Shanghailander

The Old Shanghai A-Z

Paul French has long been one of the known writer and researcher on today’s China. Besides his business writing and advisory, he is clearly fascinated by Old Shanghai and the Republican period, having published several books on the topic including Carl Crow’s biography “A tough old China hand”. His blog www.chinarhyming.com has numerous followers, he is also a regular speaker of the Shanghai Literary festival. One of his latest published book is “The Old Shanghai A-Z”.

Today’s Shanghai fast growth creates many direction problems, with roads and motorways being built where only fields existed a few months before. New districts in Xing Pu and Minhang districts as well as Pudong are a constant puzzle for taxi drivers. Places far away or unheard of a few years ago have transformed into concrete jungle and then been infused with life thanks to the arrival of a new shopping center or entertainment area. When I first arrived in Shanghai in 1998, few people had thought about going out in places like GuBei, South Bund or Pudong. The Gubei Bar Street, Coold Docks and Thumb Plaza are now thriving places for entertainment. The rapid development of Old Shanghai was very similar to today’s one. As an example, a battle was fought in 1854 on an empty muddy plain that is now People Square. Similarly the new Shanghai General hospital was built in a “Very far area” on the other side of Suzhou Creek. I really like the American Express guide for “Sightseeing in and around Shanghai”, mentioning SheShan as a 1 to 2 days trip, when it is now a stop on the Shanghai Metro line Number 9.

Just like orientation in today’s Shanghai, this creates a problem in tracing adresses in Old Shanghai. Furthermore, political changes have resulted in several changes of the street names over the year. Names in English and French of the International Settlements have been changed to Chinese names. Sometimes the original Chinese name translated from the foreign one was kept (like Sinan Lu, or GaoAn Lu), or translating the original meaning (like ZhongHua lu and Renmin Lu, the former “Boulevard des deux Républiques). Most often a brand new has been introduced, to follow the political fashion of the time. This is the case of Huai Hai lu (the battle between Communists and Nationalists) or Yannan lu (the hideout of Mao Ze Dong in the 1930’s). In any case, finding the current location of an old Shanghai address is often not easy, this is where Paul French new book is just what was needed.

Although lists of Old Shanghai streets existed, I had never seen a complete one before. Paul French researched every single streets of the International Settlement, the extra territorial road and the French Concession. Not only did he list them along with the matching current name, but most importantly he wrote an article about every one of them.

French Concession logo

As in previous books from French, this is the result of an extremely thorough research, that has already become an anchor for any Old Shanghai researcher. This is surely not one to reads from beginning to the end, but an extraordinary resource for research. To add to it, French also used part of his own collection of Old documents and photographs to illustrate the book. The only point I have found missing was a picture of the French Concession logo that would go next to the flag of the International Settlement. It seems that French forgot about the French.

In any case, Shanghai A-Z makes a great Christmas gift for anybody interested in Old Shanghai.

Abelardo Lafuente, Shanghai Spanish architect

Old Shanghai was a place where people from many origins came to, including architects. Added with a long construction boom, this created the patchwork of architectural styles that is still visible today. The most famous architect firms of Old Shanghai were Brits Palmer & Turner, French Vesseyre, Leonard & Kruze and Hungarian Hudec Laszlo. Besides them smaller firms such Minutti (Switzerland), Gonda and Matrai (Hungary), Atkinson & Dallas (US). There was also a number of Chinese architects that designed buildings mostly from the 20s, including Poy Gum Lee.

A new one has recently got a lot of attention, Spanish architect Abelardo Lafuente. Thanks to the research of Shanghai-based Spanish architect Alvaro Leonardo, Abelardo Lafuente’s work and story was uncovered, carefully stored in Spain within Lafuente’s personal stuff.

Abelardo Lafuente was born in Madrid in 1871. Following his father who became the municipal architect of Manilla, he moved to the Philippines with wife and kids. Abelardo also became an architect in Manilla but most of his work was done in Shanghai after moving in 1913. He quickly made a partnership with G.O. Wooten, introducing “Mozarabic” or Moorish-Andalusian style to Shanghai. Only few of those buildings still exist, including the former Star Garage on Nanjing Xi Lu (picture further down) and the former Jewish Club next door. The master piece of the style is surely the Andalusian villa on Du Lun Lu, that is still standing.

Outside and inside the Andalousian villa on Du Lun Lu (2006)

Abelardo Lafuente then operated alone and was in great demand for interior design, creating the ball room of several hotels. He worked for Kadoorie family Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotel Company, designing one of the extension in 1917 of the Astor House Hotel and then renovating it in 1923 (this can still be visited). He also carried a major transformation of the Majestic Hotel on Bubbling Well Road in 1923 (around of the same place as current CITIC Square on Nanjing Xi Lu).

Being the only Spanish architect in town, he also made a design for the Jai Alai building in the French Concession at the corner of Avenue Joffre (Today corner of HuaiHai Lu and Shaanxi Lu, at the place of the Paris Spring shopping mall), although it is not confirmed if his design was finally constructed. Lafuente also created film theaters for the Spanish business man Antonio Ramos who introduced cinema to Shanghai and a few villas including the former Soong villa, today’s home to Sasha’s restaurant at the corner of Avenue Pétain and Rue Francis Garnier (today HengShan lu and Dong Ping lu).

When Lafuente went to the USA in 1927, one of his draftman, Russian architect Alexander Yaron, was made partner and kept the office running. Although Lafuente designed buildings in the USA, the 1929 crisis stopped his effort there. Without much money, he tried to return to Shanghai, first stopping in Mexico and finally reaching Shanghai in 1931. He died only a few months later of pulmonary disease probably caught in Mexico.

Abelardo Lafuente’s style was unique in Shanghai. An exhibition about him and his work in Shanghai was organised at South Bund 22 in December 2011. It was organised by Alvaro Leonardo and the Spanish Cultural Center in Shanghai. Details are provided in the invitation on the left hand side.

More recent information about Abelardo Lafuente can be found on the page of the Abelardo Lafuente research project page.

Abelardo Lafuente’s supporters work helped increase his fame back in Spain, as shown by a large article in major newspaper El Pais. Here is a map with all the major work from Lafuente in Shanghai.

Finding Sanzetti’s pictures model

After a few days of search, at least 6 people in the Sanzetti pictures (see post: Sam Sanzetti, Shanghai photographer) have been found. You can find some pictures of these people and their original photographs at the following link on Yahoo China: http://news.cn.yahoo.com/newspic/news/19184/?f=E364_3_1

A regular reader of this blog, Ms Liliane Willens (see post: A date with Liliane) had also been photograph by Sam Sanzetti herself and her family. She is currently contacting the Shanghai Israeli Consulate people in charge of the exhibition.

Sam Sanzetti, Shanghai photographer

Sioma Lifshitz arrived in Shanghai on a freighter from Vladivostock in 1922. The 20 years old energetic Russian jew had no money but lot’s of dreams and soon started to work in a photography studio under the name of Sam Sanzetti. It took him 5 years to open in own studio in 1927, becoming one of the most famous photographer in Shanghai. The studio was first located on 73 Nanking Road (today 73 Nanjing Dong Lu), near the Bund and just behind the Palace hotel (today Swatch Art Peace Hotel). Construction on the Cathay Hotel (today Peace Hotel) was on-going at that time very and the opening in 1929 certainly also helped his business. The central position in the business center allowed him to become the photographer of the rich and famous in Shanghai, surely meeting with other successful business people of the time.

add for Sanzetti's photo studio, Shanghai Dollar Directory 1938

His office later moved to 39 Peking Road (today Beijing Dong Lu) as reported in 1938 Shanghai Dollar Directory. Some of his photographs clearly remind of the calendar ads from the Carl Crowe company located very close on 81 JinKe lu and both men hanging around in similar circles probably worked with each other at some point. Sam Sanzetti left Shanghai in 1957 to immigrate to Israel leaving a Chinese wife and a stepdaughter behind and remade his life in his new country. He had fun memories of Shanghai as explained in an interview with an Israeli Newspaper years later. However he was never able to come back to Shanghai before his death in 1986.

The story of Sam Sanzetti could have disappeared in history without his stepson finding rolls of Shanghai pictures in his archives. With the help of Pr Pan Guang of Shanghai Social Sciences university and the Israeli Consulate in Shanghai 200 of these pictures have been recently selected for a future exhibition to be held in Shanghai. The pictures are stunning, as Sanzetti was a great photographer and he made pictures of various kinds of people. With the high price charged by the studio, many people photographed are the wealthy and famous of the time, but personal pictures of Sam Sanzetti are also included. They give very pretty and human vision of Old Shanghai, as rarely seen before. I am sure the exhibition will draw a lot of people to the Palace Hotel (today Swatch Art Peace Hotel) where the exhibition will probably be held.

This astonishing story has even more depth in it. As very little information was available on the people photographed, the Israeli Consulate in Shanghai used modern social media to find further information from the general public. They simply put the picture on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter. The response from the public was instant with thousands of people living comments. Hopefully, information will be found to trace back some of the people.

The pictures are available on the Israeli Consulate’s Weibo page: http://weibo.com/israelinchina

Inventing Pinyin

I mentioned Saint-John University in earlier posts. Another famous alumni of the main University of Old Shanghai is Zhou Youguang, the man who invented Pinyin. Born in 1906, he went to the US to work as a Wall Street Banker after graduation. Returning to China after 1949, he lead the committee that created Pinyin, introduced to school in China 1958. The most incredible is that is still alive and writing is own blog on Weibo (in Chinese only).

Read his fascinating story in the article from Louisa Lim on NPR website.

Milk and butter

Imported foreign food in today’s Shanghai is still an essential support for foreigners living in the city. In the nearly 8 years since I have been in the city, local alternatives have been developped but they are rarely matching the original. Moreover, as the foreign communities grows and grows and more and more Chinese people like foreign dishes, import of foreign food is constantly growing. Modern transportation allows to fly in fresh products kept at constant temperature, making possible eating French oysters, Australian yogurts and New Zealand Kiwis in Shanghai.

Butter in a tin... like in the old time — Butter in a tin… like in the old time

Old Shanghai consumers of foreign foods did not enjoy such luxury. With the mother land weeks away on a cargo ship, food had to be preserved through various means for transportation. One of the most fragile type of products was dairy that does not keep long, even within a fridge. Above image is a picture of a modern tin of butter that I bought in New Zealand in 2010. Although butter is now mostly imported fresh in controlled temperature, preservation in tins was the only way to bring butter all the way to Old Shanghai. I have to admit that I was quite surprised to find this one, but it seems to be still selling. Butter is used a lot for western cooking, so large quantities of butter were imported in Shanghai. The 1934 “Trade of China” shows that 701,6 tonnes of butters were imported in China in 1933 and 746 in 1934. They were mostly imported through the ports Shanghai and Tianjin, mainly from Australia… and New Zealand.

Local farms also produced milk and milk products, as advertised on several pages of “All about Shanghai and its environs” including picture left. There was quite a number of dairy farms in today North Jing An district, in particular today’s Yan Ping Lu. The daily milk delivery system (like in the UK) is still in place in the old parts of the city center, though it is not much used anymore. In 1937, there was 10 dairy farms in the classified section of the Shanghai Dollar Directory, the local yellow pages. Just like today, local production was far from satisfying demand.

For transportation, milked was condensed and sweetened before being canned. Condensed milk can still be found in China, though it is more a delicacy than a main food ingredient. However, like in Hong Kong, Vietnam or Malaysia today, condensed milk was clearly a common product in old Shanghai. One of the major company importing condensed milk then was Nestle, already having established presence in old shanghai. 2,229.8 tonnes of condensed milk was imported in China in 1933 and 2,515.5 in 1934 mostly from the USA, The Netherlands and Switzerland.

For more on milk supply in Shanghai, go to post « Shanghai milkman ».

Yangtze Hotel, home of the stars of Old Shanghai

Old Shanghai was a major touristic attraction. Although international travel at the pace of cruse ships and hydroplanes was much slower than in today’s jet age (see posts “No Flight to Shanghai” and “Two months in rationnaire“), hotels of all categories where numerous then. A number of them have now been renovated, like the Cathay Hotel (see post “Return to the Sassoon House“) or created from Shanghai old monuments (see post “Shanghai Club revival“). One of the less wellknown is the Yangtze Hotel, currently the Langham Yangtze Hotel.

Yangtze hotel was planned in 1932 in a plot next to the newly built Moore Church designed by László Hudec. Near the Shanghai race course and Nanjing Road shopping street, the hotel was located in the entertainment area of the International Settlement. Designed by Chinese architect Paul Lin Pan 李蟠, the hotel was built by Pan Shang Lin 潘尚林 building firm. The same firm, who belonged to the family of famous Old Shanghai author Lynn Pan, also built major landmark of the period including Park Hotel on People Square, Picardie Hotel on Heng Shan Road and the head quarters of Bank of China on the Bund. The hotel external design is one the best examples of Art Deco architecture in Shanghai. Balconies in particular were decorated in the famous “Zig Zag Style” complementing the geometrical feel of the whole construction. Although is the middle of the city, it is less noticed at the corner of Hankou Lu and Yunnan lu, both one way streets away from it.

With is very modern design and location in the heart of the entertainment district, the Yangtze hotel quickly became the favorite of the entertainment crowd. The Great World entertainment center (corner of Xizang Lu and Yannan Lu) was only a few steps away, along with the theaters in the area. The hotel was also very close to the shopping mecca of Nanking Road, with Wing On department store among others. Finally, it was also very close to the race course as well as theaters such as the Grand Theater and the Metropole Theater. The Yangtze Hotel attracted Chinese celebrities, coming to dance on it’s famous spring wood dance floor in the Yangtze Ballroom. It was home to the first all Chinese Jazz Band, the Clear Wind Jazz Band. It’s resident singer was the legendary Yao Li who is most famous for the song “Rose, Rose I love you”.

1930's luggage label, Yangtze hotel, Shanghai — 1930’s luggage label, Yangtze hotel, Shanghai

The hotel produced luggage labels like the one above in Art Deco style, perfectly fitting the hotel’s design and time period. I particularly like the Art Deco Chinese characters designs. Hotel luggage labels have long disappeared along with the attraction of the Yangtze Hotel for Chinese celebrities.

The interior of the hotel was ruinovated in the 1980’s and 1990’s in an effort to modernize it. It was used as a cheap hostel, like its sister hotel the Astor House on the North Bund. Original decoration including the famous spring wood floor was lost forever. From 2007, the hotel was renovated to put it to high level standard. Although not the original one, the current decoration is Art Deco inspired with a grand staircase and a stained glass ceiling similar to the ones of the time, like in the Cathay Hotel. With its new renovation the hotel still has a lot of charm both outside and inside, making it a nice place to stay in the middle of the city, but away from the modern hotels towers nearby, like a little time travel to Old Shanghai.

Harley on the Bund

Isabel and the Harley — Isabelle and the Harley

In the recent post “Shanghai exiles“, I mentioned our meeting with Isabelle and Raymond Chao. Isabelle talked about a friend who owned a Harley Davidson in late 1940’s Shanghai. As I regularly drive up the Bund with my 1930’s sidecar replica, I could relate to this very well although I did not see any picture then. It’s a few weeks later that I received the enclosed picture. This is Isabelle on the Harley-Davidson in Shanghai, around 1948, a very different look from her picture on the above mentioned post. With sun glasses and leather jacket, there is something really cool about this picture. This is one of he quintessentially American looks later seen the 1955 James Dean’s “Rebel without a cause”, or 1980’s Indiana Jones series.

After some research, I guess this motorbike was a Harley Davidson FL. Picture left is 1947 model, 1948 was very similar. The V-shaped twin cylinder 1200cc 51 HP engine is very different from the 750 flat boxer engin on the 1938 BMW R71 that was the original master for my Chang Jiang sidecar. However, the period look of the Harley has similarities with the BMW one and I am sure the feeling driving it down the Bund must not be very different.

Doisneau's motocyclistes — Doisneau’s motocyclistes

Isabel’s picture also reminded me of one of my favorite motorbike picture, Robert Doisneau “Les motocyclistes”, shot in Paris in 1953. Although both pictures have a similar feel and were taken only 5 years apart, at that time Old Shanghai had already ceased to exist.

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.