Shanghailander

Emily Hahn, The Soong Sisters

The Soong family was clearly the most influential family of Shanghai in the Republican period. Their legend is still felt in many places in Shanghai, bringing with them as many stories real or imaginary. I have read books about them before, but Emily Hahn’s “The Soong Sisters” is the most personal account anyone can find about these three ladies that shaped China.

The book was written in 1941, when the Japanese army had already invaded a large share of China and Chiang Kai Shek government had been forced to move from Nanjing to Hangkow (today’s Wuhan) and later to the distant Sichuan city of Chongqing. The whole government was moved westward, along with foreign representatives and friends as well as any factories that could be transported. Written while the city was being bombed by Japanese planes, the book clearly had a political message trying to make the Chinese governement more personnable and appealing to the full support of Western Countries, in particular the USA. Besides the political aspect, “The Soong Sisters” is also the best documented book about the life of the family. Emily Hahn turbulent lifestyle allowed her to get very close to the Soong family through her love relationship with Chinese poet and publisher Shao Xunmei, which is well documented in “Tara Grescoe’s Shanghai Grand“. Knowing the Soong Sisters personally allowed her to give a great pictures of their personality and oppositions.

Charlie Soong incredible journey to the USA and his education there made him a very singular character in early 20th century China. Although not a Shanghainese, the open city was the only place he could live in China when he came back, taking a house in Nanshi (now part of Huang Pu district). He was a precious aid to Dr Sun Yat Sen, using his bible printing company as a cover for printing political material for the future leader of the Chinese revolution. Giving his daughters an education was already quite a shock for the time, but the top of it was sending them for schooling in the US.

The three sisters attended McTyeire School for Girls in Shanghai (in today Changning district), and graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, United States. They came back transformed, converted to ideas unknown in China, in particular the will to choose their own destiny. Soong Qinling was the first woman to ride a bicycle in Shanghai, before fleeing the family home to get married with Dr Sun Yat Sen. Soong Ailin married Dr HH Kung, who became the finance minister of China for the Kuomintang government, replacing TV Soong (one of the brothers of the Soong sisters) in 1933. Soong Mailing, probably the most well known, got married with Chiang Kai Shek in 1927 in the Majestic Hotel (on today’s Nanjing Xi Lu). She became mostly known as Mme Chiang Kai Shek, a political figure of Republican China.

Emily Hahn’s “The Soong Sister” is a fascinating book giving close contact with these three ladies with an incredible destiny. Definitely a must read for anybody interested in old Shanghai. For details about Emily Hahn’s life, see post “Tara Grescoe’s Shanghai Grand“.

Tasting old Shanghai

Shanghai bakeries are opening in great number in the city center. As discussed in a previous post (see post: First Russian Bakery & Tkachenko), bakeries in old Shanghai were numerous in the French Concession and the International settlement, often coupled with cafes. (see post: Shanghai Coffee Culture). The other source for bread and cake supply were hotel bakeries. Just like today, 5-stars hotels made their own bread and cake and sold them to outside customers. Surprisingly, at least one of the hotel bakery has continued operating all along since the hotel opening. This is one of the little secrets of reviving old Shanghai.

Opened in 1934, Park Hotel was the Chinese answer to the Cathay Hotel on the Bund. The 5-star hotel built on the Shanghai racecourse obviously had its own bakery making bread and cakes fulfilling the need of the hotels guests. Park Hotel was famous for its pastry, in particular the palmiers (named after the French name of palm trees, as they look sort of the same). This particular cake is called “Hu Die Su” or butterfly cookies in Chinese. Despite the change of management after 1949 liberation, those cookies continued being made along the years. My wife, Jiajia, fondly recalls her father going to the hotel specially in the 1980’s to buy her the cookies, that were the top of luxury available at that time. This products survived the years with a nearly untouched recipe and is still available today.

The secret passage is the Park Hotel bakery shop on the left side of the building. Although not really advertised, there is clearly a faithful crowd willing to come and buy the delicacies coming directly from a distant past. Sunday afternoon is peak time, with people queuing outside the shop. The best seller is clearly the palmier, with old ladies buying a few bags at a time. Ordering in Shanghainese is nearly compulsory and the shop fills up with “Yi bo wu die su” (A bag of palmiers) being the magic words. Other cakes are also available including almond cookies, croissants, cream puffs. I have to admit that they difficultly compete in term of taste with modern 5 star hotels or the numerous modern bakeries in Shanghai, but the hordes of customers do not seem to mind. Along with having lunch at Deda Cafe, eating the palmiers of Park hotel is experiencing Shanghai history by tasting it.

Follow this link for more posts about Park Hotel.

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Thanks for giving us our city back

Shanghai World expo 2010 attracted the eyes of the world to our city. Thousands came from abroad to see it, but millions traveled within China to attend. This gigantic tourism fair was a great opportunity to introduce the world to many people that had never seen it before. Just like the expos from the beginning of the century it offered a window to the world for many, most of them eager to discover it. In that sense it was a great success and will mark the mind of millions.

Preparation for the expo took years and was surely not confined to the expo site. The whole city was painted fresh, including many of the old colonial buildings. I have heard many time that the expo deadline was sometimes an excuse for demolishing old relics faster, but it’s not always that clear cut. The destroyed districts were doomed anyway and the attention to the city allowed some renovation to take place, at least on the outside of the buildings.

The expo drew millions to the expo site, many of them staying over in Shanghai or in the surrounding cities. For many visitors it was the first time in Shanghai and the city itself also attracted crowds. Like in any cities, there are some focal points that one must visit when coming in, including the Bund and Nanjing Road. After the daily visit to the expo site, most of the visitors went to admire the re-developed Bund and the lights of Pudong. The crowd covered the whole area making the traffic in this crucial part of the city nearly impossible. Moreover, buses were occupying most of the street space, pushing other vehicles around and creating giant traffic jams. The same happened to the end of Nanjing Road that almost turned pedestrian every night. Of all it is now gone and Shanghainese can now enjoy the Bund and the whole area without being engulfed into a sea of people.

The expo also clearly showed the staggering difference between the sophisticated and urbanized Shanghainese, and crowds from the country side. Most of those people had little idea on how to behave is such a big city, just like crossing street crossing and simple politeness. Driving was also an issue as cars from the surroundings provinces flocked the cities, often blocking the traffic while figuring the way to go. Just like Parisians often complain about “provincial drivers” in Paris, Shanghai cab drivers had little patience for the out of town people. Just like others major cities in the world, Shanghai is quite different from the rest of the country, and the contrast was never so blatant as during the expo.

Fortunately, Shanghai Expo 2010 has been a success, leaving a positive durable impact on the city. I am still disappointed that although the expo took place in Shanghai, no mention was done within it about Shanghai history and its special relationship with abroad… but the millions of people looking at the city and discovering will surely have a long lasting effect. Finally, the crowds are now gone, leaving us some time and space to enjoy the city again and all its new developments. Thank you for giving us our city back.

Man’s Fate in Shanghai

Old Shanghai was an inspiration for writers, some of them never having actually set foot in the city. The most famous book is probably 1933’s Andre Malraux “La condition humaine”, translated as Man’s fate in English.

Man’s Fate takes place in 1927, during the Northern Expedition when the Kuomintang (nationalist party) armies along with their allies re-conquer the main part of China. After 1911’s revolution, the central government in Beijing quickly lost all control of the Chinese territories when several provincial lords took over their provincial armies and started to conquer their neighbours. Nationalist and Communist parties had been allied, a number of Russian advisors helping the Kuomintang.

At the same time, Russian advisors where also helping the communist party to spread the revolution among the workers population in the large cities in particular Wuchang (South of today’s Wuhan) and Shanghai. In 1927, while the armies of the Northern Expedition where approaching, the Communist started massive strikes to try and take over the city. The Kuomintang used gangsters to break the strikes and take back the city. Many of the communist leaders were killed on the current site of the Longhua Cemetery. From that point on, Nationalists and Communists started to fight the civil war.

The novel takes place against this background, as the main character wants to assassinate Chiang Kai Shek to stop him taking over Shanghai. All characters are linked to him and this action. Andre Malraux never actually came to Shanghai, and the novel lacks in substance about the city, describing as hot and humid in March which is most often not the case. As there is little attention for the city itself, the novel is centered on the characters, some of them being inspired by real people.

Kyo who leads the uprising of the communist forces in Shanghai is probably inspired by Zhou Enlai who was actually leading the communist party and the strikes in Shanghai at that time. Living in the French Concession, he nearly escaped being captured by the French police at one point before becoming the long serving prime minister of China under Mao Zedong. Since Zhou Enlai studied in Paris in the 1920’s, it is even possible that him and Malraux actually met in the French capital.

The other character clearly inspired by a real person was Vologuine, the Russian advisor to the communist who in real life was Mikhail Borodin, a soviet agent who helped both the Kuomintang and the Chinese communist party in the 1920’s. It is clear that Borodin helped Zhou Enlai and the party for the Shanghai uprising.

Former Madier residence, today Shanghai Art & Craft Museum

Finally, the director of the French Chamber of commerce, called Ferral in the book, was probably inspired by Henry Madier at that time. The former residence of the director is now the Shanghai art & craft museum.

Man’s fate is not so much about Shanghai as about the fate of all the characters. It was much acclaimed when published and received the Goncourt Price, the highest price in French literature, in 1933.

New Heng Shan Cinema

Fake art deco or Fako in Shanghai was discussed in a previous post and continues to rise. This post is about a very fine brand new example, the New Heng Shan Cinema. This movie theater never really got much attention, as the original building was a concrete stack probably from the 1950’s or 60’s (see picture right). As far as I know, there was no cinema there ealier as this part of the French Concession was pretty much the country side, and then an industrial area. The cinema was remodeled or rebuilt in 2010, giving a new fako monument to this part of Shanghai.

hengshancinema02

There is a clear inspiration from Art Deco theaters as seen in the USA or in Australia for this one. The building is also inspired by the Grand Theater on People Square (designed by Laszlo Hudec), the Majestic theater as well as the now destroyed Roxy and Metropol theaters on Nanjing Xi Lu.

The very geometrical shape with long line and curve really matches the period’s style with a modern twist. Even the hallway has art deco proportions and feeling, although there is very little decoration there. The side also uses a very geometrical shape and curves to guide the eye and visitors to the main building. It is particularly impressive at night when lighten. New technology in lighting has been perfectly used to create a combination of historical and modern feeling. Old art deco cinemas in Shanghai were very crafted pieces of architecture, including exquisite decorations in the inside, doors and hallways that are not always reproduced in today’s buildings including this one. Still the architecture of this one building transports us to a trip to Old Shanghai, while keeping touch with modernity.

Although fako buildings are not always great, New Hengshan cinema is a success, one great addition to this historic area. It is located 838 Hengshan lu, near Xu Jia Hui.

Looking at the other side

Treaty ports following the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing and 1858 Treaty of Tianjin where mostly located on China Mainland, but some also opened in Taiwan. Our recent trip to the Island was an excellent opportunity to visit them. Between the concrete buildings and the Republican style pagodas, we found a bit of colonial architecture and even some art deco pieces.

The main treaty port was Danshui near Taipei, where a British Consulate was established. It was opened on a the basis of an old Dutch fort. The architecture is very colonial victorian style (see picture). They are very similar to the early buildings on the Bund that are long gone as well as house in Fujian, in particular Xiamen and Quanzhou. This is not surprising as cultural ties between Taiwan and Fujian are very strong. The other treaty Port in North Taiwan was Keelung, which we did not have the chance to go to.
The South of the Island also had a treaty port in Anping. The main trade house was Tait & Co. Their merchant house has now been turned in a museum.

Tait & Co former house in Tainan (photo wikipedia)

As Japan took over Taiwan after the treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, most colonial buildings were built by the Japanese including the presidential palace and other buildings from the same period. Similar buildings were erected in Tainan including the government palace. The same treaty also permitted manufacturing in the foreign concessions in China, that was one of the creation point of foreign manufacturing in Shanghai.

taiwan002 — Sunrise on Alishan mountains

The Japanese authorities also built the famous Alishan mountain railways. Although only the top section is open at the moment, it is key to wonderful view of the sunrise from the Mountain top (above picture). We splet in the old part of the Alishan House hotel, an old wood building from the early 1900’s creating a great historic atmosphere.

As most of the Island was rebuilt after 1949, we saw only 2 art Deco buildings both in Tainan. The main one was the Tainan Fire Station that is classical art deco or streamline design. It is highly recognizable with its tower, similar to some of the fire stations in Shanghai with a very slightly different style. The other building was the Tainan police station.

The main attraction of Taipei is the orientalist style, also called neo-Confucian or republican style. This will be the topic of a further post.

Shanghai Shanghai

Watching today’s Chinese TV is not always very rewarding as content is often of various quality. Shanghai’s main commercial TV station Dragon TV is well known for its many talk shows, TV series as well as the current hit “China Talent” or 中国达人秀 . The channel recently started broadcasting a new TV series called “Shanghai Shanghai” or 上海上海. Taking place in old Shanghai, it naturally attracted my interest as well as helping my language skills.

The show tells the story of imaginary entrepreneur and businessman Liu Gong Zhen, using it to show various episodes of Shanghai history. It integrates historical elements and city symbols such as the cabarets and casino competitions into the story. One of the main point is the famous entertainment center and cabaret Great World or 大世界 on the corner of Yanan Lu and Xizhang lu that recently been renovated. It also includes historical facts of the period as well political turmoil of the time. The production spent a lot of time, money and energy to make this a flagship of Dragon TV.

The 40 episodes series need 40 million RMB for production and the effort really shows. The decor and costumes are most often right on the spot. Outside scenes were filmed in gardens of old Shanghai villa and the decor of inside scenes was very well studied to give a real feel for the period. Historians have been clearly involved in set and dresses design and some of the dialogs are in played Shanghai dialect adding again to the whole atmosphere.

Most importantly, the show manages to stir away from too much politics, being a great history lesson for many people in a way that is mostly unbiased for China standards. Heroes and villains are not always on the same side and this adds to the credibility of the whole show. It also avoids the current wave of special effects and over-the-top fights. Mostly focusing on people’s emotions and relations, it manages to captivate the audience, while giving a new and much brighter light to the city history. As Shanghai is re-discovering or re-inventing its past, the series creates a new mythology for the city.

Shanghai Shanghai is a great show cleverly captivating people as well as sending a great message to Shanghainese about their city’s past. I hope a DVD version with English subtitles will be made as it could open a foreign career for the program, or at least allow the many foreigners living in Shanghai to watch it. Although attention has been paid to details and most of the story takes place in the former foreign concessions I have yet to see a foreigner on screen. This little point would have been a great point to the show, underlining Shanghai history as an international city.

The rise of fako

Shanghai Art Deco heritage has been rediscovered in the last 10 -15 years. After decades of neglect and many destructions in the great name of progress, old buildings facades have been renovated in the last year. Expo 2010 has not only been the opportunity for destructions (see post ‘Farewell to Shanghai General Hospital‘), it also has seen a number of renovations putting light on some of the architecture jewels (see post “somebody finally got it“). Most posts in this blog are focused on Shanghai past, particularly in the 1920’s and 1930’s. This post is a little deviation from the usual theme, focusing on Shanghai today’s architecture.

Shanghai original skyscraper boom took place in the late 1920’s – 1930’s, with a number of these buildings still remaining today like the Cathay Hotel (today Peace Hotel) on the Bund, Broadway Mansions on the Suzhou Creek and Grosvenor house on Maoming lu. The tallest building erected in that period was Park Hotel designed by Hungarian Architect Laszlo Hudec, 83.8 meters high with 22 stories. Park Hotel is a great art deco example, inspired by the Radiator Building in New York. It was the tallest building in Asia when it was built in 1934 and remained the tallest building in Shanghai until the 1980’s. From that point on, Shanghai new fashion became mostly white tiles looking just like a bathroom and blue (?) windows. Buildings from this period often look like a Frankenstein version of Art Deco, imitating the tiling and geometrical lines of the style but transforming it into something horrible. The next period was about glass and steel from the 1990’s followed by architecture wonders that are now all over LuJiaZui, the end of Nanjing Dong lu and other areas. Besides contemporary architecture of frameless glass bubbles, another style has been recently on the rise in specific parts of the city.

Limitations by law of the height of some building as well as renovation of older structures from the 1980’s as brought back an Art Deco inspiration to the city. As Shanghai Art Deco architecture was rediscovered, new architecture in the old areas was forced to fit in, using what is called fake art deco or fako. This is particularly true on the Bund where Peninsula as well as the brand new administration building next to the old Russo-Chinese bank were designed to match the surrounding style. Peninsula was allowed to dominate the Bund while still keeping an harmony with the neighboring buildings.

The other area is the old French Concession, where small concrete buildings that were real eye sores have been turned into fako buildings somehow matching the surrounding environment. I am not sure I like fako so much as I definitely prefer the original, but at least it is nice to have an harmony within an area. I have also seen a number of house complexes that are just like anyone else, except that they have some kind of art deco-ish decoration on top. I am much less a fan of those, but at least they keep some kind of atmosphere to Shanghai. The newly found Art Deco craze in Shanghai could be the perfect backdrop for an Art Deco festival like the one in Napier, New Zealand… though this is probably still very very far away.

Before Tatler’s and Time Out

Shanghai guides like today’s Urbanatomy already existed in Old Shanghai, such as “all about Shanghai” and “Tael Lights” that I wrote about in older posts. One of the document I recently found is much rarer as it is a magazine about Shanghai night life. Long before websites like SmartShanghai, magazines similar to That’s Shanghai and Time Out were informing the public about events and nightlife in Old Shanghai. Picture left is the August issue of “Shanghai Guide” in English or “上海生活” (Shanghai Sheng Huo or Shanghai Life in Chinese). The magazine was started in 1936, published on the 17th day of the month.

Shanghai Guide was focused on many topics that are still part of today’s magazines. The cover definitely has a Art Deco / Modernist feeling to it, (already) displaying skyscrapers that were supposed to come soon to Shanghai after the incredible height of the brand new Park Hotel. Too bad Shanghai had to wait 90 years for them to be actually built . The artist impression of a modern and wonderful shopping center towered by a sky scrapper is really not much different from the ones in today’s Shanghai.

The life of Chinese stars was also one of the main anchor including quite a few pictures concentrated at the beginning of the magazine. Since this is the August issue, the pictures of this month are Chinese stars in swimsuits lazying around a swimming pool. It’s actually not different from a That’s Shanghai featuring one of the summer’s pool party in town during the hot months. Although taken nearly 70 years ago, the pictures show that fashion then was also not so different from today’s. It showed a little less of skin, but was surely something new and hot for the time, clearly very different from fashion in the 50’s, 60’s or 70’s in China. Shanghai was already the capital of glamour in China, just like it is again.

The magazine also contains a list of the new movies with a summary. No Imax and 3D effects then, but most of these movies are Hollywood productions just released in Shanghai, including “The Maltese Falcon” with Humphrey Bogart later featured in Casablanca. This icon of “film noir” was released in 1941 in the USA, and soon after in Shanghai. Stories and articles are also a large part of the magazine, along with advertising. They display Chinese miraculous drugs curing everything, pharmacies all kind of remedies but also many foreign and Chinese luxury products including Tissot Watches, Wasson electric fans as well as many brands of British and American cigarettes. This ancestor of the current lifestyle magazines looks very much like today’s ones.

Bad news from the sisters

This house is supposed to be protected...

Shanghai history can be a great source of joy, but it can also be depressing. I was quite optimistic earlier this year with my post “Somebody finally got it”. Despite pre-expo destruction of the Shanghai General Hospital I somehow felt that the rise of Old Shanghai as a marketing tool would also help its preservation. I appear to have been just wrong.

First of all, my view that compound developers were now forced to keep some of the old buildings on their ground has proven to be hope only. The house mentioned in the post on Maoming Lu has been kept for a while only standing in the empty field… only to be destroyed a few days ago. This particular plot will be used to build a metro station… at least generating something good for the city besides cash for the developer.

The saddest piece of news is about the house one 130 Route Kaufman (130 Anting lu nowadays). It has now been completely ruined. People occupying it actually moved out a few months after I wrote the “portrait of an old neighbor” and the house remained empty and closed up for a short period of time. I feared the worst and the worst came. Since I live opposite from it I can witness the disaster every day. The house has been reduced to its bare structure and all external decorations have now been hammered down or covered with concrete (see first picture). The main structure will apparently be kept but that’s about it. All windows and doors have been removed to be replaced by new ones which style has nothing to do with the original. I could not get in, but if none of the outside decoration has survived, I am pretty sure that none of the inside will have survived either.

The architects (not sure they deserve such a name though) have basically done to this 1930’s protected (?) Leonard wonder that same that they do to office blocks. They tear done to the bare frame and rebuilt it in the new fashion. I have seen it work wonders on old office buildings but on this old jewel it is nearly criminal. I’m sure the building will be transformed in some brand new and fashionable restaurant or night club, after having the interior covered with plastic, mirrors or any of the cheap artifacts. I don’t know how much the new developer paid for the house, but I guess current market value would place this building at about 100m RMB, withouth considering the massive work done in it. Too bad that a small portion of this money was not used for actual preservation. This is just like the destruction of the interior of the old Paramount night club (see post “Paramount Suicide” for more information). I had heard before that the plates on some of the buildings (see second picture) are an indication of history only. They are surely not a guarantee that those buildings will be protected. There are not many that many private work from Vesseyre & Leyonard remaining in Shanghai and we have just lost one of the least altered.

Fortunately, this house is just one of the sisters. Having explored the surroundings I have found 9 of them.3 are located on Route Kaufmann (128, 130 and 132). The others are located on the parallel route Cohen (today GaoAn Lu). Two of them are on the cross of Route Cohen and Route Frelupt (today corner of Gaolan Lu and Jiang Guo lu).The last three remaining are down Route Cohen. The raw on Route Cohen is not identical but symmetric to the one on Route Kaufmann. Hopefully, they will not all have the same fate of the 130, but I’m not too optimistic about that either.