The last kings of Shanghai

2020’s book “The last kings of Shanghai” by Jonathan Kaufman has been on my reading list since publication, but I only read it recently. I had high expectations from the review and the book has some really interesting parts, at the same time it is a bit of a disappointement from an Old Shanghai researcher point of view.

A number of books have been written about the Sassoon’s trade empire, and particularly about its most visible character in Old Shanghai, Sir Elias Victor Sassoon. Instead of focusing on this family only, “The last kings of Shanghai” tells the story of two competing families, the Sassoons and the Kadoories. Both Jewish families originated from Baghdad through Bombay, ending up in Shanghai. Both left grand buildings in Shanghai, the Sassoon’s Cathay Hotel and the Kadoorie’s Marble Hall.

As opposed to the Sassoon’s, the story of the Kadoorie family is much less known. The author description of the family life in Shanghai, the role of the death of Elly Kadoorie’s wife Laura on him and his sons Lawrence and Horace is really informative. The roles and differences of both brothers in running the business in Shanghai and in Hong Kong brings a lot to this story. The book does not stop with the end of Old Shanghai in 1949, but also covers the crucial involvement of the family in Hong Kong development as well as their return to China in the 1980s and Shanghai come back with the opening of the Peninsula Shanghai on the Bund in 2009.

Kadoorie’s Palace Hotel (left) and Sassoon’s Cathay Hotel (Middle)

Although it brings some good information, the book is also shallow on a number of topics. The author seems to be more interested in telling a good story than doing in-depth historical research. Sometimes, subject are simply overlooked when more research would have been valuable as well as bringing accuracy. This was underlined by the FT review of the book , mentionning that “Laura Mocatta, Elly’s dynamic wife, is described as “an educated British aristocrat”. The Mocattas were prominent British Jews, but, unlike the Rothschilds, not ennobled.”

Similarly, the history of the Kadoorie’s Shanghai & Hotels group property and its architecture could have been more detailled. It has been documented that Abelardo Lafuente, the Spanish architect in Old Shanghai had a close relationship with the Kadoorie family, having been involved in the interior decoration of several of their properties including the Palace Hotel in 1922 and the Astor House Hotel in 1917 and 1923., but he is never mentioned. As explained by Katya Kniazeva in her post, Aberlardo Lafuente was commissioned to create the Jewish Club near the Kadoorie’s house on Bubbling Well Road in 1918. This particular building also burned down some times after the fire that took Laura’s life. Marble Hall was created by renovating this structure after the fire, keeping a familiar look.

The Jewish Club before it became Marble Hall (source Avezink)

Similarly, the story of the Majestic hotel is also overlooked. The book mentioned that the building was bought from ” Scottish friends of the Kadoories”. Those “Scottish friends” were the McBain, one of the most important family in Shanghai, involved in petrol distribution all over China and other businesses. The “Spanish / French” architect hired to create the Majestic hotel was also Aberlardo Lafuente.

“The last Kings of Shanghai” is definitely an entertaining book telling a great story. It’s a great introduction to Shanghai history and its foreign influence. Too bad the author did not go into more details on a number of topics. That would have made the book even more valuable.

1929 Flower Show at the Majestic Hotel

The Majestic Hotel in Shanghai (1924-1931) was a legendary hotel in Old Shanghai. I wrote a post several years ago about it, that is regularly toping the most read article list (See post “The rise and fall of the Majestic hotel” for more info). Since the building was destroyed in 1932, there are only few pictures of the hotel available. Going through my own collection, I recently realised that I have a few of them taken during a special occasion.

According to Nenad Djordjvic “Old Shanghai Clubs & Associations”, The Shanghai Horticultural Society was founded in the 1860’s. It had a yearly Autumn Flower Show, the last one taking place on 20-21 November 1940. It was certainly an important association as it received financial support from the Shanghai Municipal Council and was presided for many years by Horace Kadoorie, whose family owne the Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels company owner of the Majestic Hotel. The above picture also appeared in the North-China Sunday News Magazine Supplement on 24 Nov 1929 (Thanks Katya Kniazeva for finding it!). So these pictures must be from the 1929 Autumn Flower Show.

The reception room also appears in the original post “The rise and fall of the Majestic Hotel” but looks really different with all the flowers.

Imperial Chemical Industries was a major British chemical firm with strong presence in Old Shanghai. One of their products was fertiliser, a great product to advertise at a flower show. Our friends at Mofba did a post on ICI in Old Shanghai, follow the link to read it.

This picture is taken from the hotel, looking toward the winter garden. The Italian garden of the Majestic hotel where the event takes place was designed by Abelardo Lafuente, a spanish architect in Shanghai.

One of the few pictures of the beautiful iron work inside the hotel.

For more views and history of the Majestic Hotel, go to post “The rise and fall of the Majestic hotel

Top 5 posts 2020!

1920s have a reputation to have been memorable years. The roaring twenties were called “Les années folles” in French, meaning the crazy years. The start of the 2020s did not disappoint in craziness, although definitely not is such a fun way. To close this year where I finally started to write regularly again, here is a the 5 most read articles in the Shanghailander blog in 2020.

1 – The rise and fall of the Majestic Hotel
The story of the star of Shanghai nigthlife in the 1920s, that disappeared in the 30s seems is a regular on the top search posts of the blog. The reason why I wrote this post in 2017 was my own interest and the lack of information available on the topic. Apparently I was not the only one searching

2 – China General Omnibus Company
It seems that I am also not the only one to be interested in Old Shanghai transportation, in particular the bus network of the International Settlement. This post from 2017 also includes a pretty unique map of the bus network itself from 1937.

3 – Old Shanghai tramways
Another post on public transportation in Old Shanghai. This topic seems to attract attention. This post from 2017 includes a map of the International Settlement tram network and a tram ticket from the 1920s.

4 – Sainte-Thérèse Church
First post of 2020 in the top 5. It is focused on the mysterious catholic church in the middle of the few remaining lilongs of JingAn district.

5 – Aquarius Water then and now
Published in the middle of a hot summer, this post tells the story of the Shanghai brand of mineral water Aquarius, and its famous Orange Squash. Through modern advertising, the brand became one the Shanghai favorite, that is being relaunched in a modern version in 2020.

Best wished from the Shanghailander blog for 2021! If you want me to share or publish information about Old Shanghai, people places, documents and other related topic, please contact me at hmartin@shanghailander.net .

The rise and fall of the Majestic Hotel

Shanghai has always been a city of fast paced life and constant change. One of the best example is the fate of grand hotel shooting star, the Majestic Hotel (大華飯店 or Dai Hua Jiu Dian in Chinese) on Bubbling Well Road (today Nanjing Xi Lu). As seen on a 1932 map below, the hotel was occupying an enormous plot, on what is today Nanjing Xi Lu, from Jiangning Lu all the way to Taixing lu.

Location of Majestic Hotel on 1932 map of Shanghai

The building and its park were originally the McBain residence, of a successful business man who represented Shell (among others) in China, and sold the property to Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels company, owned by the Kadoorie family.

Majestic Hotel Garden

Renovation and transformation of the building was given to Spanish architect Abelardo Lafuente in 1924. The inside yard was covered to be converted into the dining room, modern sanitary and heating system was installed and the facade was covered with marble. The garden remained despite the addition of a winter garden and a massive ballroom (designed by Russian architect Alexander Yaron) that became the center of Shanghai Social life for the upper class for a few years.

Advertising leaflet for the Majestic hotel

The Majestic hotel was the best and most luxurious in Shanghai and one of the leading hotels in the World from it’s opening in 1924, being the jewel of the Hong Kong and Shanghai hotels company. The gigantic ballroom became the place for most important official parties to take place, including St Andrew’s and St George’s, the Washington and the Russian ball as it was the largest venue in Shanghai, able to host more than 1000 guests.

The majestic hotel ballroom

The ballroom was also one of the main point where Shanghai dancing craze started, with a jazz band featuring, local stars such as Serge Ermoll and Whitey Smith. In 1927, the Majestic Ballroom was the location of a major event, the wedding of Chiang Kai Shek, the ruler of China then, and Song Meiling (See the Soong Sister for more information). In 1929, Hollywood star Douglas Fairbank and his wife Mary Pickford visited Shanghai and stayed at the Majestic, underlining its success on Shanghai scene.

The winter garder shows the opulence of the place

With all its grandeur, the Majestic Hotel proved to big and too luxurious to be really profitable, and the hotel was sold to developers in 1930 (source: Hong Kong and Shanghai hotels official website). At the same period, the Cathay hotel (today’s Fairmont Peace Hotel) opened on the Bund. The Majestic hotel ballroom finally closed in 1931 and the building was destroyed in 1932. The massive land was separated in several lots, including the one where Majestic Theater was built in 1941. The former location of the hotel is similar to the one of today’s Westgate Mall on Nanjing Xi lu.

Corridors of the Majestic Hotel

A few years after writing this post, I found new pictures of the Majestic Hotel taken for the 1929 Autumn Flower Show that took place there. Please follow the link to post “1929 Flower Show at the Majestic Hotel“.