Shanghailander blog has now reached 20 years. Started as “Shanghai Old and New”, it was supposed to be a place to collect my notes from research about Old Shanghai. With 20 years, over 480 posts and several thousands readers, it has gone way beyond my expectations.
This blog has followed my exploration of old Shanghai along those years. The only rule is that each post must be somehow linked to Old Shanghai. Topics have been plentiful, including researching old Shanghai documents like the post card from post “Souvenir from Shanghai” , chasing Art Deco buildings in Shanghai and all over the world like in post “Napier Art Deco Festival“, reading all crime novels I could find about Old Shanghai like “Death in Shanghai“. Another regular topic has been food and drinks in Old Shanghai, like in post “Lot’s of Champagne in Old Shanghai“.
The love of Old Shanghai was triggered by discovering the city, but in particular finding an old electricity bill from the late 30’s, as mentioned in post “unpaid bills“. The main inspiration certainly came from living for 11 years on former Route d’Adina of the French Concession, decribed in post “Leaving route Kaufmann“. Along came the passion for Art Deco and Shanghai architects that few people knew when I started. They include Laszlo Hudec, Leonard & Vesseyre and many more that are still being re-discovered. I am particularly proud to have found (by accident) the building that Poy Gum Lee’s family searched for years. Another trigger included a few years driving sidecar in Old Shanghai streets, leading to create now extinct tour company Shanghai sideways. Along the way came the fantastic World Congress on Art Deco, that allowed Old Shanghai lover to meet. A more recent topic of interest has been Old Shanghai movies, including “Love and Duty” filmed in the middle of the french Concession, leading to study the life of Stephanie Rosen-Hoa, author of the book that inspired the movie.
Writing the blog and speaking at Old Shanghai events has also made me part of the Old Shanghai researcher community, creating links to other fellow researchers like Patrick and Tina at Historic Shanghai , Katya Knyazeva, Paul French, Peter Hibbard, Charles Lagrange, friends at MOFBA, token Konrad, Paris Art Deco Society, Hudec Foundation, Liliane Willens, all friends at the Société d’histoire des Français de Chine and many more. Some of them have now passed aways like Tess Johnston and Lynn Pan, but they are not forgotten. 20 years ago, most Shanghainese people had no interest for Old Shanghai, this has massively changed and this blog has also been an opportunity to make great Chinese friends.
This blog could never have existed without the support of my fantastic wife, hearing patiently about my post’s ideas and (weird) research topics. A new generation of explorers is coming along nowadays with our children that I am also trying to take onboard.
Thanks to all readers of Shanghailander blog that is now turning 20 years old. Please continue to read it, share it and send me all relevant links and information.
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