modern constructions, stands one of the rare neo-Confucian style building on Gulangyu. The style is a combination of modernity and traditions. Bottom floors are modern but the top floors and roof look like traditional Chinese buildings. This style was popular in Xiamen in the 1920s and 30s coming with the influence and money from South East Asia. One classical example is the famous Xiamen University, along with the Xiamen Overseas Chinese Museum.

This villa was clearly the private estate of a wealthy South East Asian family. At the time of construction, it was probably far away from other houses. From the style I guess it’s from the early 1930s. The top floor is of traditional Fujian style, while the bottom is much more modern. On Gulangyu, the only other one I know is 海天堂, Hi heaven, the largest old villa complex on the island.

The Sino-American School of Gulangyu was located a little further on the same beach road. It was run by missionaries and associated with the Seventh-days Adventists. From the map, I believe the school building is still there (see below), although it has long stopped been a school. It’s mix of modern and classic western is totally different from the house above.

Former Gulangyu Sino-American School building

Our hotel was once again located in a renovated old villa. Overlooking both the West and East side, it was a large park on the top of hill. The main building is mentioned as being from the 1920s, but the style is more like late30s. The entrance on the small street under the tree shade is really enjoyable.

View from the top of the main building clearly shows this must have been a really secluded place in the past, all buildings looking down are modern. In the old time, this could have been forest or even agricultural fields. The location is clearly on a high point of the island as the view goes all over to Xiamen port far away. There is only one house upper in the street.

As the East side is much steeper, no modern building seem to have been added. This side seems abandoned, giving a good feeling of how it used to be when only few old houses stood here. A mysterious old and uninhabited villa stand among the lush trees. This side really feels like far away from the World, a great place to relax and imagine how quite and secluded this side of GuLangYu was before tourists came over.

Although the island has now become a main tourist attraction, there are still spots away from the crowd on this wild side of Gulangyu, while being only a few steps away from the more famous spots.

For more posts about Gulangyu Island, please click here.

Horose presentation in Shanghai

On the Monday 7th April, I was invited to make a presentation for the “Société d’histoire des Français de Chine” (French in China historical society). The presentation was the closing event for the annual French language month, or “Mois de la francophonie”. It took place in the presence of the Consul General of France in Shanghai, Joan Valadou.

Stain glass in the former College municipal Français

This beautiful building was originally the French Club in Shanghai. From 1924, the French Club moved to the new location Route P`ere Robert and the building became the “Coll“ege Municipal Français”, the main French school in Old Shanghai. Children of the French community studied in there, among them Rena Kraszno and Liliane Willens. Before the presentation, we took a tour of this beautiful building.

The presentation focused on the life and work of Stéphanie Rosen-Hoa. I have written a number of articles on the topic as well as the Shanghai movie “Love and duty” that was made after one of her novel. The presentation was in French. The video recording will be available in a few months on the website of the Société d’Histoire des Français de Chine. I will share the link here when available.

Goodbye to Lafayette Cinema

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.

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).

Paris streamline building

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.

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“.

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“).

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.

French companies in 1920s and 30s in Shanghai

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.

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. O ne 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.

Xiaotaoyuan Mosque

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.

The building on the street is hidden by the trees of a park.

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.

Route Kaufmann, Frenchtown

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.

A large part of the West side of the road was sold to FONCIM that ordered design from Léonard & Veysseyre. Some of these houses where already described in a series of posts (see posts “Portrait of an old neighbour” and “Meet the twin sister” for more details).

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.

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.

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.