Shanghailander

Burmese days

George Orwell was mostly known to me thanks to his novels 1984 and Animal farms. As I recently discovered, he also wrote a famous book about his time in Burma in the 1920’s, “Burmese days”. The book has recently been back in the news, thanks to Emma Larkin‘s “Finding George Orwell in Burma” published in 2005. As the most welknown book taking place in Old Burma, “Burmese days” is high on the list of people going to visit today’s Myanmar. Home made copies of the book are on sale in many tourist spots, just like copies of Graham Green’s “The quiet American” are often found in the streets of Saigon.

Set in 1932, the book describes the life of a couple a British colonists in the city of Kyauktada, at the edge of the British Empire. The fictionnal city is copied after the real town of Katha in North Burma, where George Orwell spent 5 years in the imperial police. Lost in the Burmese jungle, they have very little contact with the rest of the world, apart from the “yearly trip to Rangoon”. They also have very little contact with the “natives”, i.e. local Burmese, with the exception of their personal servants (boys and butlers) and private interaction with the local women. The book is pretty much a “huis clos”, it counts only a small number of people and all scenes take place in the same location and in a short period of time. The conditions described in the book are more related to Shanghai in the 19th Century when Shanghai was still considered as an outpost. The city grew fast, but the closed feeling still stayed as foreigners where never that many compared to Chinese and surely always went in the same circles. Smaller outpost in China, just like the one described in “Barney”, were surely even closer to the book description.

Old Bristih house on the river, Burma — The master's house on the river, just like in the book

The book is really reflecting the period view on humanity and colonialism. Although the world is opening to new and different values, like admitting “a native” in the Club, there were hard defenders of conservatism. Just like some expatriates in today’s Asia, they lived a life of pseudo luxury with servants and living conditions they would never dream of at home while constantly complaining against “the natives”. At the same time, they had no interest in understanding people around them, prefering to recreate a mini copy of their idealised homeworld stucked in past. George Orwell spent 5 years in British Burma and his opinion on the topic was very clearly similar to the one of his central character, Flory. He surely also had to hide is views and could not share them with many people there. Similar opinions were common all over Asia. Although the Shanghai. community was way larger than this small city, similar divisions existed between the ones defending their western colonists position and priviledges (including extraterritoriality in China) and the ones with progressist and equilitarian ideas summarised in the universal human right declaration. In Shanghai, a few examples of the progressive camp included Carl Crow who spoke fluent Chinese and became an expert on the topic, as well as JB Powell, publisher of the China Weekly Review. The book is not only an interesting read during a trip to Myanmar, many parts also echoes Old Shanghai life.

A trip to old Rangoon

Sule Paya at night, Yangon — Yangon main street at night

Arrival in Yangon (Rangoon) at night woke back many memories of other cities frozen in time. The first contact reminded me of arriving in Saigon in 1998. Same trees, same roads and mostly 1980’s Japanese 10th hand cars around. The cars falling apart with wheel on the wrong side reminded me of Cambodia in the late 90’s. I was expecting the former British colony to have right hand side driving like its neighbors. Just like Old Shanghai did in the mid 1940’s, driving direction was changed in Burma (Myanmar) in the 1970’s. In any case, if the airport drive at night had led me to the Caravelle hotel in Saigon instead of the Trader’s hotel in Rangoon, I would not have been surprised at all.

The morning of the second day visiting Rangoon reminded me more of the Hanoi of the late 1990’s. Walking around the Kandawgyi lake with the Sedona hotel overlooking it, felt just like Hanoi’s West Lake hotel in my memories. On the river front, Strand Road reminds of the Shanghai Bund with the customs house on the waterfront and the main bank as well as the main hotel (The Strand Hotel) next to it. Today’s Strand Road looks a lot like picture of Shanghai Bund in the 1920’s, before Art Deco towers like the Sassoon House (peace hotel) and the Bank of China were built. The back streets with trees growing between the buildings look a lot like Hankou (today’s Wuhan) former French concession. Many people eat in the streets in Rangon. They have early diner from 5 to 7 or 8 PM sitting on colorful plastic chairs, eating noodles, curries and meat skewers. The same plastic chairs I used to sit on about 14 years ago in Saigon.

Most of Central Rangoon (Yangon) has been left more or less untouched since the 60th. Although a lot of construction went on in the 50’s and early 60th, style was kept in line with the colonial architecture. Most buildings have been left untouched for decades, with some of them being now renovated. Walking in the streets by daylight gives a nice view of the buildings with various forms and styles. Night time in Yangon is also very nice as there is little activity. The low lights and old buildings create an atmosphere that is charming and very unique. At the same time, it is very clear that redevelopment of the city has already started. A number of colonial buildings have been replaced by new towers and the process will probably accelerate with the recent political changes in the country. Just like other cities in South East Asia, Yangon (Rangoon) will surely transform in the next years but hopefully it will retain its charms and history. In any case, now is probably the best time to visit. This stay in Yangon (Rangoon) was part of a trip around Myanmar (Burma) that has been quite incredible. Although poverty in the country is striking, there is a warmth with Burmese people like nowhere else in Asia and the country is stunningly beautiful. More picture about this trip can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24266052@N00/sets/72157629302498231/

Old Shanghai, the paradise of adventurers

Old Shanghai is often associated with opium, prostitution and young western men seeking adventure. The police forces, army and other administration clearly took many of them to the Shanghai shore, with a new life in a vibrant city. I have written about several books illustrating the high life of Old Shanghai including Ralph Shaw’s Sin City, John Pal’s Shanghai Saga and the ultimate nightlife guide to Old Shanghai, Night Lights, tael Lights. One of the most famous is probably “Shanghai, the paradise of adventurers” by “GE Miller (Pseudonym)”. The book is really difficult to find as it was only printed for a short time. Reference to it can be found on Google books but the actual content is not available. It was translated in Chinese as 上海, 冒險家的樂園 and apparently still printed. It took me quite a bit of research to get my hand on this original 1937 copy.

Book Cover, Shanghai, the paradise of adventurers — Book Cover

The book starts with some background information about Shanghai and the concessions. One of the most interesting point is explaining the “shit” system where Shanghailanders once having established some credibility would not have to pay any service on the spot, instead signing a piece of paper, a “chit” with the amount collected on a later basis. Extraterritoriality protected the foreign residents, so some just never paid the bills and the whole city lived on credit. A whole section of the book also details how it was possible to get a fake passport to enjoy extraterritoriality right.

The main content is a series of portraits of shady characters, dubious, mysterious, mischievous and sometimes plain weird. The Spanish consul of the time is definitely a target as the book claims his great need of alcohol and Russian prostitutes, as well as total incompetency as a Société des Nations envoy in Manchouria, trying to assess whether Japanese invasion was justified… from the Japanese ministry of information office. It is very clear that the author used the book for some form of revenge on him. Similarly, the book has a strong anti religion theme, accusing Spanish priest of running gambling establishments as well as being very hard on missionaries. A full section is dedicated to Hungarian master of life falsification Lincoln Trebitsch. Although some parts of the book are difficult to believe if not totally wrong, the reading is very enjoyable. Characters in the book even remind me of real life characters of today’s Shanghai , still sometimes a paradise for questionable characters.

The book was written by GE Miller (pseudonym) who is self described as a diplomat. It did not take a long time for Shanghailanders to unmask the mysterious writer as Mauricio Fresco, the Mexican Honorary Consul. As pointed out by Robert Bickers in Empire Made Me, “The position had long been deeply implicated in the large-scale organized gambling in the city of the 1920″, Further more “accusing the SMP [Shanghai Municipal Police] in print, and without evidence, of granting ‘full protection’ to British opium smugglers was a representative indiscretion”. “Fresco left hurriedly when his identity was revealed” in 1937, soon after publication of the book, and never returned. However, his book is still one of those that helped creating the myth of Old Shanghai.

For a more recent book about Old Shanghai underworld, I recommend Paul French’s “City of devils, a Shanghai Noir”.

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Happy New Year – Most read 2011

Cover Cung Hwa English Weekly, January 1932 — Chung Hwa English, New Year 1937

I would like to send my best wishes to all readers for 2012. Hopefully, this year will see even more interesting (re-)discoveries about Old Shanghai, better preservation of old buildings and many more people interested in this topic. Technical issues stopped all email notification to readers in early December, though I kept on writing posts about an ancient book about Yunnan and the opening of a new club in Bund 18. Thanks to the team at IT-Consultis for fixing various issues and upgrading the software running the blog. To start the year in a good way I have compiled the most read post during year 2011.

#1 – Reading “The Shanghailander” (May 2011): Writing about this long defunct magazine attracted a lot of attention this year. I believe this is one of the very few copies still available, if not the only one. Published in June 1937, just before the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, the central topic is about places to avoid hot and humid Shanghai summer, including places like seaside resort Qingdao. Articles on the same topic are published yearly in today’s equivalent like That’s or Time Out.

#2 – 20 years on (December 2009): The pictures of 1990 Shanghai are still catching a lot of attention. The difference between this version of Shanghai and today’s is really stunning. Shanghai’s architecture did not change much from the 1950’s until the 1980’s, but the city really caught up with modernity, destroying a lot of its past in the same move during the last 20 years.

#3 – Sam Sanzetti, Shanghai photographer (June 2011): The rediscovery of Sam Sanzetti portraits of Old Shanghai residents took the Chinese internet in a storm. Using the latest social media, the Israeli consulate managed to find back a number of original models of the pictures. An exhibition should follow in 2012. Hopefully, the media exposure will expend to other countries, allowing models to be found in places were Shanghailanders and Shanghainese left such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, the USA and Australia.

#4 – Sin City (March 2008): The adventures of Huddersfield boy Ralph Shaw in Old Shanghai continues to attract readers to this blog. This is not the only first account of life for British single in the city, but it is one of the most well known and the book is really hard to find. Brought from the UK by the army in 1937, Ralph Shaw then moved to become a reporter for the North-China daily news, the most influential paper of North East China.

5 – Up river, Hankou’s foreign concessions (June 2008): Foreign presence in China was not confined to Shanghai by far. Up the Yangtze, today Wuhan, was a very developed city being the main transit point for China’s interior. Hankou was the third largest concession area after Shanghai and Tianjin, leaving an extensive heritage that is still visible today.

Once again, a happy new year reading Shanghailander.net

Les Confins du Yunnan

“Territoires et populations des confins du Yunnan” is a book I bought in an antique market a couple of years ago. Published in 1931 by French Beijing-based Henri Vetch company, it was actually printed by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. The author Joseph Siguret was also the French Consul from 1926 to 1953 in Beijing and later in Taipei. For this book, he was mostly a translator, as the original was published in Chinese with the support of the Guo Ming Tang a few years before. The original book (云南边地问题研究）was created by Long Yun 龙云, the then governor of the province.

The book is made from travelers notes, going to remote areas of Yunnan. France had strong interest in Yunnan due to the proximity of Tonkin ( part of French Indochina, today North of Vietnam), so having a French translation is not that surprising. As described in posts “Barney, Journals of Henry Virden Bernard” and “Gare du Sud Kunming” taking the train from Hanoi to YunnanFu (today Kunming), was the fastest way to reach Yunan. Since I was traveling to LiJiang, one of the most famous parts of Yunnan, I took this book with me to read it at those scenic places.

Air travel and mass tourism have changed Lijiang a lot, but the city was already of high importance in the 1930’s. “Li-Kiang” was a sub-prefecture, the commercial center of the whole North-West Yunnan. It was the place were Tibetan products were brought down from then mountains, the place where mountains minority would meet Chinese civilization. The tiger snow mountain is also mentioned, its beauty being as attractive to the author as it is to tourists today.

What really made the trip fantastic was our host and guide Lao Xu. He drove us around for three days, telling the story of his province and taking us to remote places. One of the first foreigner to live in the area was Dr Joseph Rock, an American who studied flora in Yunnan from 1922 til 1949. He is mentioned in the book and Lao Xu took us to place he used to lived. Lao Xu also took us to a Buddhist monastery, meeting the Lamas and admiring the rich colors of the decoration. Beyond the beautiful Lijiang valley, we also went to the Laxi lake in the next valley from LiJiang, that is becoming the next tourist point. What was really out of the ordinary was taking us with him on a trip in the deep mountain. Going up with his friends uncle who knows all the road, we went up to a village where he had never been and where I was the second foreigner ever to come (after somebody from UNESCO a few years ago). The small Yi village hanging near the top of the mountain is so remote that there is no paved road to go up. Being up there felt like a time travel, just like the description of minority people in the 1931 book. Somehow, meeting the old lady in the picture and been invited to her home was really magical.

Today’s Lijiang changed a lot compared with the one described in the book, with millions of tourists and the old town turned into a massive shopping center (with a surprisingly large number of African drums for sale). However, changes has not gone very far from the city yet and remote places like this village still exist. Probably for not so long.

CUVVE, nightmare at Bund 18

When the former building of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China reopened in 2004 as Bund 18, it was the best example of colonial building renovation in Shanghai. The project had all the elements for success, including a building rich with history, a fantastic location, an architect firm specialist in historic renovation brought from Italy and a vision of bringing together wealth and style. The original combination included a number of luxury shops, top level offices, an art gallery, a Chinese restaurant, a western restaurant topped by the now famous Bar Rouge (see post “decadence on the Bund“). With the replacement of the original French restaurant by the highly successful Mr & Ms Bund by Paul Pairet, the combination has faithfully kept in line with the original mix. Introducing a second nightlife spot on the 4th floor, the now gone Lounge 18 (see post “dancing in the bank“), kept in line with the classy and attractive image that was originally created, as mentioned in CNNGO article.

Gone... lounge 18 classy design — Gone… lounge 18 classy design

Lounge 18’s successor, CUVVE, does just not fall in the same category. I don’t think I have seen such a carnage since the ruinovation of the Paramount building several years ago (see post “Paramount Suicide“). Although working in one of the best preserved building of Shanghai, the designers have deliberately destroyed or covered any of the heritage fixtures. Years of history, millions and months spent on careful renovation have been destroyed in the 20 days it took to build the new interior. Where the original designers had carefully mixed the old and the new in a very successful and classy way, the ones responsible for this nightmare had no care nor understanding for what they stepped into. It is hard to believe that Bund 18 management allowed this horror to happen after years spent on careful image building. Hopefully the new fixtures will be easily dismantled when the club will cease to exist, as most clubs in Shanghai do not seem to last for very long. Still, this is a great waste of this wonderful space and I fail to see how this fits the Bund 18 brand essence.

The club itself is not so bad, although it is not that special either. From my point of view, the lighting effect is clearly inspired by Spark in Taipei 101, while failing to reach the sophistication of its model. The required ingredients of loud music, lot’s of drinks and gogogirls could turn it into the next nightlife spot, though the lack of originality does not compare very well against competition in town. I am sure the management spent lot’s of money to create it, but it would have been much better in one of brand new towers. Successful clubs in Shanghai have often been part of shopping malls or office buildings, this is just where this one should have landed.

Leaving CUVVE, one find itself stepping back into the sophisticated universe that is the Bund 18 experience, just like waking out of a nightmare. Unfortunately, this nightmare will not go away after tonight. Consequently, CUVVE did not last very long and was replaced by a fancy French restaurant.

Barney, Journals of Harry Virden Bernard

I have now read quite a number of little known or privately published books written by Old Shanghailanders. Taken away from a past that seemed a lot of fun and was never to be reached again, many of them told their story in their old age. A few of them include Shanghai Saga by John Pal, Stateless in Shanghai by Liliane Willens, Sin City by Ralph Shaw and others that I never had time to write about. Memoirs often a direct account of Old Shanghai, recreating the atmostphere behind the facts, and often contains many informations that can be crossed reference. I recently ran into one that was informative, a good read and leading to finding new facts about Old Shanghai.

Like many of today’s expatriates, Harry Virden Bernard came to Shanghai sent by a company wanting to expend its business i

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.