Shanghailander

What’s in a name

Shanghai’s history has often been quite tormented and street names have been changed often. Old Shanghai enthusiasts (like me) can sometimes be heard talking about the old names of current Shanghai streets, including Avenue Joffre, Hart Road or Avenue Edouard VII. Shanghai streets grew with the city itself, following its transformation. Foreigners came in, created concession and settlements and went away, leaving their mark on the street names. The Communist “Liberation” and its ideology came and most of names where changed. This is when the Avenue Joffre (one of the main general of the French army in World War I, a very common street name in France), was turned to Huai Hai Lu, the major communist victory against the nationalist Guomintang army in 1948-1949. This is also when Avenue Edward VII (British King Son of Queen Victoria who died in 1910)/ Avenue Foch (another French general from World War I), was turned in Yan An lu (the place in Shaanxi province where the long march finished).

The name of the original streets of the international settlement perpendicular to the Bund like “Da Ma Lu” (today Nanjing Dong Lu) and Si Ma Lu (todays Fuzhou Lu) were changed into names of cities and provinces of China, and later other Asian cities (like Singapore and Penang Road). They also included a few local celebrities (like Hart Road and Gordon Road). Streets in the French concession were mostly named after local French officials and celebrities, like Route Vallon (today’s Nanchang Lu) named after the French aviator who flew the first airplane in China… and crashed People Square in 1916. Apart from the foreign names, Shanghai streets also had Chinese names sometimes similar to the foreign one like Sinnan lu (Rue Massenet in French), Gaohan Lu (Route Cohen in French), Sha Fei Lu (Avenue Joffre in French). Sometimes the name was totally different and often much more practical, such as “Bubbling Well Road” (current Nanjing Xi Lu), named after the bubbling water spring that was located near today’s Jin An Temple. It’s Chinese name was simply “Jing An Si lu”, i.e. Jing An Temple street.

I have long dream that old street names would be displayed back on Shanghai street. Some attempts were made on private buildings like “Rue Francis Garnier” on the bakery on Dong Ping Lu, or the Henry’s restaurant on Route Paul Henry (today Xin Le Lu). The aim is obviously not to re-instate long gone memories, but to show the history of places, helping Shanghai to reconnect to its past. I am surely not the only one to have dreamed of this and somebody has actually done it. It is currently limited to one street, the current Wukang Lu, former Ferguson Road but this really looks like an official attempt. Hopefully, this will be extended all streets of Old Shanghai. Not sure how long it will take though.

For a list of Shanghai street’s old and new names, click here.

H. B. M Consulate, Shanghai

When Georges Balfour, the first Consul in Shanghai arrived in 1843, after the signing of the treaty of Nanking, what is now the Bund was very different from today. The world Bund comes from colonial india, meaning a mud bank on a river. On those early days of Shanghai, this is just what the Bund was, a mud bank over the river.

The area of swamps between the Suzhou Creek and the filthy Yang Jin Bang (to be later covered and turned to Avenue Edward VII, or Yanan Lu today) was granted to the Brits to make their settlement. They had already realized the importance of the mouth of Suzhou Creek going into the Huangpu river as a strategical place, by being bombed from this point during an exploratory trip in 1832. Naturally, this crucial point became the ground of the HBM Consulate, representing the British Empire in Shanghai.

The current building along with the consul residence next to it was completed in 1873. It is one of the oldest building on the Bund, having survived the various reconstructions of the area. It was used as the British Consulate until 1967, when the consular staff was chased out during the Cultural Revolution. It then became a friendship store, before being abandoned. One of the buildings in the compound (left on the period photo) has been knocked down to make way for the Peninsula hotel, but the rest of the compound has been skillfully renovated. The Park was open to the public at the beginning of 2011 and it is now possible to cross the former Consulate Park to reach Yuan Min Yuan Lu and the Rock Bund project, making it a really nice walk.

The external renovation has been very careful, keeping the original appearance of the building. It has been transformed into the “Financiers Club”, closed to the public so it is difficult to judge the internal renovation. The complex is managed by neighboring Peninsula hotel and used for functions. I heard one of the buildings will be transformed into luxury shopping center (what a surprise!). In any case, the renovation of the former British Consulate is quite a success, managing to preserve the atmosphere of one of the oldest remaining building of old Shanghai. Hopefully, many more will follow.

To read the post about the former French Consulate in Shanghai, follow this link.

Shanghai exiles, meeting with Isabel and Raymond

Raymond Chao & friends, Saint John University, late 1940's — Raymond Chao & friends, Saint John University, Shanghai, late 1940’s

This blog has raised in popularity over the years and people from various places have been contacting me about it through the internet. However, one of the recent most interesting encounters was arranged through a friend of a friend. After a 2 hours conversation (originally planned for 1/2 an hour), Claire’s conclusion was “You definitely have to meet my parents. When are you going to Hong Kong?”. We just went to Hong Kong and met her parents. This post is the recollection of our conversation.

Isabel and Raymond were both born in Shanghai, “We both went to Saint John University” said Isabel. “I used to walk every day across Jessfield Park (today Zhongshan Park) to reach to it.” Having been to the old Saint John University (today Shanghai University of Law) only a few days ago, I showed them the pictures that they recognized instantly. “My high school was the Mc Tyeire school (today Shanghai number 3 girl school), on Edinburgh Road (today Jiangsu Lu). Then I went to Saint Mary school for high school. It was near Saint John University and was severely damaged during the Japanese occupation, so class took place in the one of the nearby Saint John University buildings”. As far as I know, the school does not exist anymore in that location, but it is quite vivid in Isabel memory. “We were living in a house on Yu Yuan lu, about half way between the Park and Jing An Temple. I could walk to school and later to University”. Raymond parents also lived in this part of the city, the extra-territorial roads, West of the international Settlement.

Isabelle also asked whether we knew about Zhang Ailing’s works. “Zhang Ailing also went to Mc Tyre school, she was about 11 older than me. My life was actually quite similar to hers. My teachers were also her teachers, they also thought I would become a writer, unfortunately it did not happen. Maybe I was a bit more practical than she was”. “Shanghai was a happening city, I used to go to dance halls like to Paramount (corner of Hua Shan Lu and Yu Yuan Lu), or the Ciro’s (today disappeared, was located near people square). I used to go to the movie in the Cathay or the Grand Theater. I liked the Park hotel a lot, when I was in Shanghai I always thought it was so tall then, and now it is so small compared to other buildings.” (Park Hotel was the tallest building in Asia when it opened in 1934. It counts 25 floors. See post Advertising Park Hotel for more details). “I was only 19 when we left Shanghai in 1950 so I did not have so much time to enjoy it. When I was 17 years old, my first boyfriend was driving me around on his Harley-Davidson motorbike. We used to drive down the Bund and a lot of people were looking at us”. This is strangely echoing driving down today’s restored Bund on my own 1930’s sidecar motorbike. I am still amazed that Harley-Davidson motorbikes were imported then, as they only were imported again in China a couple of years ago. For more information about this, see the specific topic “Harley on the Bund“.

What Jiajia and I gathered is that Raymond and Isabel knew each other in Shanghai, but probably got married in Hong Kong. Coming from the same background, they probably left Shanghai around the same time, recreating their life in similar circles in their new home. Although they both speak Mandarin and Cantonese, they still speak to each other in an old fashion Shanghainese, similar to dialogues in the movie “in the mood for love“. Listening to them is sometimes reviving a past long gone, similar to the meeting with Liliane Willens a few years ago (see “a date with Liliane“). Isabel concluded our meeting with this sentence: “All these memories of the Shanghai I knew I always thought no-one would be telling them again, that they were forgotten forever. It amazing that some people are still interested in them and that they have been preserved.”

Update: I was very sad to learn that Raymond Chao has passed away on 8th May 2012, less than a year after this meeting took place.

Update: Isabel and Claire Chao have written together a book about the family life in Old Shanghai, “Remembering Shanghai”, published in 2017. Please see post for more details.

Saint John University

As the largest metropolis of China, Shanghai was the focus of development of modernity in China, including the development of Universities. Hidden behind Zhong Shang Park (the former Jessfield Park), in a curve of the Suzhou creek stands the old Saint John University, which used to be the most prestigious University in China. Today’s East China Institute of Politics and Law has kept most original buildings from the old times and is still a nice place for a short visit. The best way to access it is probably to walk through the park to reach its back entrance, although it is also possible to follow the Suzhou Creek.

Saint John University was created in September 1879, it was created and supported by the American Anglican Church. The picture left is from 1907, showing one of the reading room. Religion had a strong importance in the teaching, and the university was lead for decades by clergyman Dr F.L. Hawks Pott who also wrote “a short history of Shanghai“. Under his governance, Saint John College became the leading University. Teaching was in English, a lot of faculty was foreign and modern education methods as well as sport took a great place. The University was modeled after the American University system and graduate students could be join American Universities for their post graduate studies, of few of them actually going to Harvard or Yale. Saint John University also formed the elite of China’s societies with many of them becoming high civil servants or joining Chinese and international companies after graduation.

Architecture style of the university buildings have mostly been a mix of Chinese and western. They were actually often western buildings with a Chinese roof and decoration, similar to what was latter called Republican Architecture. As the University expanded, more buildings were created following the style of the time. The main building is much more of western style, quite similar to some of the buildings that were originally on the Bund, and the clock tower has been added later. Si Meng Hall near the River is also of a similar style, with all the original verandas having closed like in most old building in Shanghai. One the of really interesting one is on the right side towards the entrance. The style is clearly much later, probably late 1920’s early 1930’s as it is very similar to Jiangwan Shanghai Civic Center building. The founding stone of the Univeristy (marked 1879, picture left) is still visible. It seems to have been broken in pieces and put toghether later, probably during cultural revolution time.

Detached from the city and protected from noise by the park and the river, the campus feels like an oasis of quiet just a few minutes from busy ZhongShang Park Cross road, probably the most charming university of Shanghai.

Boonna Cafe, Huai Hai Lu – 5 years of blogging

The first post in Shanghailander about Boonna Cafe was written about 5 years ago, being on the very first posts on the this blog. The current one is like marking the 5th anniversary of Shanghailander, written in the lastet Boonna incarnation. The original post was about this particular cafe, but also about the lack of similar places at that time. Boonna Cafe, along with Vienna Cafe and a very few others were a refuge from both the constant activity of the city and the ever growing empire of global brands such as Starbucks. The original Boonna Cafe on Xin Le lu has long beeing chased out by rent increase and the abundance of clothes shops on the former Rue Paul Henry. Fortunately, it has recreated itself a few time, the last incarnation being the South part of the former Avenue Joffre (today’s HuaiHai Lu). The current Boonna Cafe still has the same characteristics as its ancestor, being located in an old Shanghai house, red inside walls, hanging photographs and plain simple design although it is about twice as large. The main change from my 5 years old post is probably the crowd.

2006 central Shanghai was still burgeoning, 2011 Shanghai is running full speed. Old Boonna’s consumers were often foreigners, trying to find a bit of home and comfort. Today’s Boonna’s consumers are mostly the young educated 20 something Shanghainese crowd. The cafe culture of Shanghai has come back with a vengeance and pioneers like Boona are not the only kid in town anymore. Besides the ubiquitous Starbucks coffee giants Costa has joined the game, followed by numerous other locals. Xin Tian Di is not the only mixed food, bar and retail area, as Tian Zi Fang as developed along with a few others. Opening of retail to foreigners and waves of oversease chinese and students coming back have created a new face for Shanghai shops and bars / restaurants. The local joint good for breakfast, lunch and any coffee and web browsing stop in the middle is not a rarity anymore, but rapidly becoming the norm in central Shanghai. The 2010 expo has not only left its traces to the city landscape, but also to the city’s culture bringing the world to the city as well as more foreign exposure. Another profound change is that buying power has increased enormously and the younger generation often has disposable income to spend, often in shopping and food.

Shanghai has not only moved on in terms of modernity, it has also got much more in touch with its past. Shanghai history was mostly the interest of scholars and a few crazy foreigners when this blog started. Multiple movies were since made taking place in old Shanghai (such as Tai Tang Kou, Shanghai) as well as TV series (such as Shanghai Shanghai). Novels from the period have been republished and are now really popular (see “Love in a fallen city” post). At the same time, numerous books about Shanghai history have been published both by foreigners who actually lived in the city (like Liliane Willens’ stateless in Shanghai) and local people showing an interest. Although I don’t really read it, I know numerous novels in Chinese have been published. The cherry on the cake being that copies of 1930’s sidecar have become cool thanks to a series of advertising for a chewing gum brand (view it on youtube). All of is has recreated a glamorous image of Old Shanghai, hopefully helping to preserve its remains (See post “Somebody finally got it”).

Shanghai in the last 5 years has deeply changed. It has become modern, more cool, more international and closer to its past. Although transforming, it is also becoming more like what the old Shanghai used to be, a city at the confluence of the East and the West, the Chinese door for the West, one of the center of the XXIst century. Shanghai is definitely becoming one of the world cities.

Robert Nield, The China Coast

With the summer coming and a little less traveling, I finally have to actually read the books I picked up during the Shanghai Literary Festival in last March. One of the most interesting event was the literary lunch with Robert Nield. As with all Old Shanghai related event, it attracted the usual crowd of Shanghai history enthusiasts and authors. I always enjoy is these events as they take me away from business questions and activities to get on a time travel for a few hours. The presentation was excellent as well as lunch and I was looking forward to read the actual book.

Robert Nield’s approach is quite similar to mine. He is not a cleric or a professional historian but a retired businessman who got interested in the topic of Asia colonial history. Readers are assumed to know little about the topic and that makes the book a very easy read. At the same time, the author has done in-depth research that make it really credible from an historical point of view. The aim of the author is to visit every single treaty ports in China, but the current book focuses on history of the trade on the China Coast before creation of the treaty ports, as well as Hong Kong and the 5 original ports (Canton, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai).

The first part of the book is focused on the pre-treaty port period, which has been much less studied than later treaty ports time, making the book even more interesting. Since Robert Nield is a business man, his point of view is oriented toward an economic view of history that is truly relevant to this case. The same period was studied from a different angle in Foreign Mud by Maurice Collis. However, The China Coast starts from a much earlier period describing the unsuccessful attempts from Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch and British to be recognised as trading partner by China. Products such as tea, silk and porcelain (also called China!) were in the highest demand in Europe. Trade had been going on between Europe and China for centuries and traders were in the center of the political process that led to the Opium Wars and the opening of Treaty ports. Through is position in Hong Kong, Robert Nield also had access to archives of the early trading companies and banks that were also part of the colonial process, including HSBC, Jardine & Matheson and Butterfield & Swire giving us information and illustration that was previously very difficult to find.

The second part of the book is focused on the history of the treaty port, that received each a chapter of equal length. This leaves very little space for well documented places such as Shanghai and Hong Kong, but the challenge was to find enough information about the other ports, in particular Foochow (today Fuzhou) and Ningbo. A lot of time and effort has been spent to find information about these smaller ports that never really reached a large size. Fuzhou was a place for shipping tea, but did not really succeed in it for a long time. Ningbo specialized in religious evangelists as trade was also not the best due to the competition of Shanghai and better places like Hangzhou. One of the most interesting part of the book is surely about Xiamen and Kulangsoo (Gu Lan Yu island today). Surprisingly, Kulangsoo international settlement and Xiamen British Concession were too separate entities. Trade in Xiamen was never really great due to the impoverished population of the hinterland but the scenery and location are some of the best in China and foreigners there enjoyed a great life. Ultimately, the port specialised in shipping people as Chinese coolies became in high demand after the ban of slavery in Africa, paving the way for the Chinese diaspora in Malaysia, Australia and many other locations.

Best view of the French Bund

I rarely write about Pudong in this blog, as I focus on a time when Pudong was mostly warehouses and rice fields. Working in financial consulting, I often go to Lu Jia Zui financial district. During a recent meeting, I took the below picture through the office window, probably one of the best view of the French Bund.

Concessions were first opened for trade, and access to the River was of prime importance. British arriving first in 1842, they took the best spot, the mouth of the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Creek. Americans arriving second in 1844, took what is now called the North Bund, on the other side of the Suzhou Creek. The British and American concessions were later merged to become the International Settlement. French arriving last in 1848, they could only take a small part between the British Settlement and the Chinese city (see map below). As written in a past post, the border between both concession was the Yang Jing Bang river, that was later transformed into today’s Yannan lu. Yannan lu reaches the Bund at the above red line, with the Guslav tower on the Bund being inside the French Concession. Buildings on the French Bund have been less preserved than on the British Bund, but there are still interesting pieces.

#1 is the entrance to the “Rue du Consulat”, today JingLing lu. The street was the main spot of the early French Concession, much earlier than later Avenue Joffre (today Huai Hai lu). Just like the British Consulate, the French Consulate was located on the Bund, at the corner of the Rue du Consulat and the French Bund. Picture left is a late 19th century view of Rue du Consulat, with a French Consulate building on the right side. The building was destroyed in the 1980’s to create a ugly building that has since been replaced by an art deco tower.

On the right side, is located the former headquarters of the “Messageries Maritimes“. The streamline building by Swiss firm Minutti was built in the mid thirties, showing to the World the importance of the French Lines. On the left side, there is now a fake beaux-arts style tower occupied by the Shanghai branch of Taipei’s boutique hotel Les Suites. The building behind is an old office building that was occupied during the 1930’s by the “Journal de Shanghai”, the French paper published in the city. Further on the street is located Saint-Josef Church, the original French cathedral (built years before Xu Jia Hui St Ignacius Cathedral), as well as the Hotel des Colonies. Further down is the new office building occupied by ICBC. From below picture, it must have taken the space of another large building.

#2 is the former building of the trading house “Butterfield & Swire”, or Taikoo in Chinese on Route Colbert. One of the oldest trading house in Shanghai, Butterfield & Swire was one of the main ones in Shanghai. Although they were a British firm, there office was established in the French Concession, as well as the Swire House, home of Lord Swire (today’s Xin Guo Hotel). Taikoo firm (the name in Chinese), is now famous for the sugar that it imports and distributes in China and its ownership of airline Cathay Pacific. The Butterfield and Swire Building is visible on the very left side of above picture, it has been renovated and his now known as Bund 22.

The Concubine of Shanghai

We continue travelling through Old Shanghai based contemporary literature with one of the airport bookstores favorite, Hong Ying, The Concubine of Shanghai. To be honest, Hong Ying “K: The Art of Love” is probably more famous, but the title of this one was the attraction point. Although the book have been acclaimed and makes an excellent read, I have mixed feelings about it.

The original Chinese title was “上海王”, translating as “Shanghai Lord” that is probably more accurate, though surely less alluring from a marketing point of view. The main character is Cassia, a sixteen years old girl from Pudong sold to Madame Emerald, the owner of a Puxi high-class brothel located in the Chinese city, on the hedge of the French Concession. Too tall, with too big feet and curves for the fashion of the time, the girl is destined to remain a servant, when others become popular sing song girls. Her fate changes when she become the favorite girl of the leader of one of the main Shanghai secret societies. After his tragic death, Cassia falls back into poverty. She only comes back to Shanghai a few years later, leading a local opera band and rise to stardom in Shanghai. She is still involved with the underworld and manage through these connections to be one of its informal leaders.

The story of Cassia is the one of a lady struggling through life to rise to the top through her intelligence, hard work and persistence. Asia’s women are too often seen as submissive, but Cassia is a true Shanghai lady impersonating the legendary spirit and reputation of the city’s women. Although Cassia’s life in set in the 1930’s, her story and attitude reminds me of several women friend who have managed to reach excellent business positions through hard work business sense. The book is not only about business and social achievement, but also about love and sexuality. Although modest by western standard, erotic scenes are numerous in the book and Cassia’s enjoyment of sex is very clear. In a country where sex was a taboo for many centuries, it must have been quite shocking for many readers. The book is really good literature, unfortunately research on real Shanghai history is seriously lacking.

Border Chinese City with French Concession

First of all, the main location of book first part is a brothel located on the border line between the Chinese city and the French Concession. There is even a scene where characters entering from the Chinese city are able to escape through the back door to the French concession. Unfortunately, at that time the real Shanghai Chinese city was surrounded by the City Wall and moated (see picture left). This was all replaced later by a large Boulevard (today Ren Min lu and Zhong Hua lu). In a similar way, a large part takes place in a hotel located next to the Garden Bridge (or WaiBaiDu Chao) that could be the Astor House hotel. The name of the hotel is surely not the right one, and at the contrary to the book state this hotel was surely not owned or run by Chinese at that time.
Some of the events in the book are also clearly picked from real people life. For example, Cassia’s poverty is caused by a parent’s death and when she has become a star she cause back to her Pudong’s origin, creating a monument for her long deceased parents and giving out charity to build a children’s school. This is strongly inspired by part of Du Yue Sheng’s life, who actually became the real Lord of Shanghai’s underworld. In another chapter, 1926 is described as the 5th year of the Republic… when it was clearly the 15th (this may be a translation mistake).

Finally, there is very little about real Old Shanghai feeling in the book. Western Old Shanghai novels like “The Master of Rain” or “Last seen in Shanghai” tend to focus on historical details while missing filling and real people’s life. At the contrary “The Concubine of Shanghai” is high on feelings and emotion, but historical research seems to have been done in 10 minutes, reading a two page leaflet for a local tour company. It is really a pity that attention to actual details (including in the translation) has been lacking so much, as it destroys most of its credit as a historical novel.

China Pearl

Finding about China Pearl was purely random but the story behind it is definitely worth a post. Looking for pictures about Old Shanghai on the internet, I found the picture left of Shanghai Wai Bai Du Qao (or Garden Bridge) with an old motorbike crossing it. I have long been convinced that sidecars were used in Old Shanghai, long before the Chang Jiang motorbikes appeared thus discovering this picture seemed to be the missing link. Unfortunately, the picture turned out to be a fake after examination. Traffic in Old Shanghai was driving on the left side of the road and this sidecar is definitely designed for the right-side driving of today’s Shanghai. Still, the artwork was interesting enough for me to search more information about this picture. This is how I ran into Paul Draken story.

Paul Draken dancing in the Cercle Sportif Francais

Paul Draken was a mixed child, half British and half Chinese born in Beijing in 1907. His father was Sir James Draken who led the British troop coming into Beijing to free the foreign diplomats after the 55 days of siege in the legations during the Boxer war. Growing up in early 20th century China, he managed to cross the path of Empress Dowager CiXi, then encountering revolutionary leader and first president of China Sun Zhong Shan. He even met with Russian Imperial family before the Russian Revolution. Paul Draken was living in Beijing, just at the time of the Mukden incident, while becoming an airplane pilot. Later on, he started an airline in Shanghai, flying one of the China clippers, those enormous hydroplanes of the time, called the China Pearl. His time in Shanghai was also marked by love affair with White Russian countess Anastasia as well as pursuit with Japanese spies. As he managed to flee the Japanese invasion just in time, he took part of the Flying Tigers fighting China enemy in the air. Escaping the Concession invasions in December 1941, he managed to rally North Africa to joined allied forces fighting general Rommel in the North African desert war. Paul Draken was also a hero of D-Day landing in Normandy. Paul Draken’s incredible story was behind most historical events in the first half of the 20th century.

As you probably already realized, Paul Draken never actually existed. He is the central character of e-novel China Pearl by Taiwanese author Crayon Yao. China Pearl is available at: http://www.yaox.com/draken/cover.html. Unfortunately it is only available in Chinese, so most reader will have difficulties with it. The author used lots of research, good narrative and a number of photoshoped pictures like the ones above. The pictures really make the story believable and can be viewed at: http://www.yaox.com/draken/photos1.html. China Pearl is like an Asian Indiana Jones novel with a touch of Forest Gump, taking place mostly in China. It must have attracted quite a hype as numerous blog articles have been written about it, like yblog.org/archive/index.php/5742 . I was surely not the only one to be confused by the e-novel and the pictures, as many readers in Taiwan got fiction and reality mixed up as shown in this article: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2011/02/28/292761/Fictional-novel.htm. Clearly an inspiration for my own Old China novel that has been brewing for years.