Shanghailander

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 Kaufman, next to the original one at 130 Route Kaufman. 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 N132, the house that is now the bar. Most of the renovation was not done by the current house tenant, but a few years before.

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 — Original Kitchen 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.

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 was still one of my favorite hangout until it closed down in 2023.

While researching these two houses, I realized that there are about 10 similar houses in the neighborhood. They were all designed by French architecture firm Léonard & Veysseyre, built by the International Saving Society (ISS) and rented out by companies to house their managers. The house on 132 Route Kaufmann was inhabited by Carlos Lubeck, a director of the French Tram and Electricity company (CFTEE) (see post about the Lubeck family for more details).

The house on 130 Route Kaufmann was rumored to have been the house of Ma Ying-chi / 马英驰, the minister of Justice of Republican China (see post “Portrait of an Old Neighbour” for more details)

Portrait of an old neighbour

Living on Route Kaufmann (today Anting Lu), I have spent a lot of time looking around the neighboring old buildings. This street is a short one, a side street from Route Herve de Seyes (Yong Jia Lu) and Route Joseph Frelupt (Jiang Guo lu). It is located in the Western part of the French Concession, that was really developed in the mid-late 1930’s. The name in French on the 1927’s map is Route (and not Rue) indicating that they were rather country roads than urban streets. This is similar to Bubbling Well Road (Today Nanjing Xi Lu) in the International Settlement. As this area was not really urbanized, developers could buy large properties and build large garden villas.

Many wealthy foreigners and Chinese families lived in this quiet and relaxed neighborhood. Since most of these villas had garages, people living in the area had surely cars, and the streets were probably filled with 1930’s Cadillac and other Ford and Renault imported from Europe and the US. The atmosphere then with the streets lined up with walls masking great brand new villas must have been quite similar to today’s HongQiao area with the Villa’s compounds.

Most of those villas are now closed to the public with iron gates stopping the occasional visitor to come in. As I live in the neighborhood and spend a lot of time around with my camera, I am becoming well known by the old people mostly living in the villas. A little bit of Shanghainese language often does the trick and allows me to take pictures without disturbing anybody. I recently got a chance to get into the house on 130 Route Kaufman and take some pictures.

This house is very similar to houses of the same period built in France. It was designed by Vesseyre & Leonard, along with 2 other houses on each side that are of similar style. The entrance has seen better days but still keeps up appearances. I particularly enjoy the covered front that is creating an outside entrance hall. Like similar houses in France, shutters were installed on ground floor windows. It is quite rare to still see them in today’s Shanghai.

I then moved to the inside, while talking with a lady living there. The picture left is the actual entrance door, still in place. The round part on the top was probably a glass and metal ornament. The glass must have been smashed at some point and replaced by the cheaper piece of wood. It is typical from Leonard & Veysseyre style.

Original inside doors are still in the building, matching the pattern of the entrance door. The far door leads to the what is the kitchen today and I think was the main kitchen in the old time. It has a back door, so that domestics could come into the kitchen without using the main entrance door, using the back service entrance instead. The nearest door leads to the bathroom… with appliances from the 1930’s still in use without have been cleaned for a long time.

Moving up through the stair case, it is easy to realize the money and time spent into creating this house. After years of over use and neglect, the staircase still looks great, including the small inside balcony. The house does not seem to have structural damages apart from water leaking over the main entrance. It is always amazing to see how these houses have survived decades of overuse and neglect and are still standing. People living in this houses mostly have no idea of the value and craft that was put into building them. Then often pay very little if anything at all to live here, so why bother taking care of a building that is just (in their mind) an old ruin? Similar houses in France that have been well maintained still looks grand and those in Shanghai could be turned back to the same grandeur.

This house on 130 Route Kaufman is rumored to have been the house of Ma Ying-chi / 马英驰, the minister of Justice of Republican China. This is highly possible as the area was inhabited by Kuomingtang heads, including Chiang Kai-Shek, TV Soong, HH Kung & Soong Ailing and Kuomintang Chief Spy Dai Li / 戴笠. The clone house on 132 Route Kaufman was the house of one of the directors of the French Tramway and Electricity company (CFTEE).

General Post Office, Sichuan Bei Lu

It must come from having sent many letters, or from having a father who worked many years for the French post. In any case, postal services always interested me. I already wrote a post about addresses (or lack of) in the 1890’s Shanghai (click here to see post “Hotel des Colonies”), this post is about postal services when Shanghai really became a metropolis.

In the late 19th century each country of the international settlement had its own postal services, postmen and its own post office. Each of country was creating its own stamps for sending letters to the home country or dependencies. The most well known national post office is probably the German one, that is today LAN Club on Gangdong Lu (picture right).

As China was not member of the international postal system, stamps from the foreign post offices where not valid for traffic within the country. China entered the General Postal Union treaty in 1914 becoming part of the world postal systems. Although many wars and events disturbed the traffic, it became possible to send a letter from abroad to somewhere in China relatively simply. National post offices were dismantled and the Main post office for Shanghai opened on #9 Beijing Road in 1919 (this building has now disappeared).

As postal traffic constantly increased, it became necessary to open a new a larger postal center for Shanghai. Ideal location was between the central business district of the Bund and the North Railway station with easy access to the Hangpu where big ships arrived as international letters where mostly transported by boat. Land was acquired in the cheaper HongKow district along the Suzhou river, at the corner of Sichuan Bei Lu. The area was an industrial and warehouse zone with a few of these buildings remaining today and the general hospital a little further down the river. The postal administration and main postal sorting center remained in this building until 2003, before moving to a modern location in Pudong. The building still hosts a working post office and the China postal museum.

post office sculpture — post office tower with Greek Gods sculptures

The postal museum building was designed by architect firm Stewardson & Spence in beaux arts style, being built in 1924. It is often surprising for visitors that a Chinese administration building was designed in a western fashion. Although this was a Chinese administration, it was run by foreigners just like the customs. French man Auguste Chapelain was the long serving manager do the Chinese post office until 1943. He was also a notable member of the Breton community in Shanghai.

Furthermore, classical style at that time was the symbol of modernity and the building was surely designed to compete with the foreign banks on the Bund. Like buildings of that time the flat roof is ornamented by a tower, with statues of Greek God Hermes (Messenger god, thus patron of the postal services) surrounded by Eros and Aphrodite, Greek God and Goddess of love. The top picture is probably from 1930-31 as one can see the side of the Embankment building under construction (the Embankment building was opened in 1932). The landscape has changed a lot since with many towers built around, but the post office itself has not changed much since, apart from an extension along the Suzhou river. Behind the general post office now stands the New Asia Hotel opened in 1934.

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Tian Shan Apartments

One of the most rewarding part of my passion for old Shanghai is to find locations and information that are little known or have been overlooked when they should be easy to see. Just like in the post “Haig Court, right in our face” this post is about a building on a street that every knows but only few people have noticed. Showing the city to visitors on a sidecar is challenging and pushes me to learn more and more about the city, so more posts like this are to be expected.

The entrance of Tian Shan apartment is located on Huai Hai Zhong lu, on one of most busy shopping stretch. The apartment complex is made of six buildings of 4 floors. Architecture and facades are typical of art deco, using vertical and horizontal lines to enhance the shape of the buildings. These 6 buildings are U-shaped with the opening turned south to catch as much light as possible for each apartment. They would not be really noticeable without the art deco fixtures on the roof. As you can see on the picture below, the buildings are linked with concrete cross-beams that are hanging on the whole with this very geometric design hanger. I am not sure what was it useful for, probably for pipes or cables.

Decoration on Tian Shan Apts This definitely increase the art deco feeling of this compound a lot, as well as the decoration on the roof of the central part (see picture right up). This compound is now mostly inhabited by employees of the nearby university and still gives the impression of peace and quiet, a few meters away from the busy street. The recent painting also helps a lot. The purpose built cable carrier did not stop the electricity company to install some ugly cables in the middle (see right), but they did not manage to destroy the harmony of this 1928 piece of art. This charming small compound was located in the heart of the urban part of the French concession, not far from Brooklyn Court, Russian bakeries and restaurants, and Cathay Apartments. With entrance on famous Avenue Joffre (the old name of Huai Hai Zhong Lu), it was certainly one of the nice adresses to live in and rental were surely very high. Tian Shan apartment can now be found at 622 Avenue Joffre (today 622 Huai Hai Zhong Lu).

Tael Lights: party like no tomorrow

This guide about old Shanghai newly re-published by Earnshaw books is surely not politically correct. “Shanghai high lights, low lights, tael lights” is was not really a guide about Shanghai like “All about Shanghai“. Instead, it is an insight into the life of two Westerners living the high life of drinking and partying like no tomorrow. As they write it, they “know very little about [Shanghai], but know a hell a lot about that very little”. They clearly lived in a very small part of Shanghai and clearly had a kind of high life.The book is short, opinionated and quite funny in its description of the city.

“Shanghai is a grand town, not an atmospheric background for Oriental melodrama, but a grand place to live, to work and enjoy life”. Just like in other guides, the author surely makes fun of the foreigners and tourists coming to Shanghai looking for their imaginary China with pagoda’s, temples, obscure old monks holding eternal secrets and all the “magic of the orient”. They have no interest in tourist spots of the day (and still of today) like “Lung Wha Pagoda” and the “Willow Pattern Tea House” (Yu Yuan garden area): “As a matter of fact, all of these and others of their type, are a distinct bore”. What they point to instead are modern places where Chinese gather for entertainment, such as the “Great World Amusement Company” (on Xi Zhang lu, currently under re-construction), Wing On, Sincere and the other department stores on Nanking Road (today Nanjing Dong Lu). They also spend many pages on street life, vendors and other common sights that are not far from today’s Shanghai.

Since they spent a lot of time going out and enjoying nightlife, this is the main focus of the book. The leading spots of the time were “the tower, atop the very gilt-edge Cathay hotel” (today Peace hotel is under renovation, but surely another bar will open on the top of it. This just a few meters from today’s Bund 18). “the Sky Terrace, atop Park Hotel and the Paramount Ballroom“. The author then moves onto Chinese cabarets (somewhat equivalent to today’s Chinese night clubs). After parties locations like the infamous “Venus Cafe” in Hong Kou district gets a few pages, reminding me of my last visit to Dragon Club in after party… 3 or 4 years ago. My preferred part is surely the one explaining the “three ways of making whoopee in Shanghai”, i.e. three ways to party. “Number one is by sending the boy out for three quarts and some ice, and telephoning Clara and Dick to come over and lift a few. This is known as ‘going to town while remaining at home’. Then there’s the business of gathering the clan and making the spots, St Georges, Del Montes,etc and is known in some quarters as ‘going to the dogs’. Can be expensive. And last, there are those who in case themselves in silk and white linen and sally forth to places of the cover charge type, the only real difference between this and the last class being that it takes them longer and more money to feel their liquor. This is known, (by people in the second class) as ‘going highbrow’ and can be extremely expensive financially, coming under the heading of ‘major appropriations’.”

Although the guide was written more than 70 years ago, the life of its writers was not very different from a number of people I know in Hong Kong who rarely live Central or the South part of the Island and party just the same way… or people I know in Shanghai who live work and party in an area which is just slightly bigger than the one described in the book. The modern version of this book would be an un-expurgated compilation of smartshanghai.com forum focusing on only on Shanghai’s nightlife for singles. In Shanghai, some things never really change.

Shanghai heat

I have written several posts about Shanghai’s winter that makes people miserable for a few months, but I did not write much about Shanghai’s summers. Activity continues despite the heat and tourists come to visit the city (see post Tourists in summer Shanghai written three years go). The streets of old Shanghai are full of the cigala’s noise that creates a wet Mediterranean version of the city, as described in post Singing trees. Foreigner’s Shanghai become much quieter and relaxed, as many people leave the city going for a trip home, mountains or seaside far away. Modern transportation make trips to faraway countries only a few hours away, and many foreigners will take a long trip home during this time.

Trips home in old Shanghai were a different matter. They were a long and hazardous journeys either by boat, by plane or via the Trans-siberian train at the time when crossing through Russia was possible. In any case, these trips only happened every few years and people would often come home for a few months to visit relatives and business partners. To fight Shanghai heat, Shanghailanders would go on cool vacations to nearer places. Common trips included cooling stations like Moganshan where the wealthy had villas where they could stay cool in the summer. Today’s expat families often go home for the two months of summer, with the working spouse accompanying them for a few weeks. In the same fashion, expat families of Old Shanghai went to the sea side in Tsingtao (today Qingdao), Chefoo (today Yentai) or We Hai Wei (toady Wei Hai) all three of them in Shan Dong province, a hundreds of kilometres North of Shanghai and a few degrees cooler. Japan was also a holiday destination as described in “The last glorious summer” from Rena Krasno.

Air conditionning at that time was an absolute luxury that only palace hotels could afford, along with the brand new Country Hospital. In the hot and damp Shanghai, the only way to fight the heat was to wait and move air with a fan. Electric fans were really popular altough they were quite expensive and symbol of high class living. Some can be still found on flee markets nowadays. They consummed a lot of energy and make quite a distinctive noise but they were the only option in the damp and windless Shanghai summer. To be able sleep in the heat, people would move on the street and sleep outside. With the arrival of air conditionning, people don’t do it much anymore but I remember one could see people sleeping outside in the center of Shanghai only a few years ago.

An old favorite, The Glamour Bar

HKK Building - The Bund — NKK Building - The Bund

The Glamour Bar is one of those places that make you stravel to old Shanghai just by going there. A bit like the now gone Face Bar, there is something in this place that is uniquely Shanghai. Australian Michelle Garnaut has put her soul and attention to details in creating an anchor of Shanghai. M on the Bund restaurant opened in 1999, the first Glamour Bar opened in 2004 on the 7th floor and the current larger Glamour Bar opened in mid 2006. Since I arrived in Shanghai, I saw many fancy bars open, have their year or two of glory and loose most of their followers or simply close. Glamour Bar crowd has been thicker than today but the Great Lady of the Bund has even more charm with less people in it. One finally get some space on Saturday night to enjoy this incredible building.

To start with, the bar and restaurants are located in the NKK building, one of the Buns anchor at #5. At the corner of the old Guandong lu and the actual Bund, it is a great looking building built in 1921 for a Japanese shipping line. It is one of the symbols the trade power in old Shanghai. The entrance to the top floors is not through the facade anymore, but through a side door instead. Construction of this entrance is not the best design with marble everywhere, much like many Chinese renovation… but it still looks OK. Get through the small lifts (with the door always closing on people) to reach the refined environment of the 6th floor. Several venues have been created in grand buildings renovated along the Bund, but Glamour Bar is for me the best (with Bund 18). With smart and non obstructive design, they managed to bring modern equipment and comfort while keeping the old atmosphere.

The best of the bar is that it has two very different lives with two very different set of visitors. The most well known is probably the evening version of The Glamour Bar. Gyn & Tonic, Wine, various other alcohol mix together with a lounge kind of music. The dark lights create small corner where conversation can happen without having to scream to the other. I love the furniture that are all authentic of copies of Old Shanghai pieces. Glasses are also of a special kind, modern version of the old crystal red glasses. Later in the evening, the bar transforms into a lounge. This is one of those places, where you meet incredible people, couples are made or broken, and friends reunite. The DJ’s spin music like in all lounges in the world… but the decor still is fascinating, giving to the place an incomparable charm.

Shanghai International Literary Festival

The second life of The Glamour Bar is as a cultural venue. Thanks to the owner fascination with literature and culture, Sunday afternoons are devoted to cultural talks. Most interesting book presentation and conferences are held there, including the now famous Shanghai Literary Festival taking place now every year, the largest English Speaking Literary Festival in Asia. It no surprise that many of these books are about old Shanghai and the atmosphere during these events is timeless. The bells at the neighboring customs house can be heard every hour playing Big Ben’s music. We could be in 1929 just like in 2009.

I had not written for a while on this blog. Just going to Glamour Bar again gave me the inspiration for many more posts to come.

From the top of Broadway Mansions

The Bund is probably Shanghai’s the most visited attraction. This strip of land has seen many transformations but has always remained the symbol of the city. In the run-up to Expo 2010, it is being remodeled again. The elevated walk created to stop flooding and used as a promenade is being expanded and renovated to welcome the expected millions of visitors. Similarly, the Garden Bridge (also known as Waibaidu Bridge, picture left) has been fully renovated for the 100th year of its construction. It is now open again for traffic and is a great ride in a sidecar. The re-opening of the bridge was followed by an official exhibition of photographs of the bridge and the renovation work that is well worth visiting. During the exhibition grand opening in Broadway Mansions (used to be called Broadway apartments), I had the opportunity to climb up the 18th floor terrace of the building and take pictures up there.

Looking in my own collection of pictures, I found this one that was surely taken from exactly the same place. This picture was taken probably in 1935 or 1936 as Broadways Apartments was finished (1934) but the Bank of China Tower is not yet visible (completed in 1937). The hotel staff showing me the terrace was so proud to tell me that Richard Nixon and Zhou En Lai had met on this particular terrace in the 1970’s. In any case, the view up there is stunning and not so much has changed ever since. Hopefully the new Bund promenade with an enlarged garden will bring back a lot to the old Bund Garden. The place I took the picture from is normally not open to the public as the room next to the terrace is the most luxurious room of the hotel’s restaurant. For years, this spot has been the best place to get a view of the Bund… and it is still one of the best.

Looking at another direction from the top of Broadway Mansions, I could not help not taking pictures of the area of the Old British Consulate. I already had been interested in this area in a previous post, with pictures of the destruction of the Union Church. Although it has now been destroyed, the Church is still featured on all the rendering for the project, so I could even imagine that the intention is to rebuild “better and more modern”, though I somehow doubt it. Both buildings of the British Consulate are still there, currently being worked on to incorporate the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Hopefully, this luxury establishment will take good care and create a nice balance between old and new. The old postcard below of the same area is difficult to date, but since the waibaidu bridge was on it, it dates from after 1908. The white building in the modern photo, the Capitol theater was built after the burning of the building before, i.e. 1924. So the card is from before 1924, when the whole Museum road was re-developed. My guestimation is mid 1910’s

The most surprising is the building along the river (with the tennis court above it in the modern picture). I never thought that this was a historical building until I managed to get into it. This was the swimming pool of the American YMCA round the corner and was surely still in use until not so long ago. The picture at the end of the article is the one of the inside of this building, featuring the pool itself. It is now used as storage for the bricks harvested on the Yuan Min Yuan lu work, but I don’t think the pool will return to its original usage. Too bad, that was surely a great swim. This riverside pool reminds me of a similar one in Paris, and Komyadi swimming pool in Budapest where I used to go.

Up river, Hankou’s foreign concessions

Hubei’s capital Wuhan is mostly known in today’s China to be a heavy industry base. The current city is the agglomeration of three cities on ethe river. Wuchang, on the right side, is known for its revolutionary history, where the 1911 revolution started as well as center point of 1927 northern expedition to re-unite China. This is a legacy that still holds today.

Hankou, on the left side of the river, is the trade city where foreigners settled in. It was opened as a treaty port on 13th March 1931. Further up, Hanyang was a more remote part. Foreign concessions in the coastal area like Shanghai, Tientsin (today Tianjing), Amoy (today Xiamen) and Tschingtao (today Qingdao) are quite well known in and out China. Concessions and treaty ports were also established in-land, mostly on the main rivers like Hankou and canals like Suzhou.

Being up the easily navigable part of the Yangtse river, Hankou was a major point of trade for China’s inland. Wuhan is still the most important port on the river today. The area around the customs house has been changed a bit by the enlargement of the Bund road like in Shanghai, but the buildings are still there and easily recognisable from the pictures. Just like in Shanghai, the Hankou customs house is a massive building that could be seen from far away, being probably the first point that visitors would see coming up the river, and it is still the main building of the old areas. It has now been turned into a museum about Old Hankou.

I used a recent business trip to Wuhan to spend a few hours in the old concession area. Unlike in Shanghai, the concession area is not (yet) in the heart of Hankou’s business district. The concessions were also much smaller than the ones in Shanghai, limited to an area near the river. I read somewhere that up to 1500 foreigners lived in the concession at the most. Just like in other locations, concessions of various countries were lined up next to each other on the Hankou Bund, with a different atmosphere in each of them. Hankou’s first concession was British, followed by Russian, French, German and Japanese. The custom house was located just off the British Concession, as Chinese customs were delegated to foreigners at that time.

Just like in Shanghai, their is a large commercial street perpendicular to the Bund lined by massive buildings in the former British concession. This area has been pedestrianized and most building now host Chinese banks or brand new shops. It is quite similar to Shanghai’s Nanjing Dong Lu. As the British concession was seized back from China in 1927, there are only a handful of Art Deco buildings on that street as this style was only emerging in the late 1920’s and 1930’s.

The British Concession is the most visited part of old Hankou, but there are some other very nice parts next to it. The old Russian and French concessions have quite a similar atmosphere to Shanghai small streets of the French Concession, with pane trees shading the strong Hubei sun. Building there are not in great shape, but work in restoration would bring them back to their original glory.

The most surprising for me was to find a Viennese or Central European Art Nouveau style (also called secession) building in Hankou. Having lived many years in Central and Eastern Europe, I have seen many of those in Budapest, Prague, Vienna and Riga. The only other example I have seen it the former Belgian Consulate in Shanghai. I think this was a mainly European Style that was never popular in Asia as it was quickly supplanted by Art Deco. This was really a nice surprise to discover the building of the Daosheng bank, built in 1927 in Hankou, China.

For more post about Wuhan, please go to post “Return to Hankou“.