Shanghailander

20 years on

I was looking recently through my postcard collection, running into a series of color shots I bought a few years ago. Although it is clearly from the late 80’s-early 90’s, I tried to get a more accurate date. Shanghai Center from Architect John Portman opened in April 1990. The bridge on Wusong lu was started in 1989 (but I don’t know the month) and Oriental Pearl Tower was started in 1991 (but no trace appear on the picture). I guestimate that the series of picture was taken in summer 1990.

It is amazing how much the city had changed when the pictures where taken, compared to 1930’s pictures. Shanghai Center and JC Mandarin hotel dominated Puxi sky, but most of the features of Old Shanghai were still the main features… 50 years later, including Park Hotel that was the highest building of Shanghai until 1983. Similarly, The Embankment building as well as the buildings behind the Bund were still very high and unchallenged in that area of the city. They now seem very small, as the whole background of HongKou is being redeveloped.

Nanjing Dong Lu that is now pedestrian was still open to traffic then and the elevated motorway did not exist yet (they date from the mi 90’s). The old Nanjing Theater (today Shanghai concert Hall) is not visible on the picture, but was in the same line as the buildings on Yanan lu, while the whole plot on Yanan / Xi Zhang was not yet destroyed to create a park.

The best picture is surely the view of Pudong in the same period…

without any skyscrapers. There was quite a few apartments then, but was really still the underdeveloped part of the city. The difference with today is so radical that it is hard to believe it only happened in 20 years. At that time the only way over the river was the ferry as Nanpu Bridge only opened in 1993. The ferry terminal looks like it was not changed since the 1930’s… it is now long gone. Shanghai development is impressive, and nowhere more than in Pudong. I like modern architecture I love going around the towers there… destroying Puxi’s small street to compete in height with the new kid on the block does not seem such a bright idea though.

A date with Liliane

Life is often full of surprises and meeting a particular person can come with a strike of luck. I was not suppose to meet with Liliane Willens, having missed all of her three presentations about her book “Stateless in Shanghai” while she was in town. It was at the invitation of a friend that I actually met her for lunch… along with a few other people. It does not really qualify as a date, but sitting next to this young lady in her 80’s was a thrilling experience.

Liliane was born in Shanghai in the late 20’s and only left in the early 50’s, living through a large share of old Shanghai. She not only went through it, but also had a great talent to tell her story… in perfect French. “French is my mother tongue”, she said. “I was educated at the College Francais, rue Vallon (now Nanchang lu). The school of Rue Remi (another school of the French Concession, on now Yong Kang lu) was for the poors, Russians with no money.”

“My father understood very fast that old Russian aristocrats fell down the social scale in Shanghai, so he made everything he could do distance himself from them. He spoke excellent French that he learned while working for a French company in Vladivostok, thus he pretended that is was not Russian… but Romanian. Romania felt somehow closer to France and he got away with it for years. I only discovered years later that I was in fact Russian. He worked for a Canadian insurance company in Shanghai. The French would never buy insurance from the English or American, but while speaking French for a Canadian company my father was able to reach them in their language. He was very successful. We had a car, that was a big thing at the time.”

“The Bund area was really for the elite and high society, we did not go often. In fact we rarely left the French Concession.” Asked about the Chinese city, she answered “going to Zabei or Nantao…never! It’s only long after that I realized the kind of separation there was between us and the local people. However, in my class were sons and daughters of rich and powerful Chinese families who lived in the French Concession.”

Hearing and sharing stories with her was so great that time flew really fast during this lunch. I had many questions but little time to ask them, but one was essential for me. “There were motorbikes then, yes!, with like a little car on the side. I think the French police had some, and the post office.” I always assumed that sidecars existed in 1920-30’s Shanghai, as they were fashionable in Europe at the time. With a clear confirmation of it, driving around old Shanghai streets in a sidecar is even more of a time travel experience.

Casablanca

This post about the movie Casablanca is a deviation post still strongly linked to old Shanghai. The 1942 movie takes place during World War II in Europe when Jewish refugees from Central Europe were fleeing persecutions in their home countries, selling all their belongings to try and reach a safe heaven. Casablanca was a transit port for a flight to neutral Portugal and then boarding a ship to the USA. However, obtaining the permit to leave was very difficult and many just stayed in Casablanca surviving on the last money they had.

There is a strong similarity with Shanghai during the same period where about 28.000 Jewish refugees arrived from 1937 to 1941. Shanghai was also supposed to be only a transit point before going to North America or Australia. However, many had to stay in Shanghai until the early 1950’s. While the most wealthy rented an apartment in the French Concession, many where housed in Hong Kou district, in the area that later became the Jewish area under Japanese control.

When they reached Shanghai, the foreign settlement and the French concession were already surrounded by the Japanese army that had invaded the Chinese town. Refugees where flooding into theses foreign areas and just like in Casablanca, many foreigners where trying to find a way to escape the trap that was closing up on then. There was a many bars in old Shanghai and I am sure some of them had an atmosphere and tension similar to the one one of “Rick’s Cafe Americain” in Casablanca. I often think about the Del Monte and other Hungaria Cafe when I watch the movie Casablanca as I am sure the feeling of anxiety of people trying to escape Shanghai and the atmosphere of desperate enjoyment must have been the same.

casablanca_002

The final link between old Shanghai and the Casablanca is the period atmosphere. Same fashion had people in both places wearing trench coats and hats, very much the dress of the late 1930’s and 1940’s. I love this kind of dress though I don’t wear in often. The genre of black & white movies from the period is called “Film Noir” and Casablanca is clearly a chef d’oeuvre of the genre, along with the Maltese Falcon (also with Humphrey Bogart), detective stories like Raymond Chandler’s Marlow and others. I often think about old Shanghai as a a very wet version of a film noir with the gangsters, the tension, the adventurers all in 1930’s cloth. There has been a few movies about old Shanghai (like Tian Tang Kou that I really like), but really gets anywhere near the real film noir, though Shanghai, the movie with John Cussack and Gong Li gets pretty near.

I later discovered that the real Casanblanca in the 30s and 40s had even more similiarities with Old Shanghai as it is also one of the main Art Deco spot in the World, see post “Art Deco overdose in Casablanca” for more details.

Lights on Nanjing Road

Electric light in Shanghai came in 1882, powered by the newly incorporated Shanghai Electric company. Fifteen (!) street lamps were installed, out of which seven in The Astor house hotel on the North Bund. They made it the first building to be lit by electricity in Shanghai. Shanghai electric lighting grew with years and streets with neon lights became a fixture of the city in the 1910’s and 1920’s. Just like today, most of the lighting was commercial, used to highlight hotels and department stores, as well as lighting the streets. Electricity was supplied by Shanghai Power Company (the ancestor of today’s Shanghai Power) in the International Settlement, and the “Compagnie Francaise de tramway et d’éclairage électrique de Changhai” in the French Concession.

War in the late 1930’s and later lack of power turned Shanghai back into a dark city. Street lighting has come back to Shanghai in the 1980’s with advertising sign put on historical buildings, and (fortunately) being removed later on. Most of the lighting is still commercial, shouting brand names through the night. It is not always of the best taste (see post “Lights on Huai Hai Lu“). Contemporary night in Shanghai is a fascinating show for the newcomer and old residents alike.

2009 Christmas light on Nanjing Xi Lu / Nanjing West Road

Celebration lighting is the time for the city to show its best and I had not been much impressed by Shanghai celebration lighting until now. The number of light bulbs has sometimes been enormous, but the effect was not always that successful… until this year. 1st October 2009 was a departure from previous themes and transformed Nanjing Xi Lu for a few days. Trees all along the avenue were decorated by light balls of changing colors. They looked like the impossible fruits on magic trees, and gave to the street the atmosphere of a fairy tale. The feeling of the event was made even more fragile and precious by the short time of display. Imaginative and tasteful, it was really something to see and was taken out after a few days. The best way to enjoy this incredible show was surely to drive up the street slowly… in a side car, which I did several times. With such an incredible performance, Shanghai is getting more and more of a modern city.

Classical Buildings of Shanghai

I am always curious about new books related to old Shanghai, and this new one was no exception. Surprisingly, I found it out of my usual circle, in a small shop in Tai Kang Lu. I later checked places like Garden books, but it was not on sale there… or maybe it is already out of stock. Although I was first impressed by the printing quality and the appearance of the book, reading it led to a less enthusiastic judgement.

There are definitely good points with this book, starting with the cover. The mosaic of small pictures is an eye-catcher and printing and paper quality are very high. This definitely makes a good coffee table book. Some pictures are quite recent, with others from the 1990’s. It is actually nice to see how some buildings actually looked before some disastrous renovation (like the red house on Hen Shan Lu), or invasion of advertising (like Sincere Department store on Nanjing Dong Lu). Some of these buildings have been nicely renovated since, so the picture in the book is not as nice as today’s reality. I also have found some of those pictures used previously on various website. This book is clearly not one of original photographs from one photographer, but a collection of already existing pictures. As the book was published in China, it is both in English and in Chinese making it a great tool for show Chinese friend why we love old Shanghai building so much. Moreover, at RMB 100 it is really affordable.

Unfortunately, I also found quite a number of points that make this book miss the 100% score by far. First of all, there is no classification of the buildings, neither by period, location, style or architect firms. Yes the book has nice pictures, but a little bit of order would have helped to make style and period differences easier to understand. Moreover, the level of the description is quite inconsistent in particular in naming the buildings. Sometimes the 1930’s name is used, sometimes today’s name, sometimes… something in the middle. I am also wondering what motivated the choice of including a particular building or not. It is really surprising not to see Bund 18, Kee Club and many of the Art Deco buildings in the French area… nor Broadway Mansions. Anyway, it seems that the authors rarely venture South of Fuxing Lu, or even Huai Hai lu. The other major drawback is the English translation. Some of the parts are well written, but many are difficult to understand due to dubious translation. Furthermore, there are quite lot of omissions or inaccuracies… which also degrades the book overall quality.

At the end, this book is a nice for a coffee table. It is also great to show the beauty of old Shanghai to Chinese friends (with Chinese text) and is affordable… but don’t count on it for an in-depth study of old Shanghai architecture.

Paris Art Deco

Just like in previous post “Home sweet home“, I used my trip in France to look at French buildings from an old Shanghai point of view. The heart of Paris was mostly built in the mid XIXth century, thanks to the design work of Baron Haussman who redesigned the French capital. Paris new design with large avenues connecting train stations organized in a network gave inspiration to design of cities all over Europe (just like Budapest where I used to live and many others). It also inspired the design of American cities like Chicago in the early XXth century as well as Moscow with its huge avenues … and finally came back to Shanghai as a model for building today’s Pudong.

Built on a ad hoc basis and constantly changing in a bit of architectural anarchy, old Shanghai was never planned in such a way. Although it was called the Paris of the orient, the similarities of town planning only goes so far as Avenue Joffre (today Huai Hai lu), that is indeed far from its model. However, Paris continued to be built in the 1920’s and 30’s at the same time as old Shanghai, here are a few examples of similarities. The first one to catch my attention was the building left that is located near St Sulpice in Paris Rive Gauche area.

Although it is not a triangle building like the Normandy building in Shanghai (picture right), they have a lot of similarities with the usage of red brick over 2 floors of stones as buildin g materials. The fist floors are both using large arches and a balcony it circling the top floor.

The second one is this art deco building in Montmartre. It did not specifically remind me of Shanghai art deco, apart from one important detail at the bottom right of the picture… the entrance door. Its shape is peculiar as it is non rectangular shape, but with cut angles instead. This shape is special enough to be remembered and I have seen it before in Shanghai, in Willow Court on Route de Boissezon (today Fuxing Xi Lu). Small detail, but clear similarity miles away from each other.

Home sweet home

After spending so much time in studying the old villas of the French Concession in Shanghai, I definitely got some acquired taste for this period and its architecture. Just like earlier trips to the UK (see post “London of the East” and “London Recalling“), I have used my trip to France to make pictures of building that remind me of old Shanghai. This is in no way a systematic study, I just stopped along the road to take a few snapshots of houses that caught my attention.

First is this 1920’s house in a small town. Although smaller, the style of this building is quite similar to the houses mentioned in recent posts “portrait of an old neighbour“. The shape of the roof and the frame of doors and windows are really specific of French houses in this period and style. The round windows on each side are also a type that I have seen on many houses in old Shanghai, though often on older buildings like the large brick mansions from the international settlement.

I have passed by the row of houses (picture left) many times before. Again, these are houses from the 1920’s, probably built as middle management housing for the (then booming) coal and iron industry in this small city. The general shape of the houses, round shapes of the door and usage of fake ‘half-timber” on the facade is very similar to some of the fake tudor houses in Shanghai. The row of houses always reminded me of the row of houses located on 1292 Avenue Joffre (today HuaiHai Lu) near the corner with Xinhua lu (picture left)

These are houses of a style prior to art deco that is now so famous in Shanghai. This post of like a return to the French origin, like finding the missing link between France and the French Concession of Shanghai. A bit like today, expatriates of the time did all they could to recreate the universe where they came from. Similarly, companies created for the foreign expatriates, houses that were a little part of their country right in Shanghai. Just like the buildings on the Bund in the International Settlement look like buildings in London, some of the houses in the French Concession were similar to houses in France or in Europe. The mix of the various style and influence made Shanghai a unique city in Asia and the world. It is still visible today.

From Russia with love

Old Shanghai was the safe haven for many people, in particular many Russians. They came to Shanghai after the Russian revolution and defeat of the white Russians in 1922 in Vladivostok. Russian nobility fled the country to escape from the Soviet troops, first in Russian influenced Manchuria, then moving down to Shanghai. As the community increased, Russians institutions settled down. Most Russians nobles were very religious and churches were used as a gathering point for the community.

Two Russian Orthodox churches are still standing Shanghai. (I have found picture of a third one, but I think it was destroyed long ago.) Both churches had various fates since China’s liberation, being used as storage and badly damaged during cultural revolution, just like other religious buildings. They were both turned into bar and restaurant, that have been closed since several year now. Both churches are not far from each other, neither from the statue of Puskin on Tao Jiang Lu. In the same area, numerous Russian bakers and restaurants were established (see post on Russian bakeries in the area). This part of the French Concession was often referred as “Little Russia” because of the large Russian community established there. Rena Krasno, a Russian lady who spent her childhood in Shanghai also lived in the area.

The most visible one is at the corner of Xin Le lu and Xiang Yang Lu (used to be Route Paul Henry and Route Lorton ). The Mission Church as it was called, was built in 1934. A part of the action of the novel “The Master of Rain” is taking place there. The outside has been renovated two years ago and given a fresh face. Unfortunately, the next door housing of the priest is still occupied by a restaurant. The Church has now been opened again to the public. No service is taking place as the building is not used as a Church, but as an art gallery. The first exhibition is now open of… Russian painting. The link with Russia is very clearly and I would not be surprised if the actual renovation was paid with Russian money. It is quite ridiculous that the exhibition is only open on Friday’s from 10:00 to 16:30, but at least I got the opportunity to see it.

Unfortunately, the wall paintings have been lost through ages and most of the walls are now painted white. The Church still has an atmosphere though and the biggest surprise is not on ground level… but on the ceiling. Miraculously, the paintings inside the dome have been uncovered and they seem to have survived pretty well. Although they could definitely do with a restoration, the icons betweens the windos and the large dome picture are still clearly visible. The fate of White Russians in Shanghai has often been seen as one of misery, it is nice to find back some Russian beauty in old Shanghai.

400 million customers

This is another Earnshaw reprint of a classic book about Old Shanghai. “The unexpurgated story of a Shanghai baby“, “All about Shanghai and its environs” and “Tael lights” were fun to read but were mostly of interests for people in love with old Shanghai. 400 million customers is definitely of a different class, this book is a true masterpiece.

I already wrote about Carl Crow in a review of his biography by Paul French last year. Carl Crow had many years of experience in Shanghai, going all around China for his own interest as well as the development of his advertising agency. He actually invented and developed the poster calendar that are now one of the symbols of old Shanghai. He was famous supporter of China, trying to show to the international community the real intentions of Japan invading China. He spoke fluent Chinese and his pro-Chinese positions did not always please the foreign community either. He was certainly had a correct opinion as history often proved him right.

400 million customer is not just any book about China, it is a book about doing business in China published in the 1930’s. Besides being a great read, the most amazing part is that most of the points are still valid today. Some of the article seem to be straight out of a contemporary management on his country. The first chapter is about the specificity of the Chinese consumer in knowing exactly what they want (I love the story of the needles) as well not liking any change in the brands they are used to (see the part on the Hamburg horse shoes). I had a conversation with a friend selling B2B goods in today’s China who just had exactly the same experience. If they make any change to the packaging, customers complain as they are not sure if this is truly the original or not. Furthermore, it is common place today to find items in the market that are very close imitations, sometimes even just copies. “When we start to exploit a new product in China, we can always be certain of one thing, and that is that if it is possible to do so some Chinese or Japanese manufacture will start making a similar article and selling it at a cheaper price.” Similarly, the whole chapter “fortunes through profitless sales” is just as true today as it was then.

Management in China receives one full chapter with “Tremble and obey”, and once again Carl Crow’s experience is not far from today. Giving more quotations would just take too much space, but parts about avoidance of responsibility and how to get any decisions made are just hilarious. 400 million customers is definitely a must for anyone interested to work in China. Not bad for a book that is more than 70 years old.

Meet the twin sister

I was writing about an old villa in recent post “Portrait of an old neighbour”. Like many cases in Shanghai 1920’s and 1930’s, the developer did not built one house… but two next to each other. This house has a twin sister, actually located on 132 Route Kaufmann (as opposed to 130 for the old neighbour). I was mentioning in my original post that the building was of high quality and would make a great renovation. As it turns out that the sister house has been fully renovated and is in fact a well known bar, Cotton’s, located in the next house on the street.

Since both houses were nearly identical at origin, comparing pictures taken in both houses gives great ideas on how this old neighbor could be revived into today’s standard. At the same time, it also shows the extend of renovation and transformation that has been done to the house that is now the bar. Most of the renovation was not done by the current house tenant, but a few years before for the previous tenant, a tea house.

The house porch has been little modified except with the addition of an external door. The front steps have also been changed for something shiny and new. Concrete floor (with probably the same circle shape) has been covered with wood floor.

The double wooden shutters have been replaced by a single one, that was probably easier to build than the original one. This also probably means that all windows frames have also been replaced.

renovated inside doors Wood floors on all floors have been changed for new. Although the replacement is nice, is does not have the look nor the quality of the original inlay. As seen on picture left, the inside doors and door frames have old been for new and shiny. Looking at the state of the original ones in the non-renovated version it seems that a good cleaning and a nice wood varnishing would have allowed to keep the original doors that have sustained 80 years of mistreatment. In any case, the replacement fit more or less the original profile though they had a classical touch to a building that is definitely not classical style. Staircase Renovated staircase Addition of a classical touch was also done on the inside balcony. The original one was probably the same as next door… but surely not the current one. It’s interesting how the banister has been transformed by adding under it small colons that were not needed since they did not exist in the original staircase. All in all, the renovation of 132 Route Kaufmann is not really museum class, as the material used do not really match the quality of the original. A different (and out of place) style has been introduced, putting pieces of classical castle style to a 20’s house. It seems the renovation was more following the fantasy of the owner than the original building. However, most of the original design has been kept, keeping the general feeling of the house intact and giving real atmosphere to the bar. One of the rare places with real firewood in Shanghai, Cotton’s is still one of my favorite hangout. While researching these two houses, I realized that there are more similar houses in the neighborhood. More information about them will come in a further post.