Shanghailander

Catching up with the Mermaid

We met last year at the Shanghai Expo, having a short encounter at the Danish Pavillon. She had traveled all this way to honor our city, so I was looking forward to meet her again in her normal home, Copenhagen. The meeting was arranged with a the help of a Danish friend in Shanghai who designed me a tour of the city to occupy my half day there. The little Mermaid from Andersen’s tale was there, like waiting for me, admired and photographed by every single tourist coming to the Danish capital. Her only ever travel was to the Shanghai Expo, since then she has been put back in place. Copenhagen is one of these European cities I always wanted to visit, but never really had the opportunity until this trip.

Feeling the air of Copenhagen spring and walking the streets of the Danish Capital, it feels really far far away from Shanghai bustling crowds. The mix of old city with brand new Scandinavian design really creates something unique. Like most European cities, most buildings are only a few storeys high, a nice change from sometimes oppressing Shanghai’s forest of high rises. Public transport is very well organised and highly effective, including underground, buses and boats travelling up the canals. The city center is not so large and can be walked around in half a day. Copenhagen is also famous for its parks, which are large and numerous creating a the feeling of nature right next to the city center. Just out of the plane from Shanghai, the difference was striking and painfully reminding how far from nature Shanghai inhabitants are.

Just like Shanghai, Copenhagen had a development phase in the 1930’s adding Art Deco buildings to the landscape. Copenhagen Art Deco, like Scandinavian design today, is more on the plain side than Shanghai (or New York) flamboyance. It is much more linked to the German Bauhaus style, but similar geometrical shapes as well as direction lines can found. The most seen buildings are surely the 1930’s Langebro brige and customs house on the harbor. However, the district developed in the 1930’s and built in Art Deco style is more about Christianhavn with a number a housing developments behind Langebro Bridge.

This short stay in Copenhagen was a stopover on the way to Greenland, the most opposite place to Shanghai on Earth I guess. Pictures from this fabulous trip are available at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24266052@N00/sets/

More Brands of Old Shanghai

This post is a short follow-up on post “Brands of Old Shanghai”

The March 2011 issue of That’s Shanghai contains an interesting article on one of my favorite brand of Old Shanghai, Wahson (or HuaSheng) the main Chinese manufacturers of old electric fans that are now one of the symbols of 1930’s Shanghai (along with old phones and bankers lamps).

The brand of cosmetics Shanghai Vive, that is supposed to be the oldest brand of cosmetics in Shanghai (with a short interuption between 1949 and 2009) has produced a new promotion video that can be found at: http://www.hercity.com/show/201007/11563.html

Clearly, I am not the only one to see a comeback in Old Shanghai brands.

Return to the Sassoon House

With its tower dominating the river, the Sassoon House has been the focal point of the Bund since its opening in 1929. Owned by the famous Shanghai real estate mogul Sir Victor Sassoon, it was of very advanced design for its time. The Art Deco tower was to become the place to stay in Shanghai hosting the Cathay Hotel (today’s Peace Hotel) and the most famous building of the city, being only challenged after decades of domination by the skyscrapers in opposite Lu Jia Zui. The building originally hosted a shopping arcade, offices of the Sassoon company, the Cathay hotel and the private apartments of Sir Victor Sasoon.

The building had seen many renovation of dubious quality over the years and the current owner JingJiang hotel has been known for ruinovating great buildings of old Shanghai. I went to the last jazz bar concert in 2007 wondering what would come out of the grande dame of the Bund. Numerous rumors went around during the renovation as very few people actually could see how the work developed. The shopping gallery and the hotel reopened partly in 2010, with the last suites being about to be finished in March 2011.

The famous glass dome is back to full view

Being quite fearful of the result, I kind of postponed my return to the Cathay Hotel until I took a guided tour and was strike by the result. The most surprising part is surely the rotunda. I never quite realized how much of the building had been hidden before. The document below is a floor plan of the Sassoon House ground floor and the hotel’s restoration has brought it back. The West Arcade is full of shops again although the new shops may not all be of the class that used to be there Old Shanghai time. Interestingly, this is where the rejuvenated Shanghai Cosmetics Brand Shanghai Vive (mentioned in post “Brands of Old Shanghai”) has established its flagship store… just in the same spot as the Peach & Co shop seen on the map.

The Central Arcade has also been reopened and the main attraction is surely the magnificent Art Deco glass dome that has been restored to its former glory. The rose marble walls of the lobby have also been exposed again, but the luxury shops in that part of the arcade have not reopened but covered by mediocre silver sculptures. Part of the Central Arcade is now the hotel reception. The Cathay Hotel Lounge also found back its place, being transformed again back from the old hotel lobby into a stylish cafe. No orchestra is playing for afternoon “The Dancant” anymore , and the furniture used is surely not antiques but the place still has an atmosphere. The jazz bar has come back to its place before the renovation, the Cathay Bar.

The long corridor leading to the waterfront has also been restored. Although the decors described by Peter Hibbard in his book “The Bund” cannot be replaced, the former entrance of the Cathay hotel has found back a lot of the original majesty. Originally, this was the main entrance of the hotel, with guest disembarking from ships and crossing the street to find comfort and civilization again, away from the noise and crowds of the city. This entrance has virtually not been used for decades as it is particularly bad from a feng shui point of view. Having a river in front of your business’ main door can only lead your money to flow away… something that neither the original architect nor Sir Victor Sassoon took into consideration when creating the building.

Peter Hibbard wrote a book dedicated to the former Cathay Hotel (today’s peace hotel), Peace at the Cathay. Since renovation, the Cathay hotel has been the location for numerous parties including the closing diner of the 2015 World Congress on Art Deco in Shanghai, as well as the first gala diner of the French history in China society.

Losses and Joys of old Shanghai

Paul French’s blog (www.chinarhyming.com) recently posted a list of the historical buildings destroyed in 2010. Shanghai historical heritage destruction has not been stopped by Expo… far from it. This is quite sad really.

http://www.chinarhyming.com/2011/02/03/what-we-lost-2010-shanghais-architectural-losses-last-year/

On a more fun note, the Shanghai Literary Festival is running at full speed at the moment. The event is one of the highlight of culture in Shanghai. I saw a great speech by Robert Nield about his book “The China Coast, Trade and the first treaty ports” during a lunch event today (a review of the book will be published as soon as I have finished reading it). There will be 2 more sessions of particular interest for lovers of Old Shanghai. The first one will be coming Saturday, moderated by Tess Johnston, starting at 11:00 in the glamour bar: “Shanghailanders and Shanghainese: Where they lived, worked and played“.The other one on next Saturday, hosted by Lynn Pan focusing on Zhang Ailing. Both are not to be missed. Tickets are available from www.mypiao.com .

Bundwalk empire

The roaring twenties was a period of economic growth and recovery from the horrors of WWI. WWI fueled Shanghai growth by cutting supplies from Europe and the return of links with Europe brought new opportunities to the city. In the USA, it was also the time of alcohol prohibition from 1920 to 1933. Manufacturing and transportation of alcohol was forbidden, creating enormous wealth for gangs controlling this highly profitable traffic. This is the background of the TV series Boardwalk Empire. The show is based on the real story of Atlantic City godfather’s and county treasurer Enoch “Nucky” Johnson. The series’ main character is Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, played by Steve Buscemi. Supported by a mob of gangsters and other shaddy characters, he fight to maintain his grip over the city. Like most series nowadays, the show has many sub-plots including love and hate stories and many unexpected events. It is highly popular and a great series to watch.

The show’s main attraction for me was obviously the look and feel of the show, taking place at the same period than the one interesting me in Shanghai. An enormous amount of work as been done to recreate the roaring twenties look and style, as well as a 1920’s Atlantic city. With famous director Martin Scorsese and broascast on a major Channel in the US (HBO), the budget for the series was one of the largest at about 18 million USD for the pilot… and it really shows. Exterior scenes were shot on a rebuilt boardwalk complete by a lot of CGI as shown in the short movie Boardwalk Empire VFX Breakdowns of Season 1. In depth research was used for rebuilding the 20’s atmosphere through decors, costumes and accessories… and it really shows. Roaming through a bygone era’s Atlantic city, I barely can stop thinking how great a Shanghai series with the same money and attention to details spent in would be. As I wrote before, there has been several TV series themed after Old Shanghai, like the excellent Shanghai Shanghai, but Boardwalk empire is still steps further.

Beyond the time period, the story of Boardwalk empire also has parallels in Shanghai. As alcohol trafficking generated immense profits for gangs in America, opium trafficking generated immense profits for gangs in Shanghai. The master of Shanghai was Du Yue Sheng, who was reigning over the city’s underworld as well as becoming a well respected anchor of the community. Just like Nucky Thompson, he managed to rise in the political system becoming one of the Chinese members of the Municipal council of the French Concession. Number of books have been written about him and he still is very well known in Shanghai. Similarly, he was known as a benefactor of the city to many, covering the dark side of his activity with largesses and a iron fist holding his “Bundwalk Empire”. However, the fascination for the USA for their roaring twenties gangster is not so popular in Shanghai and we have yet to see a movie or a tv series where the hero would be a Shanghai gangster.

Preserving the past – Global Times Interview

Expo 2010 was a great year for media exposure about Shanghai. Hundreds of journalists came to the city looking for their Shanghai topic, and a few came to me for interviews (see Media cover page). I got the opportunity to be on French TV a few times, and to be filmed for a Chinese TV. It seems like the old Shanghai theme still attracts interest as I was interviewed by Chinese Newspaper Global Times about my passion for Shanghai history and my (growing) collection of documents from that era.

The journalist got it pretty right apart from the fact that the largest share of the blog’s readers are actually in Shanghai. In any case, it is always weird to find oneself in the paper, but hopefully this will increase interest about Old Shanghai and help preserve the city.

The article can be found at:http://shanghai.globaltimes.cn/people/2011-02/627483.html

Shanghai Saga, John Pal

John Pal arrived in Shanghai from the UK to be employed by the Imperial Customs in 1920. At that time customs administration was delegated to foreigners, initially under the control of Sir Robert Hart. All of the customs officers were foreigners mostly British but also French, Italians, Scandinavians and Japanese. John Pal’s experience of the customs services organisation and his daily life make the book a really interesting read. China had only a 5% duty for import AND export thus, “Any Tom, Dick or Harry could afford to drink the finest wines and puff the choicest of imported cigards” and “liquor was so cheap that rum runners came from the United States” to buy liquor in Shanghai to export it back to the USA. At the same time, Shanghai saw a massive smuggling activity, mostly for opium and other drugs. John Pal certainly gives a first had account on trying to stop smuggling “continually up against some of the world’s trickiest smugglers”. “Ships from certain countries, or port of call, were always suspected of bringing narcotics” including Vladivostock and Haiphong in French IndoChina (today Vietnam). In his duty, John Pal also worked on the export side, inspecting ships departing and making sure that only the declared goods were loaded in.

John Pal left the customs administration in 1927, as China was taking back control of its administration… but his story does not stop here. He then became a reporter for the Shanghai Times, being invited to many parties and official celebrations. Each country was throwing parties for national days of celebration and other opportunities. “If a man cared to, he could live on the free handouts from Shanghai’s annual celebration – and live high. The numerous nationals of our city magnified their celebrative days into grandiose fireworks and champagne binges.” This does not seem so different from today permanent corporate and national parties occupying a lot of people’s social agenda. He also took a job as kernel manager for the French Canidrome, getting involved in the grey world of gambling in Shanghai. John Pal left Shanghai in 1939 as the War in Europe seemed inevitable and he could see how Japan would turn on Shanghai. I don’t think he lived long enough to see the new Shanghai as it is today. I am sure he would be amazed of the difference between Old Shanghai and the city nowadays but also of some the striking similarities. Somehow Shanghai spirit just never changed.

Shanghailanders leaving the city in the late 1930’s and 1940’s often left a home that they could never return to. Exiled from their Shanghai motherland, they recreated a life in other places, back in their original home country or moving on to new places like the USA and Australia. Life in Shanghai had such a strong mark on them that they could never forger the incredible city they left. Many wrote memoirs, creating books that were a true picture of Shanghai life, or sometimes mere fiction mixed with a few true facts. Besides Shanghai Saga, I also reviewed Sin City from North China Daily News reporter Ralph Shaw in an earlier post. It turned out that both Brits were probably competitors.

Shanghai Saga is an excellent source for information about Old Shanghai, although it was very rare and difficult to find. The book has been reprinted by Earnshaw books. More details in post “Shanghai Saga republished“.

Hung Ying Library, 1413 Avenue Joffre

Located at the corner of Huai Hai Xi lu and Fuxing Xi Lu, the Xu Hui Art Museum is located in an old mansion renovated around 2005. Hosting various art exhibition, it is quite different from the previous tenant of the building… a Sichuan Restaurant. There is little in English about the history of this building and its original occupant, but I happened to find more by complete random. Here is the story of the house located on 1413 Avenue Joffre, and its uncommon owner Ye Hong Ying.

It all started in an antic market, when I encountered a stack of bills all for the same location, 1413 Avenue Joffre. They were normal utility bills from the 1930’s including electricity bills from the “Compagnie Francaise de tramways et d’eclairage electrique de Shanghai” and “Shanghai Telephone Company”. With them also came along a significant number of subscriptions invoice to major English Newspapers published in Shanghai, starting with the most important one, the North-China Daily News. They also included other titles such as the Shanghai Herald, the Shanghai Times and The China Weekly Review. Finally, I also found bills from famous publishing companies such as Kelly & Walsh, The Commercial Press, The China Press, as well as “International Booksellers Limited”, a bookstore on Museum Road. Since all the bills were addressed to “Hong Ying Library”, it was clear that the location was a library in the 1930’s but I had very little information about the establishment or who Hong Ying was.

No results were found on the English internet, however the Chinese one gave the answer and details about this gentleman and his library. Born in 1860 in Xiamen, Ye Hong Ying moved to Shanghai with his family in 1867. He went to Japan to learn the trade of seafood in 1877, coming back to Shanghai in 1881. From that point on he became a major trader in sea foods, abalones and other sea delicacies, as well as exporter or various commodities. By the mid-30’s his empire included cotton mills as well as banks and insurance companies. He spoke Chinese, Japanese and probably English as well.

In 1933, he set aside the amount of 50 million Chinese Dollars to create a English language library. The establishment became known as the “British Library” or Hong Ying Library. It officially opened in 1942, containing more that 150.000 books, 3600 magazines and subscriptions to many dailies (including the ones mentioned above) . Unfortunately, it did not last for long as the content was transfered to the Shanghai library in the 1950’s. Along with the Xu Jia Hui library and the library of the Royal Asiatic Society, the British Library was a major source for English books in old Shanghai. Most importantly, it was open by Chinese people who were eager to expose their country to the world, bringing the knowledge right where it could be most useful. As such, it was surely a place often visited by modern English speaking Chinese and probably foreigners as well.

More info (in Chinese) at: http://baike.baidu.com/view/1497903.htm

Rue Massenet to Sinan Lu

Street names mark the lives of people and are very difficult to change in the common mind. There are numerous example of streets that reverted back to their old names after political changes, notably in Eastern Europe. As in all cities, street names in Shanghai carry the city’s history with them.

massenet

Most large streets in the old concessions were created with reference to the British and French powers of the day. Each street had a foreign name and a Chinese name that sometimes had a similar sound, sometimes not. Today’s Nanjing Xi Lu was called Bubbling Well Road, thanks to the springing fountain that was somewhere near Jing An temple. Chinese called it (very pragmatic as always) Jing An Si Lu as the road was leading to Jing An Temple. The big change came in 1949, with the communist ideology takeover. Avenue Joffre (or Sha Fei lu in Chinese) became known as Huai Hai Lu, one of the most important communist victory of the civil war. Avenue Edouard VII / Avenue Joffre became known as Yanan Lu, the refuge of Mao Ze Dong during the 1930’s. Route des soeurs became Rui Jin Lu, the location of the first communist republic in China in the 1920’s.

It took me a while to spot the ones that did not change… and there are surely some that I am missing. The first one that I found was Route Cohen in the former French Concession. Cohen being obviously a Jewish name, the street was surely named after an important French Jewish citizen of Changhai, but until now I did not find who he was. Some suggested that it could be Morris Abraham “Two-gun” Cohen who was a famous aide-de-camp to Sun Yat Sen, but I find it very unlikely. The translation of Cohen in Chinese is GaoLan… just like Gao Lan Lu today which is the former route Cohen. Interestingly enough, Route Cohen kept its name, the Chinese name continues to be used today.

The most interesting so far is the story of Rue Massenet. While Route Cohen is a 1930’s street in the back of the French Concession, Sinan lu is an early street probably built around 1912. It is contemporary of the crossing Rue Vallon (today Nanchang Lu), named after the first person to fly an airplane over Shanghai sky and died in a plane crash in 1911. Vallon’s name did not survive, but Massenet’s did. Sinan in Shanghainese is pronounced “seney”, sounding very similar to (Mas)senet in French, so the Rue Massenet / Seney lu became Sinan lu in today’s Shanghai. Through the ages and name changes, Rue Massenet’s Chinese name survived and is still used today. The Massenet name has resurfaced recently, being used for the fancy “Hotel Massenet” part of renovation project “Sinan Mansions”. The survival of Massenet’s name is probably due to the personality of Jules Massenet, a very famous French music composer in late XIX and early XXth century. He reached world fame thanks to his opera, in particular Manon and Werther and died in 1912 around the time Sinan Lu was built. There are Rue Massenet in Paris and other French cities as well. His style went out of fashion soon after his death with all the changes in life and fashion that followed WWI. His name is only known today by music specialist and although his work is still played abroad, he is virtually unkown in today’s France… but his name has survived in Shanghai. Another reason for the street name never to be changed is probably that both Sun Yat Sen and Zhu En Lai lived on the street at the time of the street name change. Sometimes the wave of change just stops right before the rulers doorsteps.

Shanghai flashbacks

First of all, I want to wish all readers a happy new year with this first post of 2011.

This entry is not so much about Shanghai, but about sight, locations and feelings that reminded me of Old Shanghai during my recent trip to Europe. Navigating old Shanghai is often about trying to find in Shanghai, buildings and artifacts that are similar to the ones from Europe and other parts of the world. Coming from Shanghai, a trip to Europe becomes the opportunity to look at European cities, looking for Shanghai flashbacks. Such trips are also often opportunities to go back to places I have lived in, as well as to re-connect with friends and family. This one was no exception.

First step of the trip was in Budapest where I have lived many years. Most buildings there are either no-classical, or art Nouveau as most of the city was built in the late XIXth century and early XXth century. Post WWI was not a great time for Hungary, so the city has very few art deco building, though I managed to spot one near Moskva Ter, one of the more recent part of the city. Art Deco there is very recognizable, with the lack of ornaments compared to the neighboring earlier buildings, as well as the use of geometrical lines. It could argue that this building is also Bauhaus style, which sometimes looks very similar to art deco. Funny enough, Art Deco in Shanghai was mostly developed by a Hungarian architect in the same period, Laszlo Hudec. I discovered more Art Deco buildings in a later trip to the city, see post “Budapest Art Deco” for more details.

My time in Budapest was mostly about spending time in cafes, enjoying friend company. When I came to Shanghai from Budapest in 2004, one of the things I missed the most were cafes, the right places to meet friends and spend a few hours in the afternoon. At that time, the only approximation was Xin Tian Di’s Starbucks, and later Vienna Cafe (that I like so much because it reminds me of Budapest). 7 years later, Shanghai has a large choice of bars and cafes, often located in the old houses of the French Concession. Cafe culture has come back to Shanghai, and I love it… this is what I think sitting on some of the Budapest Cafes.

The trip continued to Lyon, that was built much earlier than art deco time but a number of art deco building can be found. One of the best example is surely the “hotel college” in Saint-Jean. Located in the medieval district, the 30’s building is just out of place in the decor, probably as much Broadway Mansions or Savoy Apartments was when they were built. The first element to be seen is the incredible art Deco door, a wonderful work of iron, similar to some found in Shanghai. The building itself is art deco, somewhat similar to the Savoy apartment on Chang Shu lu. It is also very similar to some of the long gone buildings on avenue Dubail (today the North South elevated highway), that were destroyed in the 90’s. Just like seeing European architecture is Shanghai reminds me of Europe, seeing similar architecture in Europe…. reminds me of Shanghai, bringing one of those Shanghai flashbacks.