French Concession Archives

Horose in Shanghai

After having looked into the Ruan Lingyu movie “Love and duty“, I discovered that the movie was made from a book also called “Love and duty” written first in French by a French-Polish author living in Beijing, and then translated into Chinese. (See post “The story of Horose or Stephanie Rosen-Hoa” for more details). While Horose was mostly living in Beijing, and sometimes Paris, this article focuses on her relationship with Shanghai.

The book “Love and duty“, by Horose or Stéphanie Rosen-Hoa was a bestseller in China. It was first published as a 8 parts series in the literary magazine of Shanghai based Commercial press 小说世界 (The World of novels) in 1921 with 羅琛華 as the author. Commercial Press then published a book version as “恋爱与义务” in 1924, which was a great success. The English version was also published by Commercial Press in 1926 (for more details, see post: “Love & duty, the book“).

During all that time, Stéphanie Rosen-Hoa was living in Beijing with her husband Hua Nangui / 华南圭 who was originally from Wuxi and her two children. Hua Nangui designed and built their house in Beijing in 1914, using a combination of Chinese and Western style.

Picture of Horose in from of her family house in Beijing, curtesy of Catherine Hoa.

Commercial Press was headquartered in Shanghai, so she must have to down South from Beijing to negotiate the publication of her books. At that time, trips from Beijing to Shanghai took either the boat from Tianjin harbour, or the Peking Express. Although there are no real traces from those travels, one can assume that Horose would come to Shanghai once or twice a year.

Below picture is an advertising for Commercial Press books, published in JB Powell’s China Weekly Review on 12th Feb 1927. One can assume that the books listed were the best sellers of Commercial Press at the time. It is amazing to see Love and Duty juste next to Lu Xun’s “The true story of Ah Q”, of which English translation was published in 1927.

Ad in the China Weekly Review – 12th Feb 1927

As mentioned by Kristine Harris in her article : “Ombres Chinoises, split screens and parallel lives in Love and Duty”, “By 1930, the novel had gained broader name recognition among urban audiences, the Commercial Press had already issued three impressions of the English version and four of the Chinese version.” Lou Mingyou, the future director of the movie, read the book and contacted the author. Horose was hired as a consultant for the movie that was released in 1931. During that time, she probably spent much more time in Shanghai, as the movie studio were located in the city. I did not find traces of contacts between Horose and the French community. Probably they were few, with the French community kept away by the language barrier from the Chinese and English literary success that was Love & Duty, as well as lack of interest into “Chinese things” from the French community in general.

The only link with the French Concession that I found is that most of the outdoor sets for the movie Love and Duty where located in the French Concession. They were all located around freshly built properties of the FONCIM (Société Foncière et Immobilière), the real estate subsidiary of the French run International Saving Society, the highly successful life insurance company headquartered in Shanghai. Although it may be random, one can also assume that Horose got somehow in touch with FONCIM management to use those locations and feature them in the movie.

As Horose fame grew in China, she started to give talks that were advertised. A few of them were mentioned in the Shanghai English press. The North China Daily news in the 10th December 1933 edition published a short article mentioning that Horose was in Shanghai on that date, presenting her new book “Double Chains” in Chinese. It also mentions that “she is later to collect material in Nanking for another book. This is expected to be called “Through the Great Wall” and will be published in Paris.” That book was actually published under the name “La muraille de Pékin `a Paris”, in 1929 in Paris.

Double Chains by Horose, Chinese edition

The last article found was published in the China Press, on 2nd June 1936. It mentions the conference given by “Mme Kuai”, further named as “Mme L Rosen-Hoa Nan Kuai” to the WCTU (Women Christian Temperance Union). Horose is introduced as “the author of He & She, Double Chains, Love & duty and book of essays. Her husband who is an engineer translates them into Chinese.”

Horose went back to France in 1937 and only came back to China in 1966, before passing away in Beijing in 1970. For more details about her life, please go to post “The Story of Horose, or S. Rosen-Hoa“.

Crime scene on Rue Henry

Route Paul Henry (today xinle lu / 新乐路) is a small but central street of the former French Concession. This part of the city was very much linked to Gangster Du Yue Shen (杜月笙) empire. His residence was built in 1934 at the beginning of the street and his today the Dong Hu hotel. Crime was definitely part of the life on Route Paul Henry then.

Du Yue Shen residence, today Dong Hu hotel

Further down the street on #82 at the corner with Route L Lorton (Xiang Yang Bei Lu / 襄阳北路) , another elegant building was also related to Du Yu Shen, the seat of the 3 fortunes company (三鑫公司). Started in 1925, the company was the association of three major gangsters of Shanghai, members of the Green Gang: Due Yue Shen/ 杜月笙, Huang Jinrong / 黄金荣 and Zhang Xiaolin / 张啸林. Prostitution, games, opium sales and other forms of gangsterism were its main source of revenue, making the three partners extremely wealthy. Crime paid very well then.

The building style is a modernized version of beaux-arts, with Chinese features. The official website of the hotel claims that original architect was “famous French designer Rafael”, but I have not encountered this name before. Many features are similar with Du Yue Shen house up the street, so it is possible the same architect did both buildings.

Inside the Mansion Hotel (picture from the hotel website)

Around 2007, this beautiful building was turned into a hotel inspired by Shanghai history. The owner curated more than 300 old Shanghai artefacts, buying some from my antic dealers friends. It even features pictures from the actual Du Yue Sheng family. This became one of the most luxurious hotel of Shanghai, making one feel like a trip to old Shanghai just by getting into it. The renovation and decor was fantastic, and although it was probably mostly reconstructed, it just felt like the real thing.

Lot’s of antics were used to create the decor (picture from the hotel website).

The former owner who ordered this wonderful work died a few years ago. The hotel seems to have been closed for a while. Suddenly, construction started on the site in the late spring of this year (2024). I was fearing the worst and the worst came.

The outside has been pleasantly renovated, with an opening to the street that is making the beauty of the building visible. However, the inside has been totally gutted in this terrible ruinovation. Nothing of the former charm remains, just bare walls that could be in any shopping mall. I nearly fainted when I saw the result. Considering the quality of the previous renovation, this is not far from being a crime to Shanghai history. Old Shanghai lost one of its best place in this incredible move and no municipal protection came to the rescue… at least the building itself survives. Farewell to beautiful mansion hotel, welcome to another fashion store.

Unfortunately, ruinovation or destruction of some of the last bits of Old Shanghai seems to be on the rise. Destruction signs in the former Concessions have started to appear again without any consideration for historic heritage A street further up, the corner of Changle lu and Xiang Yang Lu is already walled up and waiting for destruction. One street further on Julu lu, another small part is also made ready to go.

Lane behind Changle lu waiting for destruction.

Former Shanghai Belgian Consulate

After a number of years of renovation, the campus of the Shanghai musical conservatory is now open to the public again. Includes several Old Shanghai building that have been renovated.

The most iconic part of the new project is surely “The German building”. This house in Bavarian style had been hiding in plain sight for years, as its main facade was covered by a more modern building for a long time. After renovation, it is now visible from Huai Hai Lu and attracts a lot of attention.

From the outside, it is clear that a lot of care has been put into the renovation. This massive house of German / Bavarian style wasbuilt for a German merchant between 1905 and 1911. It was designed by German architect firm Becker & Baedecker, that also built the former German club on the Bund. At that time, the road was called Rue Paul Brunat and this part was outside the French Concession area. It was formally included under the French jurisdiction after the extension of the French Concession in July 1914.

The back of the house includes a beautiful covered terrasse, also very well restored. An information plate mention that it was the seat of the Belgian consulate, but research shows it was a different building in the same area (see below).

Getting further into the park, one will encounter the former Shanghai Jewish Club, the main building of the modern Shanghai musical conservatory until a few years ago. Having been expended over the years, it is still used although it is now less visible compared to the newly opened buildings. This building is from 1932, with some art deco elements, much later than the “German building”. It’s interior has renovated many times and has little of the original. The location is close to the compound entrance on Feng Yang lu (former Route Pichon).

Hidden in the back of the compound is another building that was the biggest surprise as I had not spotted it before as it is hidden in the trees.

Its Art Nouveau designs looks very much like Vienna style, which is very rare in China. The only other building in that style I saw was in Wuhan. Along with the rest of the compound, the building has also been recently renovated. The inside is still not open to the public. This building is mentioned in an article from 1919, stating it had already been built by Mr Gerecke for a number of years by then so it was probably built around the same time as the German house.

Mr Emil Gerecke (1862-1933) was an employee of the Deutsche-Asiatische Bank (Bank Germano-Asiatic) in the 1890s, and then made his own company. The 1909 China Directory lists E. Gerecke as a bills broker located Route Pichon, and the Shanghai Club. The firm Gerecke & Sierich, Exchange brokers is also located at this address. He was repatriated to Germany in 1919, and came back to Shanghai in 1924.

The house was sold in 1917 and was turned into Dr J B Fearn Blue bird Sanitorium, a modern healthcare facility. It was named after 1908 Maurice Maeterlink’s play “L’oiseau bleu” (or blue bird in English), that was turned into a famous movie around that that time. The Blue bird Sanitorium lasted until 1926.

From that point, the house was used as the Belgium Consulate in Shanghai. It is indicated on this 1935 map of the French Concession at 30 Route Pichon. The German house does not appear on the map, so it was not an official building then.

Position of Consulate General of Belgium

The footprint of the existing campus has also been greatly expended, now enclosing neighbouring plots that where previously off limit. This part, including the former Ezra mansion will be introduced in a further post.

Apart from the former Belgian Consulate, I have written posts about the former French Consulate, the former French Municipality and the former British Consulate. Follow the links to access them.

Letter from the French Consulate

I have always been fascinated by mail and posts. Before internet took off, I used to write many paper letters to my parents and friends, including on special super light paper for faster “air mails”. I wrote a post about a letter from old Shanghai French municipality a few years ago, this time I got an actual letter from the Shanghai French Consulate.

This envelop sender was the “Consulat Général de France à Changhai”, i.e. Shanghai French Consulate located on the French Bund, as explained in post “Shanghai former French Consulate“. This kind of document is very rare nowadays. It was sent to France, “Via Sibérie”, meaning it was carried by train to Beijing, then on the Transmanchurian railway to Moscow through Dalian and then further on to Paris. I guess that in 1938, the Japanese occupiers of China were “securing” trains on the line. Alternatively, maybe the mail was sent by ship to Dalian, before being boarded on the train as Manchuria was fully controlled by the Japanese since the Mukhden incident in 1931 and the following invasion of Manchuria by the Japanese army. There were ever only a few flights to Shanghai from abroad, and in 1938 they were surely none apart from maybe Japan. Shanghai was in the lone island period, with the French Concession and the International Settlement being surrounded by Japanese occupation.

The envelop postmark shows 22-07-38 / 19. I assume that it’s 22nd July 1938, at 19:00. Just like on the 1936 letter from the French municipality, Shanghai is written both in English and Chinese (from right to left as was the fashion of the time), although a different stamp was used. It was stamped with five 5 dollars stamps, this being a lighter letter than the French municipality letter that required two 25 stamps and was probably heavier. Currency was the Chinese Dollars. Although it’s pretty difficult to convert to today’s money, it was probably not cheap.

It though the French Consul General at the time was Marcel Baudez, reading that he was Consul General from 1936 to 1939. However, Paul French’s China rhyming blog mentioned that he was Consul General from January 1935 to February 1938 and then from November 1938 to April 1940, thus being out of the post at the time when this mail was sent. In any case I do not think that this letter was an official letter from the Consulate. There was not was seal on the back of the letter and he did not go through diplomatic post. As it was send to France by the normal post, it was not an important or confidential official document.

The peculiar address also attracted by attention as it indicates “Adomenil, par Lunéville”. It turns out that Adomenil is a castle, located in the area of Lunéville, a small town in North-East France. The castle was the property of the “de Ravinel” family, a French nobel family starting from the middle of the 15th century. It has been turned into a luxury hotel after the family sold it in 1978.

Baron Charles de Ravinel (1839-1905), the heir of French nobel family from the 16th century was a French politician in the late 19th century. He was also an administrator of famous companies from the area, including the Faiencerie de Lunéville (Lunéville Chinaware company), the Cristallerie de Saint-Louis (Saint-Louis Crystal factory) and Vittel Spring water, that all still exist today.

Baron Charles son was Baron André de Ravinel (1868 1942), who had several children including a daughter called Marie-Françoise de Ravinel born on 6th January 1904 in Lunéville and deceased 20th January 1988 in the same city. She is probably Mlle M. F. de Ravinel, to whom this letter was sent. In 1936, she was 32 years old and was probably unmarried as being named “Mademoiselle”, the then title for unmarried woman in France. From what I could find, she never got married.

Parc de Ravinel (Source Virtual Shanghai)

Today’s Xiangyang park on HuaiHai Zhong Lu, used to called the parc de Ravinel on Avenue Joffre. This particular plot was earmarked to become the location of the new Municipality of the French Concession, designed by Leonard & Vesseyre. The planned building was never built, so a park was created on this plot in 1942. It was named “Square Yves de Ravinel”, after a young employee of the French Consulate who was born in 1911 and based in the Shanghai from 1938 to 1939. He died during WW2 fights in France in 1940 and was remembered in Shanghai through this park. A plate showing his name was also installed then. Yves de Ravinel was the youngest sibling of Marie-Françoise de Ravinel.

So this letter was probably a personal letter from Yves de Ravinel to his older sister, using stationary from the French Consulate. At the time of writing, the Shanghai French Concession and international settlement were pretty lonely, being surrounded by the Japanese army and both areas were overcrowded with refugees. Unfortunately, the letter did not come with this envelop but it certainly mentioned it.

For more research about mails sent from Shanghai French Concession authorities, please see post “Shanghai French Municipality letter“.

Return to Brooklyn Court

The building on 143 Route des Soeurs (143 Rui Jin Yi lu) has often attracted my interest. I wrote an original post about it in 2008 (See post Brooklyn Court, Routes des Soeurs for more details). The whole area has been under reconstruction for a long time, so I went to have a look again recently, taking pictures of the inside of the building.

The lilong at the corner of Avenue Joffre and Route des Soeurs (today Huaihai Zhong Lu and Shaanxi bei lu) has been destroyed a number of years ago, as a metro station was built on part of it. New construction in the area has now started and no concession has been left to the history of the area, nor to aesthetic. The surrounding building kind of wraps around half of Brooklyn Court, making sure that every square inch available is used fully. The result is weird and frankly not very nice and will drastically reduce the light coming into the appartements overlooking the back side.

I also managed to get into Brooklyn Court, hunting for more architectural details than in my first visit. Brooklyn Court was first announced in 1931, as part of the Asia Realty (also known as ARCO) redevelopment of the lot with the adjacent Luck Terrace (now demolished, unfortunately). This was an apartment building “of a medium class”, costing 370,000 taels to build. By 1934 it is finished and occupied. The outside of the building is not particularly sophisticated.

While entering in the building, one of the first sight is the large cross-shaped light wells. It is very disctinctive, while bringing a lot of light to this dark passage. Their shape is so specific that they can be seen from the sky like on below picture (right picture by Matthias Guillin).

Although Brooklyn Court was only “of medium class”, it is clearly marked by his time with inside decoration. Art Deco was the style of the time, and it really shows in the iron work for windows and doors which are really unique in Shanghai.

ARCO’s architects at the time of construction (1931 – 1933) were listed as J. A. Hammerschmidt & F. Schäffer.
– Josef Alois Hammerschmidt was an Austria architect born in Vienna in 1891. He studied at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna, was captured during WW1 and sent to Siberia. After the war, he worked in Tianjin, part of the time with Rolf Geyling, reaching Shanghai in 1931.
– Férenc Schäffer was a Hungarian architect, trained in Budapest and also taken to Siberia as a war prisonner. He reached Shanghai in 1920, were in probably first work with Lászlo Hudec in the office of American architect Rowland A Curry. During his time in Siberia, he met a fellow Hungarian, Sandor Hugo who later became ARCO’s General Manager including at the time of construction of Brooklyn Court.

This is probably through this Austro-Hungarian connection that Hammerschmidt was brought to ARCO in 1931. A few years early, ARCO already headed by Sandor Hugo had hired Lászlo Hudec’s new firm for a development project in 1925-26. The little communitee of Hungarian architects in Shanghai also included art deco star Karoly Gonda (designer of the Cathay Cinema among many others), Béla Mátrai and Janos Komor who designed the Lester Institute in Hongkou district.

Lot’s of Champagne in Old Shanghai

Champagne has been the drink of parties and celebration since the 18th century and a lot of it was consummed in Old Shanghai. In 1934, about 42.000 bottles of French Champagne where imported in China, mostly through Shanghai port.

Champagne was served in the many private parties organised then. It is public knowledge that Champagne was flowing freely at Victor Sassoon’s party. Drinking Champagne at a wealthy Chinese mansion in Shanghai is mentionned in “Shanghai secrets” by Jean Fontenoy, the editor in chief of French newspaper “Le journal de Shanghai”. Champagne was also available in the numerous restaurants, bars, clubs and dancings in the city.

Wine list from Sun Sun’s (Courtesy of MOFBA)

Above picture is the first page of the Sun Sun sky terrace wine list displayed in previous post (See post “French wines in Old Shanghai“). Lines 1 to 4 are famous Champagne brands that are again available in Shanghai today : 1 Pommery, 2 Veuve Cliquot, 3 Mumm Cordon Rouge, 4 Piper Heidsieck. Champagne was already very expensive then, as a bottle of the best Champagne was 30$, 3 times more than Chateau Lafite from Bordeaux or Corton from Burgundy. There was a real premium for sparkling wines as the cheapest on the list was more expensive than the best red wines.

Ad for Charles Heidsieck Champagne in Le Journal de Shanghai

Importing Champagne was a big business for a number of French companies that were the Champagne houses agents in Shanghai. French company Racine & Cie was the agent of Champagne Heidsieck mentionned above. Racine & Cie was one of the major agents for French companies in Shanghai, with its GM Jean Donné being a member of the board of the French Chamber of Commerce in 1930. Racine & Cie also imported French tinned food (See post “Vegs in a can” for more details).

Ad for Mumm Champagne in Le journal de Shanghai 1931

Mumm Cordon Rouge Champagne was imported by smaller French import company Optorg, with advertising in “Le Journal de Shanghai”. The above ad is about 14th July 1931, with the following caption : “To upstand your reputation and match the taste of yours guests, serve them Mumm”. In Shanghai as well, serving French Champagne was seen as a matter of high taste.

Although not in the Sun Sun restaurant drink list, Lanson Champagne was imported in Shanghai by British trading firme Calbeck MacGregor. Above ad is from Le Journal de Shanghai 1st January 1932.

Other sparkling wines from France were also available in China, including Loire Valley Veuve Amiot, imported by leading French trading company Olivier Chine. Above picture shows 2931 bottles to Tientsin (today Tianjin) and 3642 to Shanghai.

For more information about wines in Shanghai in the 1930s, see post “French wines in Old Shanghai” and “Burgundy wines in Old Shanghai“.

Looking for Love and Duty

The 1931 movie “Love and Duty” （恋爱与义务）was a great success in 1930s Shanghai. It was the first big movie with actress Ruang Linguy who would become the superstar of Shanghai cinema, until her suicide in 1935. I have written several posts about some of the location where the movie was made in Shanghai (see post “Love and Duty” for more details). This post is showing the video that was made of the location search.

You will find more information about Ruan Lingyu, the movie “Love and Duty” and film locations in posts “Love and Duty” Part 1 and 2.

Shanghai American School building

Founded in 1912, American School of Shanghai was one of the famous high level schools in old Shanghai. The campus on Avenue Pétain (today Hengshan lu) was opened in 1923. The building has long been off limit for visitors, and only part of the façade was still visible from the street. Fortunately, a building next door has just been renovated and turned into commercial. This gives an open view on the former Shanghai American School building.

From this angle, it is clear that the streetside façade is only a short part of the whold building. Although I lived in this neighborhood for years, I was never able to see it before so clearly. The skyscraper in the background it the Shanghai library, located on the spot of the former Culty Dairy.

Back building of the Shanghai American School

As seen on below map, there was a back wing the building. This part has been demolished and modern and larger building has been built instead. The commercial building where I took the pictures from is located on the part where “Shanghai American School is written”. This was an empty space when the school was operating. The former running track is not occupied by a commercial building.

Walking down the alley next to the former school building, one can see the former school water tower. As mentioned by Betty Barr, who actually attended the school herself, “the tower was famous for romantic reason: couples used to climp up there to sign their names.” Looking at it today, it’s not recommended to climb it up, but it amazingly survived all those years.

The American school of Shanghai closed in 1950 but was been recreated in 1980 and still operating today in a different location. Their website is www.saschina.org .

Love and Duty (part 2)

This post is the second one focused on the 1931 Ruan Lingyu movie, Love and Duty (恋爱与义务) “Love and Duty (part 1)” was focused on showing modernity and westernisation in 1930s Shanghai through some scenes of the movie. This part is focused on searching for actual film locations in today’s Shanghai.

The first part of the movie is taking place in a upper class neighborhood called “Kiangwan”. Jiangwan (today spelling of Kiangwan) was then a far suburb of Shanghai, chosen by the nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek to create a new city center away from the foreign concessions (See post “Ordinary metropolis” for more details). This was supposed to be the incarnation of modern upper class neighborhood in Shanghai. The movie “Love and Duty” was released in 1931. At that time, the plan for Jiangwan was already made, but the first building, the Jiangwan civic center, was still under construction, finished in 1`932. To illustrate this modernity and high level, the director used the streets of the French Concession as film location.

The first minutes of the movie shows view of the surroundings. Despite the changes, the above picture is the same as the right and below picture. The house is located on Route Delastre (today TaiYuan lu) and Route Remy (Today Yongkang lu). Design and marking on the front wall is very unique.

Even more unique are the arcs of this residence in the Yongkang road, shown a few minutes later. Although the structure of the buildings has been altered an little, it is easy to recognise, on former Route Rémy (today Yong Kang Lu). This location is a few meters from the above one on Taiyuan Lu.

Above corner street corner is of Yongkang lu and Taiyuan lu. It has changed since 1931 and a small building on the right has been turned down but the location is still easy to recognise. The CMF stones have been covered or removed but the iconic door on the left side is still here. In 1931, this part of the city was recently built and urbanised. Like many buildings in this area, this settlement was owned by the “Société Fonci`ere et immobili`ère” also called Foncim, one of the major real estate company in the French Concession.

Later on in the movie, the main character goes to look for jobs in the business district. This is clearly filmed in the area behind the Bund, but exact locations are difficult to identify apart from one. In Old Shanghai, the French Concession was a residential area, and the International Settlement’s district behind the Bund was the location for finance and trading houses.

During his job search, the character walks up the street shown above. One ca recognise the famous furniture store “Arts and Crafts” that was located on the corner of Bubbling Well Road and Park Road (today Nanjing Xi Lu and HuangHe Lu). This particular building does not exist anymore and was replaced by a higher corner building. The space of the HS Honisberger building, is now occupied by Park Hotel (built in 1934). The scene was filmed in front of the Foreign YMCA (today Sport Museum), on the side of the horse race course (today people square). Just like the early scenes were filmed in the most modern residential district, this was filmed in the most modern business district of the city.

Follow this link for the next post from this thread, “Love and duty, the book“, focusing on the book used as a base for the movie. The movie “Love and Duty” can be viewed on the Chinese video platform bilibili.com (use this link to access it). A video about the search for “Love and Duty” locations has been published in post “Looking for Love and Duty“. For more analysis of the movie “Love and Duty” and the modernity of Shanghai life seen in the movie, please go to post “Love and Duty (Part 1)“.