Malacca... the Chinese settlement

My last trip took me to Malaysia for business. I decided to add one day of holiday to it going to the old city of Malacca. Like Shanghai, Malacca was a western settlement in an Asian country. The first to settle were the Portuguese, replaced by the Dutch and then the British until independence in the 1950's. What really links Shanghai and Malacca is the large Chinese communities that settled in Malacca since the 17th century. This give to the city a whole new dimension. Like in Shanghai Chinese design and western technology mixed to create buildings that are very unique.
Most of the Malacca houses have the traditional shape of 2 story's Chinese house with the shop facing the street and the living quarters above them. The typical Malacca style mixes it with western details such as Corinthian style column top, painting of colorful flowers on the walls. This mix of western and Chinese style are quite similar to the one to be found in China's Guandong province, in particular around Kaiping. I could also see number of buildings with colored glass windows like one can see on buildings in Shanghai. Buildings from the 1930's and later often have iron windows like the one in my apartment in Shanghai.
The whole Chinese city of Malacca has a very nice colonial atmosphere. Many cafes are open to the street. My two preferred places where the Lin Loke Wee Coffee Shop, at the corner of Jalan Tokong and Jalan Portugis (just the name of the street is an evocation to travel). This a very local place, in a corner building surely from 1930's. Age old wooden chairs, wooden table with stone top, the decor has not changed for decades, not even the fridge in the back that seems straight out of 50's movie. You can have noodles, drink the local soja drink or a great ice coffee with milk or Sugar. This place is authentic Malacca style.
A little further on Jonker is street is the new and attractive Geographer Cafe. A modern place with a travel feeling to it, it's keeps the colonial atmosphere while creating a modern touch to it. This place reminded me of other travels cafes I have been to, like the Foreign Correspondent Club in Phnom Penh. Decor is great, food was fine (a little too western to my taste... but great to tourists). I enjoy it tremendously... The decor upstairs is all made with antic maps, old pictures and postcards... not far off my dream cafe if I ever make one.
Jonker street, the central street of the Chinese city is also packed with antic shops, that I visited looking for treasures and ending up buying a number of things... including the promotion flyer for "Fantomas", a French film from the 1970's. It was just so out of it's place that I could not resist. Looking for Shanghai related items, I found a postcard send to the "Hotel des Colonies" in the French concession. This will be developed in a further posting.

Building Shanghai

I had this book stored on my shelf since I bought it a few months ago. Winter coming, bad weather and renewed interest kind of melted together pushing me to open it again. "Building Shanghai" looks at first like of those coffee table books, that you look at every now and then and you leave around just to look nice when people come and visit you. This book is really nice to look at, but it's also much more than that. It's a history of Shanghai from an architectural point of view. With several maps of the old Shanghai compared with the new one, I was able to locate quite a number of buildings I had noticed in the street and know about their history and architectural style. What is more fascinating is to look at some of those photograph, and to realize that I passed some great buildings every day without notice them... as they have been covered or altered with terrible expansions or additions that make impossible to recognize anymore.
As much as I am appalled by the current destruction of Shanghai architectural heritage, I also have to admit that destroying grand building a few years old to replace them by something even grander has always been part of the Shanghai history, and that some buildings that we revere today as antics were horrible creations mixing very diverse kind of styles in Frankenstein-like creation. Similarly in the old and new Shanghai, architects are pushed over the limits by landlord willing to deliver a message with their buildings... but only end up showing how bad tastes they have.
Finally I enjoyed in this book the great love of the authors for the old Shanghai and it's preservation... as well as the love of Shanghai as a modern city and how to continue it's expansion while avoiding expending it's monstrous aspect to much. I'm not sure this has been the priority of Shanghai's planners until now... but hopefully this attitude is already changing in some districts.

Calling Wallis

Now living in the world of email, VOIP and blogs... it's sometimes difficult to remember the time when all these tools did not exist, and people had to wait for days to be able to communicate from remote places like Shanghai to their home country. Nearer to us, I often explain the difficulties to send a fax to my mother back down in the beautiful Islands of Wallis and Futuna when I lived in Hungary. As this archipealgo lost in the Pacific Ocean is a French (!) territory, the majority of the communication would take place through France. Due to the lack of traffic, operators in other countries would not even program the country code in their phone system. People from there could call us, but could not be called.
Sending a fax was my regular entertainement on Sunday evening. After hand-writing the message, I would start the painful experience of transmitting it. The first time that I tried to do it, I used the normal fax-sending procedure, i.e. I dialled the fax number with the 681 country code. The surprise came when I heard a voice in Hungarian repeating something that I understood after several times to be "the country code your are using does not exist". The only solution was to find the operator for international calls at Matav (the Hungarian telecom company). This took me quite some time, as very few people actually require this service and it's not advertised in phone books. This really challenged my (then burgeoning) Hungarian. I finally reached the operator, explaining that I wanted to send a fax to this weird location with its even weirder country code. I then spent about 5 to 10 minutes to explain to the operator that this country and country code actually existed. This had to be repeated every time I wanted to send a fax. After convincing the operator of the very existence of this place and giving him re-assurance of my mental sanity, I would over hear him calling the France Telecom international operator, going like "Hello, I have this mad guy willing to place a call to a country that does not exist, but claiming that France Telecom may be able to do it." Then, France Telecom operator would answer something like "Yesse, zis is ze country code ove Wallis et Futuna. Pliz old on, I will connect you". Then, I would wait for a few seconds and the phone would start ringing to my Mum's house... in the best case. Most of the time, I would overhear the France Telecom operator saying "I am sorry. Ze line is occupied at the moment. I will call you back when ze line is available". Then I would wait for minutes and sometimes hours for "ze line to be available". As I had to be ready to talk or send the fax at the appropriate moment, my only hope was to sit next to the phone with a book, until (up to 2 hours later), the Matav operator would call back. The only four satellite phone lines to the archipelago were far insufficient.

Though this repeated experience sounds like from the middle-age, it took place in 1996-97. For Chinese and inhabitants of the Eastern Europe, it does not sound so far away, as all international calls used to be like that until not so long ago. I'm sure calling Europe and the USA from the old Shanghai was a similar experience.

Les Francais de Shanghai

The French concession of Shanghai was run by French and under French law, an enclave in the middle of China. Although French people settled it, many more nationalities were added on the way. Portuguese, Russians fleeing the revolutions, Jews fleeing persecutions in Europe and of course Chinese. I recently read a book about the French people that lived in the French concession, “Les Francais de Shanghai” (i.e. "The French people of Shanghai").

This book is not a novel, it’s not a thesis or a real biography of Shanghai either… it’s a little bit of all. The book is built in many small chapters, each of them telling stories and anecdotes about a particular French person or family of the old Shanghai. The author used a lot of research, old documents and interviews of people who actually lived in the old Shanghai, or their descendants. It gives little snaps of the daily life in old Shanghai, details that have not much importance taken one by one but together create an atmosphere, a moving picture of the old Shanghai.

I read the book within a weekend, losing a lot of sleep on it as I was fascinated by the characters and stories. It is full of information I had never seen before, including the history of famous institutions such as the university, hospitals and churches that one still can see today. It also give great information about the influence of the Jesuites priests in the development of the city, as well as more information about some famous people (de Montigny, Dubai, Moller). I particularly enjoyed the part about police and gangsters in the old Shanghai, discovering that a house very near from mine used to be the "Poste de police Petain", complement of the "Poste de Police Joffre" that I already knew of a little further on the road. I was sitting on my sofa while reading, in my 1920’s apartment in the heart of the French concession and I felt like being transported through time.

Readings occupied my mind fully, and when I had to go out for survival shopping it was a shock to re-discover XXIst century cars …when I was expecting 1930’s Renaults or Peugeots. This book was a great travel in itself, making old Shanghai even more vivid. After "Les Francais de Shanghai", I will continue looking for great books like this one, completing my knowledge of the past of this great city.

Made in Shanghai

Objects of the old Shanghai can still be found in the city when you know where to look for. Very expensive icons of doubtful authenticity are offered to tourists for enormous amounts of money. What I find more interesting is to look for daily life objects that have gone through the ages. They are generally much cheaper and less likely to be fakes. I recently run into a full box of sewing line for sell in an antic market. It was probably an old survivor of times, kept preciously in a bottom of a wardrobe during dark times when replacement would be difficult to find and all originality in dresses forbidden. Although the box seemed old, I was not sure when it was from and whether this could have any interest in my search of the old Shanghai. The box contained about 30 rolls of line of various color. I looked at it, but did not really want to buy them... Until I saw "MADE IN SHANGHAI" printed on the label. The Chinese characters are traditional characters, so these objects were probably produced before 1949, when the characters were changed to simplified. The "MADE IN SHANGHAI" label in English proves to me that these rolls were made during the old Shanghai time, as from 1949 there are is little chance to have something written in English on the product, and certainly not "MADE IN SHANGHAI", but more probably "MADE IN CHINA".

These rolls were probably made in one of the multiple factories that were built in Shanghai during the concession time. Today Xu Jia Hui (Xi Ka Wei in the old spelling) was a heavy industry area. Today's symbol of it is the Xu Jia Hui park, where a high column of bricks stands... the old chimney of a factory. As for other objects and documents, they are a little bit of the old Shanghai that have crossed the ages. Touching it and looking at old pictures, it's easy to imagine Chinese tailor sewing fabrics to create traditional Chinese or modern western cloths, as they still do today. In today's Shanghai as in the old Shanghai, tailor is a respected work and most people have their cloths made by their skilled hands. This is one of those things that never changes in Shanghai, part of daily life in both the old and new Shanghai.

Soviet Nostalgia

Old Shanghai was the most developed Asian City of it’s time… and Shanghai is today’s economic capital of China… but the political capital city remains Beijing. I was in Beijing again recently and the difference between those two cities is always striking. Now that most of the traditional habitat of Beijing (the famous Hutong) has been destroyed out of the core center, Beijing looks even more like the ideal communist city of the Markism inspired planners. Like a communist post-modern postcard, it has the great large avenues, large brand new buildings one the side, and apartment blocks of various styles around. Bikes have nearly disappeared… as they don’t look modern and rich enough anymore. I wish that there was just a few cars in the streets like on those postcards, not like the permanent traffic jam that this city is. The friends I visited live around the people stadium, in a nice area that was all built in the 50’s. Small 4-5 floors buildings with a shop at the bottom, quite a number of restaurant around, this area looks like the suburb of Moscow, Warsaw or Bucharest. I have to admit that I still like the Eastern European feeling I get when I go there. Beijing has also a large Russian community, and as a result a Russian district and several Russian restaurants.

Walking on the south side of Ritan Park, I was looking for a fancy bar and restaurant that I visited last year. Cruising the empty boulevard on Monday night, I finally reached the place I was looking for, just to find out that it was closed, being transformed into something else. I was just wandering around, following the dark street, looking for another place for diner when I started to see some lights through the fog. As I was walking further, the vision became clearer. The Kremlin skyline with "MOCKBA" written in neon lights was standing over a Soviet style building. Black Mercedes were parked in front of me, with two bigs guys falling in each others arms and speaking Russian. I stepped forward feeling like Neo facing Morpheus. Swallowing the red pill, I passed through the door. The room was very large with 2 floors, many soviet style wooden tables... and about 10 customers. The restaurant's menu was written in Russian and Chinese, with some parts being sub-titled in English. The waiter started naturally to talk to me in Russian. Despite Monday night emptiness, the show started when I arrived. Typical Russian dancers in traditional costumes were followed by acrobats straight out of Russian navy seals performing a very blond, blue eyes and muscular version of hip hop dancing. Then came the Russian singers. I did not really understand the lyrics, but the sound of the keyboard straight out of the 1980's fitted perfectly the sad and nostalgic voice of the girl singing. I would not have been surprised to see Leonid Brejnev's face showing up in news I was watching in the massive Russian TV.

MOCKBA is not a Russian restaurant, it's a portal back to USSR. The social-realist decor, passable food and terrible service contribute wonderfully to the time travel. I'm not sure I will come back ever, but this place is really worth a visit. Shanghai is become a world city and has no space for such a weird place anymore. I am glad I could find it in Beijing.

The nexus of Shanghai

It is only a few minutes walk from my beloved and quiet Anting Street, but it's always a shock for me to go to Xu Jia Hui. This area is a major concentration of new buildings in South Western Shanghai. Within a few hundred meters, one can find dozens of shopping centers, including the biggest techmalls (mall specialised in computers and technology products) of the city. It includes one of the major metro station of the (Xu Jia Hui), one of the largest road in Shanghai (twice four lane Zhao Jia Bang Lu, larger than many European motorways), as well as hundreds of buses crossing the district in all directions at all time of the day and night. The area is next to the Shanghai stadium(the largest stadium of the city) and the beginning of the South-Western Shanghai, an area in transformation from industrial to residential. Hundred of thousands of people live in or around Xu Jia Hui making it a major hub for transportation, living, working and shopping. It is also hosting major construction projects and the population is still increasing at a high speed.
This district was always densely populated,mixing industrial and living areas. It used to be covered by little houses with red roof that are still very common in Shanghai. It's now covered with twenty to thirty floors buildings and new ones are being built all the time. Between two skyscrapers, one can discover the largest cathedral and the old south railway station of Shanghai, (now a restaurant, the new station has just been opened a few kilometers further out) and the Shanghai catholic covent.
An unforgettable experience one can have every day is to try and get through the area at peak hours. My friends who working in the area compare it to the experience of going to a major concert... every morning. At that time of the day, the whole district is covered with people and it's nearly impossible to find an empty space. As Xu Jia Hui is also a major shopping district, it gets even more flooded with people on bank holidays. It's difficult to describe this feeling... it's a bit like being in a large demonstration, where the only thing you can is do is to go with the flow. With all kind people mixing, loudspeakers from sales booth, buses and taxis constently horning, the whole area feels like straight out of Blade Runner. Towers, lot's of people, shopping centers everywhere surrounded with car... this is the way that Shanghai is becoming a world city.

Sympathy for the Uighurs

They are around in Shanghai. They cook meat sticks on the charcoal barbecue, sell raisins and dried fruits, try to push you into buying a slice of their sweeties or whole skins of wild foxes. Most of us don't pay much attention for these people that definitely do not look like Han Chinese, and barely speak Chinese anyway. The only time we interact with them is generally around 2 am, when the late night make the smell of grilled meet impossible to ignore. They grill a few meat sticks for us, and we forget them in the night. Most of them are Uighur people, coming from the faraway province of XinJiang.
Like many of the foreigners living in Shanghai, I have heard Xinjiang a lot and I wanted to go there for a long time, so I spent my October holiday there. Ulumuqi was the first shock. In the middle of an uninteresting Chinese city, stands a large Muslim style shopping center... with a Carrefour supermarket in the middle. Walk the street behind, and China disappears for a crowd of central Asian faces, smells and sound. People barely speak Chinese, and prefer broken English to address foreigners. My preferred place was a small square with lot's old guy playing chess under the trees and a supermarket full of products imported from Turkey. This was just the very first time when I had to ironically remind myself that I am in China... otherwise I may simply forget it.
Turpan is another shock altogether. Apart from the People Square and the modern Chinese city, the rest of seems much closer to Tehran or Istanbul than... Beijing. Raisins dry in red brick houses. The muezzin calls for pray several times a day and the most dishes are made of potato and lamb. The deeper you go in Xinjiang, the more you live China behind you. Going to markets in small towns like Yarkan or Markit is just like walking on a market in the middle East or North Africa. Donkey carts are nearly the only available vehicle and women wear various kind of the Islamic veil. By looking around and talking to the local one quickly realize that the local law applied is the Islamic sharia more than anything else.
XinJiang feels like really far from the rest of China, and not only because of the distance. Most people there come from "ethnic minorities" and what you see around does sound, taste,feel and smell very different from the China I am used to.
It's touching to see the proud lords of the desert and mountains of XinJiang province in Shanghai. So far away from their homeland, trying to make a few Yuan selling things but still bringing with them the sun of their province. Now that I have been to their homeland, I appreciate them even more.They bring a lot of colors, sounds and tastes to our all-too-modern and formatted cities. As Shanghai is becoming a world city, I hope they will find a better place here.

Moleskine or else

I ran into my first Moleskine in a book shop in Hong Kong. I had never seen one before, but I have had many carnets de voyage. After a few pages the notebooks were often quickly lost or forgotten... to give way to another notebook of a different fashion... but I would never travel without one. A note book is always part of of what I call "city survival kit", along with a good book, a pen, a map of the city and a camera. But I never thought that a notebook could be something so nice and resistant as a Moleskine.
Moleskine's marketing is just so smart. Evocating past writers and painters that won't be able to contradict them, they simply explain that their products have been the companion of artists and adventurers for centuries. I'm not sure this is such an accurate statement, and the new makers of Moleskine are probably somewhat remixing history to their advantage... but the product remains great. My first Moleskine has been a travel companion for nearly a year, from XuJiaWai to Kashgar, from China to Germany. It's (soon to come) successor is already waiting in my bookshelf for breaking into action. My Moleskine is always in my pocket and has become a companion of every day. I used to collect the million of thoughts (including blog entries) coming to my mind and disappearing soon after... I now catch them on my Moleskine, and re-use them later.
I'm not sure whether it's the quality of the manufacturing or the beauty of the item, but its very existence is a tremendous help. With resistant leather binding, and good quality paper, this booklet can go through a lot without damage and has a superb advantage over all it's electronic equivalents... it just takes any pen to work and its operating system never crashes.

Before the storm

The weather was so hot three days ago. The temperature reached 37 degrees (about 100F), and taking a walk outside was the best way to loose liters of water within a few minutes. Streets were deserted, and people were finding refuge in the air-conditioned metro stations, buildings hallways and shopping centers. The temperature dropped a little two days ago, as the wind started to blow the city. From my office on the 18^th floor I could see banners floating, pushed away by the invisible force from the sea. This strong wing sometimes reminds us that Shanghai is a city on the sea (上海 literally means “on the sea”), although we see so little of it. The more and more clouds made the sky darker and darker, as night fell much earlier than usual. We were all waiting for the storm to splash the city coming from the Southern provinces and we were all apprehending it... but the storm did not come. Yesterday morning brought a feeling of relief, as the sky cleared. The very idea of a storm seemed just like a collective nightmare...
Pictures of last year's storm come through my mind, torrent of rain pouring, wind blowing the trees downs, cars looking like boats floating half a meter of water. There are not many storms like this in Shanghai. Typhoons in Hong Kong are very frequent, people simply leave offices and go home when the drill comes. They are prepared, ready for the tempest descending on the city. Typhoons are rare in Shanghai, and the city is far from ready for it. Last year, many of the luxury villas of the suburb were flooded, the designer just did not think so much rain could fall on the city. Some friends got water coming into their expensive apartment, as the construction was just no thick enough to resist the pressure. The wind blew also an advertising sign killing several people in its flight. I can not stop thinking that some of the stuff hanging on balconies on tours and skyscrapers could easily take off and fall on somebody.
The wind has started to blow again today, even stronger than yesterday. Trees are starting to shake, clouds are flying fast in the sky. The whole city is going through the anticipation, the presentiment of the events to come. Everyone knows the storm is coming, everyone can feel it. All streets are crowded, all taxis are taken by people trying to reach home as soon as possible. The city will become a gigantic traffic jam tonight, before getting quiet under the pouring rain. The ambiance is electric, expectancy mixed with fear and haste. The atmosphere before the storm is just really special.

Timelessness - Face Bar (Rue Lafayette, now Fuxing Zhong Lu)

Face Bar is not "in", it's not a fashionable location but it is quintessentially part of the Shanghai spirit. Face Bar is located in one of the smaller building of the former Morriss Mansion, now Rui Jin Guest House. The front entrance looks at the park of hotel, and the back entrance is a few steps away from Rue Lafayette (now Fuxing Zhong Lu). Although this building is not the main one of the compound, it's a large and impressive mansion with 3 floors. I'm not a great fan of the terrace. It's a cozy place, but as it's spread out along the alley, the isolation of the tables from each others gives the feeling that you are alone in the world, while letting people at the next table fully comprehend your conversation.
I particularly like Face Bar in the winter at 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, drinking high tea in the veranda, looking at sun rays painfully piercing through the clouds. It's cold outside, but the inside is jut warm enough. Just a little sunshine gives a pre-feeling of the winter. There are not so many people at this time on a lazy Sunday giving the atmosphere a feeling of great intimacy and timelessness. The whole winter gloom suddenly disappears while lying one of the Chinese beds. No need for opium to travel in the comfort of the wooden canopy. The world outside this wooden protection has become just the show that I am spectator of. Time stops while lying on this carpet as magic as the one of Aladdin.
Face Bar also has a restaurant upstairs, serving Thai food. There again, the old walls and old wood give you the feeling that you are on a time travel... to old colonial Asia. Flavors and atmosphere of various Asian countries mix, to create this subtle ambiance. Face Bar also has a third floor in the attic, cozy and charming, with a balcony overlooking the park.
The genius of the architect is to have preserved and used the old building where the bar is located. It has created an establishment that seems somehow straight out of the settlements time, while very contemporary. Like their ancestors in the "Cercle Sportif" of the old Shanghai, today's expat meet there for drinking a Gin-and-Tonic, chatting with friends, enjoying a cigar and play a game of pool. Under this veranda, the year could be 1920, 1930, 1990 or 2050... it does not really matter. Face Bar is a timeless place, one of those where my mind starts to imagine that I actually live in the old Shanghai.

In love again

We have not met for about a year and I just could not have come to Europe without coming here. I planned my trip home to France, but somehow I had to make a hook. I'm sitting on a terrace, having a coffe at Cafe Vian on Liszt Square in Budapest. Our story somehow finished in December 2004, when I decided to leave and move to Shanghai. Although I am now far away, I have never forgotten this feeling.

I have just spent the last hours walking in its streets and old feelings come back so fast. The city and me just find back each other. I notice every detail, every change in its heart. I touch the walls, the old stone still has the same feeling and the same soul. Flashbacks about people and events that I have lived here come back at each corner. There is a deja vu feeling and the return of past habits is just like fitting back in long worn shoes. I sometimes feel that I never left, that the whole time in Shanghai was just last night's dream and that I still live here. Spending time with old friends, sitting at the same restaurants as we used to and feeling somehow part of the group again, those are feelings that are worth coming from the other side of the world just to enjoy them.

I am still in love with Budapest and being here is just like restarting this relationship that we had before. I thought I would never leave, and somehow with fatigue, habits and all the events that we lived together I ended considering going away. I eventually left for this new girl of Shanghai. New and unknown feelings were overwhelming, but it took me a long time to really absorb the end of our story and feel like a part of it. Shanghai is now my home and the relationship with this city is just as intense as the one I used to have with Budapest. I still enjoy living the old times again, spending some time between the nineteenth century buildings and feeling Hungarian nostalgia again, although knowing that the story is over. As much as I feel home here, it does not take long to realize how much a different person I am now. Any return would be the start of a new story, and imagining anything different would be fooling myself. The city is like an old girlfriend of mine, and meeting again is just so nice for a few days, just to enjoy a little bit of the nostalgia before going back to Shanghai, my new home.

Decadence on the Bund

It's another Sunday, waking up when most of the mornings hour have already vanished. I am thinking of going to brunch, which is just another way of forgetting that breakfast should have happened a few hours ago... when I was still in the first hours of my sleep. I'm looking at time passing so slowly and so fast at the same time, feeling somewhat guilty of this lost morning of free time. I could have used all this time for the many interesting things that have always been planing but never done, instead of staying in my bed, recovering from last night's dancing and drinking. I'm trying to remember what I did last night. Snapshots of drinks, dance music and happy people come back to my mind. We talked about going to a new club where a famous Dutch DJ was playing last night... instead I ended up in old favorite Bar Rouge.
There is only one bar like this in Shanghai. It opened about 2 years ago along with the restaurant below (Sens & Bund). Brand new design in an old ostentatious building, bringing a team of French managers and skillful bar tenders with them. Management probably initially thought that Bar Rouge would be "The bar of Sens & Bund" ... when this very bar has become infinitely more successful than the restaurant below. Some people love it, some people hate it, but everybody in town has been to Bar Rouge at least once... I have long lost count of how many evenings I have enjoyed on the 7th floor of Bund 18 looking at LuJiaZui towers on the other side of the river... or the amount of money I have spent there, that only somewhat equals the amount of bad things people have told me about this place.
Yes! Bar Rouge is the center of attentiong the newly rich foreigners as well as jet setters and posh tourists in Shanghai. Yes! people go there to be seen, much more than to enjoy and everybody seems to try being just something else than what they really are. Yes! Service can be appaling on overcrowded weekends if you don't know the bar tenders personaly. Yes! prices are astronomical compared to Shanghai bar scene, not to mention the local living standard BUT this is exactly why Bar Rouge is so great. Managers of foreign multinational companies, Russian models looking for a salary complement, new stars of the Chinese Media, winners of the "end of communism" game, foreign trainees looking for a little more of student life, foreign tourists looking for some posh action or maybe a little trouble at half the price of home, entrepreneurs celebrating business successes, Chinese working women willing to become your instant friend for the night, foreign buyers from all nationalities recovering from hours of drive on terrible roads visting factories, a new generation of young Chinese enjoying the fun of parties and nightlife, business visitors shown how much China is a "hardship posting", foreigners coming to Shanghai to study Chinese and ending in the most foreign place of the city, all of them and many more dress up and enjoy the pure decadence of the this place, the ablaze Champagne bottles, colorful lab tubes in ice, heavy cigar smoke, flamming bar and Formula One style Champagne aboundantly shaken by the beat of the dance music spinned around by excellent DJ's.
I don't always want to, but more often than not I find myself ending up in Bar Rouge. There are so many other great places in Shanghai, but going there is somewhat convulsive... there are nights that I just need to go there, because only there can you find this kind of atmosphere. There is true feeling of old Shanghai in this place. Like the Majestic dance hall, the New World and the Paramount in their times Bar Rouge is the place where Shanghai business people show off their success and release from the stress of the intoxicating life of this city. A night there is to feel just how Shanghai is becoming a world city again.

Singing trees

Shanghai is a very noisy city. Taxis and buses constantly horn, people often speak loudly, advertising and various kind of music resonate all the time. It's also not rare to hear the song of an air hammer a three o'clock in the morning, but if you look for it, you can find some pockets of quiet between the old buildings. The entrance of a lane can be on a busy street, but get through the door and it suddenly becomes much more quiet. Within ten or twenty meters, the traffic noise slowly disappears, giving away space for live noise of people talking with each other and households noises.
Lanes going through Shikumens are small narrow alleys serpenting between two-three level houses. The real gem is to find a lane leading to larger villas. Those often have gardens and trees, surrounded by a very special sound. The noise comes slowly from the sky, going crcrcrcr and taking everybody by surprise. It inflates and inflates and inflates until one cannot hear anything else for a while and then disappears on a slow descrendo. Silent regain the floor for a few minutes and the noise comes back again. Most of people living in newly built tower have never heard it.
This mysterious noise is the song of the cigalas. They are large insects, creating noise by vibrating their wings to attract females cigalas. This cigala's "love song" is a typical noise of the old Shanghai. Along with intense heat and Spanish style old houses, it gives a strong Mediterranean feeling to old parts of the city. Cigalas are still a privilege of the old Shanghai, as they seem to prefer old trees. Trees in the new parks and residence gardens do not seem to have been found yet by the little animals... or maybe the traffic noise is covering the Cigalas song there. Sitting in my old house looking at the garden, I hear the cigalas song and suddenly feel miles away from China. This sound is for me like a trip on the Mediterranean, somewhere between Marseilles, Thesaloniki and Oran. Cigallas song is one of these little details that make summers in old Shanghai so special.

China in my ears

I have never been a fan of moving my music with me. I remember the first walkmans being introduced in France, with the old cassette tape in it. A lot of my friends were getting one and I ended up buying one as well. I never used it a lot, neither did I use his CD based successor much more. Short battery life and the necessity to carry music supply with me were a killer... but most importantly I always felt very strange to be separated from the world by the headphones. I always tend to listen to and observe everything around me, so the very idea to cut this source of permanent entertainment is a little weird for me. Sound is also a way to understand the surrounding environment. In crossing busy Shanghai streets, hearing the right sound can save your life from being crushed by an incoming bus...

I am sitting in the French high speed train (TGV) looking at the countryside speeding through the window left to me. 48 hours in Europe including a shopping spree in Paris yesterday, I am going home to reconnect with my family. Jet-lag and late night enjoying friends before taking the plane are still taking their toll on my sleepy eyes. Going home is always a lot of nice feelings, as well as a lot of nostalgia. I enjoy tremendously and I somehow fear it a little as well. I start my computer to write another of those blog posts. I write about how much the Paris near suburbs from the 1920's remind me of the French concession that dates from the same period. Inspiration is difficult to come, constantly disturbed by the crying baby next to me and the conversations of people around that I cannot stop from hearing as they are in my mother tongue. This is when I dig my SKYPE portable headset from my computer suitcase and start a MP3 player software... as I suddenly felt like cutting myself from the world. Any music will do as long as it covers the surrounding noise. Chinese notes invade my head within seconds and I am transported to a different universe. Through the hilly fields of the French countryside, I can see rice paddies and terraces from China. Somehow warmed by this usual sound, I feel much better and linked again to Shanghai. I also remember my friendly music composer of neighbor who gave me this file because I used to listen to it all the time... through the wall separating our both apartments. Sitting in the train facing my computer, I am probably using the wolrd's clumsiest portable MP3 player... but it does the trick. I will get a real player very soon, so that I can carry China in my ears with me everywhere.

Unpaid bill

In a recent trip to an antic market, I ran into a large stack of old papers. They were sketches and drawing from an unknown artist. I was not really interested... but my friend was. He looked at all the drawings one by one, spending so much time with them that I was already moving a few vendors down the line. He called me back and pointed out to these three envelops that he found but had no idea what they were. One of them is the picture on the left hand side. On the envelops was written "Compagnie Francaise de Tramways et d'Eclairage Electrique de Shanghai", i.e. Tranmways and Electric Lighting company of Shanghai. These three little envelops, contains three electricity bills from May, June and July 1949. As China was liberated by the communist party in October 1949, they were amongst the very last ones to be sent with this company mentionned. The bills themselves are in English and Chinese, with no French writing except being called "Facture" and the phone number indicated as "Téléphone". Just seeing the name of the company written in French is like a living proof of the very existence of the French concession. Details and daily life objects like this make history become so much more real.
The electricity company address (Avenue Dubail, Now Chongqing Nan lu) probably does not exist anymore. The whole Avenue Dubail has been destroyed in the 90's to build the famous flyover motorways of Shanghai... but the address to whom this was send maybe still exist. Route Cohen (now Gaoan Lu) is very near from my street, Route Kaufmann (now Anting Lu). I have not checked out yet whether the house at 256 still exists, but it's funny to imagine the face of the house owner, seeing me coming with those unpaid bills from 60 years ago. This is only daydreaming, as the receiver of these electricity bills have probably been chased of their house long ago. In any case, after a second look I realized that the bills have actually been settled in July 1949. No chance of collecting any money from this old bill, but just looking at it is still fascinating.

Another one bites the dust

On the back side of my office building, there is a small lane running between old houses. I often walk it on the way home, to avoid the crowd of the surrounding boulevards. It is lively but quiet, kids playing around and people chatting from one house to the other in a tranquillle atmosphere... right in the middle of modern Shanghai. This is one of my "secret passages" through the old Shanghai shikumens. The picture left shows this little alley going throughout the houses, surrounded by brand new skyscrapers towers. During my trip, I cross two separate sections, one that is of very good construction art-deco style (the first two rows on the picture), the other one of lower quality 1920's houses.
I walked through it recently, and realized that many of the small streets were strangely empty, people having abandoned furniture outside and many windows being left open. I looked around for an explanation, and I suddenly noticed the large posters that were sticked on many walls. Although I still cannot read so much Chinese, it did not take me long to understand that they were official government posters, and that the date of 10th August 2006 (i.e. yesterday) was written on then. I was reading the evacuation notice, the death sentence of my beloved back street. These beautiful art-deco brick houses will soon be destroyed, probably replaced by another tasteless modern complex of building featuring "luxury" apartments, shopping center and offices. I can already see banners repeating again and again arguments for destroying this piece of architecture and history, the race for modernity. I am not so sure those people will love to be relocated from the house they have lived in all their life in the city center to modern aseptic housing settlements, miles away in the suburbs, cut apart from their life long community. The neighborhood is probably happily waiting for the next one of these all-in-ones developments, with another shopping center looking like an advertising for luxury chains of hotels or international credit cards, where the same brands as anywhere else will be sold in an sterile environment.
I do not want sound like opposing progress, as I know that Shanghai still needs a lot of economical development. At the same time, remains of the old Shanghai are disappearing so fast that the city's history will soon be visible in museums only. I mentioned before that this little road crosses through two different groups of building. The second one was clearly not well built and some houses are about to collapse after 60 years without maintenance. I don't think there is much to do about this section, apart from tearing it down and rebuilding above it. However, the first smallest section is made of beautiful art-deco style buildings of high quality, still looking great after all this neglect. Every time I pass here, I try to imagine how this section of eight or ten houses could be restored and transformed into beautiful shops, cafes and restaurants enjoying sunny terraces. Few examples of this kind already exist in China, and the location could have made it an ideal shopping and entertainment area, right next to the main business district. Maybe I am a little too European liking old buildings so much, just dreaming about creating nice living conditions in a city were people are just obsessed by fleeing far away as soon as they have made their money. In any case, this dream of a little corner of enjoyment in the middle of the skyscrapers while keeping some valuable history is just about to disappear. To destroy its past is probably the fastest, but not necessarily the nicest way for Shanghai to become a world city.

Tourists in summer Shanghai

Summer in China is not really different from other seasons. Schools are closed for holidays, but the activity does not diminish much. Despite the heat, people keep on being pursuing their activities as usual. Summer in Shanghai is a very different matter. Downtown Shanghai is the host of many foreign companies... who's manager often go on vacation during summer. Clients and colleagues abroad (particularly in Europe) are also on holiday, releasing a lot of the pressure on employees shoulders. Bars and (foreign) restaurant tend to be less crowded their main costumers have disappeared. During this quiet time, foreign regulars are complemented by another crowd of strangers. Tourists in Shanghai are clearly in the rise, helping China to reach its future status of number 1 tourist destination in the world. Shanghai is the main door in and out of China for tourists. No tours of China can take place without showing the wonders of economical progress in Chinese economical capital, the Jin Mao Tower and LuJiaZui. You can also find many groups at the various temples of Shanghai and around YuYuan Garden. They are looking at all these Chinese wonders that are often fake or seriously transformed by renovation. I always find it amusing, that tours focus on traditional Chinese scenes in Shanghai, when much better examples can be found in Beijing or other Chinese cities. Most of these group miss what is really unique to Shanghai, the small streets and old buildings of the old concessions.

People with backpacks and lonely planet guides often seem more adventurous. They also go around the business districts and modernised Shanghai, admiring the brand new towers and one can also find a lot of them on the Bund and around YuYuan Garden. But the French concession part is where many western tourists go, looking for the glory of colonial times. With the renovation going on (for the part that is not being destroyed), this part of town is transforming into a major entertainment area, with small restaurant and cafes opening everywhere, creating a great atmosphere and lot's of nice spots for a rest between two visiting walks. With more cafes and tourists, Shanghai is really becoming a world city.

Cancoillote girl

Cancoillote is a semi liquid cheese from Franche-Comte, a region of North-East France, next to Switzerland. It's quit stinky and has a strange taste for people that are not used to eating French cheeses. It's a very local cheese, being unknown by most of the rest of France (and the world).
I was spending time at a professional networking event a few days ago, when I engaged conversation with a pretty western women. She was from Kansas and we talked a little bit about America as I recently made my first trip there. She explained how different life was in Kansas where she grew up, and in New York or Chicago, that I had just visited. This is when the conversation took a very different turn.
She started to speak to me in French, and said "I have spent a year at the University of Besancon". Besancon is the capital of Franche-Comte, the French region next to mine. It's a charming city and supposed to be very lively, though I am not quite sure how it could retain the attention of a foreigner for one full year. She also knew my town (Dijon), that is a little larger as she was spending weekends there. Then she said a really unexpected sentence: "Do you like cancoillote?" Here I was in Shanghai, drinking sparkling white wine dressed in a suit in a professional gathering, being asked about a cheese that I did not eat since about 10 or 15 years by this very pretty women from Kansas that I had just met. I have to admit that I was truly flabbergasted. We then chatted for a while about this cheese (that she did not like at all) and this part of rural France that I used to go skiing to. This was a really nice conversation and I could not help thinking about the wondeful taste of cancoillote on freshly boilled potatoes for a few days afterwards.
This conversation, with it combination of surprise and real fun, was typical of the new Shanghai. Shanghai today is the place where people from all over the world come to work, visit or study. As most of us have left friends and families, we go to cafes, bars, restaurants and networking events to make new friends and meet people. It's a melting pot of every nationality you can think of, coming here attracted by business opportunities and adventure in this world famous city. I have stopped counting the number of countries or Chinese provinces (larger than many European countries) that I have friends from, but it's probably around 100 by now. This is Shanghai today, and was also Shanghai yesterday. The old Shanghai was also a place where people from all nationalities and origin would meet and live together. The French concession did not have only French, nor the international settlement only Brits and Americans. Large numbers of Europeans, Russians, Americans and many other as well a Chinese immigrants from other provinces were attracted by the spectacular growth. The old Shanghai was the melting pot of Asia, as much as Hong Kong became later. Like New York or London, this city has a talent to bring people from everywhere in the world and make them meet and interact. Although it was frozen for many years, the spirit was kept alive in the memory of many people both abroad and in China, and it has come back. Shanghai is really becoming a world city again.

PS: I am going to France in a few weeks... be sure that I will have some Cancoillote then.

Lost in transmission

Old Shanghai was a city based on trading with the world, communicating with the tools of the time... airmail and telegram. I recently found one telegram from 1947 in an antic market. 1947 is only 60 years ago, but communication was using means that are so different from today. Touching this old piece of paper is like a trip through time. Images of morse code floating around and cruise ship travel come instantly to my mind. This reminds me of the first page of the "Lotus Bleu", where Tintin painfully listen to and decodes morse transmissions. Being a telegraphist was one of the crucial jobs for the community. A telegraphist would listen to messages, uncode them and write them down. The enclosed telegram was received in Shanghai from London on the 6th of February a 6:35 pm, and delivered the next morning at 7:00am to the receiver, a trading company in Shanghai. Telegraphists would also resend messages that they received, as the communication around the world was not necessarily direct, the message would be relayed from one operator to the other until destination. The network or relay used was often displayed on the telegram, in that case The Chinese Goverment Radio Administration, or CGRA.
With high technology costs and lot's of people needed to operate it, sending a telegram was expensive and charged by the number of words sent. This why "telegraphic style" of writing was invented, to carry the most information for a minimal cost. Telegraph was also generating error in the transmission, as one can see on this one. The receiving telegraphist hesitated or corrected on the CIF bit and on the name of the sender.
In the days of internet, email and VO-IP phones, it's difficult to even imagine how it must have been to live and work with so little ways of communicating. They were the days of a slower pace, when time had a different value, and life in the remote outposts like Shanghai was spent waiting for the next arriving ship or telegram. For a travel into time, I recently found a website where one can send a telegram to anywhere in the world. I have not tried it yet, but it's sounds like a fun way of travelling through time.

10 years in the red

April 1996, after 2 days of driving on European motorways I reached Komarom in Hungary where Csilla, my (now long lost of sight) Hungarian girlfriend was waiting for me. This was the second time I entered the (ex-)communist world after Prague in 1993, but this time was for good. Since 10 years I have lived in countries where the dominant but dying ideology of governement had been Marxism-Leninism and all it's regional versions. Central Europe in the late 90's, China and Vietnam in the 00's, 10 years living where the planned economy gives way to full speed capitalism, creating this social and economical tsunami that the Chinese authorities call "The transition from planned economy to market economy". Ten years in worlds where the future has nothing to do with the past and people have to fully re-invent themselves to survive. Ten years of living in the world of "la demerde", i.e. having to cut corners and constantly find ad-hoc solutions to make ends meet at the end of the month. Ten years of looking at young people suddenly swallowed in the wave of new consumerism, mesmerised by new shopping centers full of brand names propelled by millions spent in the new science of marketing and video clips on the local version of MTV. It was also ten years of exploring the nights of these big cities, transformed by the new freedom and struggling to keep something of their past. Ten years of parents raising their children in a world where all is available but everything cost so much, when they grew up having so much of the very little available. Ten years of rigid Kafkaian administrators and civil servants making every move in daily life a nightmare of pleads and intrigues, suddenly shaken from their throne by these unwelcome foreigners that dared to oppose and criticise theire rulling... to eventually win. Ten years of hearing that "Here it's different", but finally prooving that a lot is just the same as anywehere else.
Stalin and his friends expanding communism created a world parallel to the western one. Despite the enormous cultural differences, I still could recognise a foreigner's residence permit or a local person identity booklet anywhere in the red world. Brown or Bordeaux color booklet, with the holder's picture in the center of the first page, sticked by bad quality transpartent plastic film and no other text on this page. This design of Soviet invention was certainly one of the most popular, as the exact same was used from East Berlin, to Jerevan, Shanghai, Hanoi and Vladivostok. Along with AK47s, Ladas cars, Kamaz trucks and social-realisitc buildings, they are the design legacy of the Marxist/Leninist era to the world.

A short trip far away

Restaurants in Shanghai abound, new places opening constantly. This should lead to a lot of diversity, imagination and surprises... but it does not. Western restaurants are all of the same for the most part. There lot's of American joints serving burgers from McDonald's to (soon to open) upper-class burger restaurant (please explain me what that is exactly). We also have about 20 French restaurants, from the cheap bistro to the creme de la creme Relais-et-Chateau. Real Italian restaurants are in number in Shanghai, but the one I (sarcastically) prefer are the Japanese copies of Italian restaurants. I think I have to explain this more in depth as I also needed some time to understand the concept of it. They are chains of Italian restaurants, that were started in and expended all over Japan. They often already have outlets in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Korea... and now they come to China. Having very little link with real Italy... the food can be sometimes surprising. The pictures on the menu are always great, it's when your pizza, fettuccini or espresso come that comes the surprise along. The result generally ranges from "more or less right" to "I think an Italian would have a nervous breakdown when eating it".
Amongst all this repetition of variable quality western food, one also find some peculiar places, trying to serve a cuisine away from the norm. I recently had lunch in a Suriname restaurant. I am not sure all internationally minded readers know where Suriname is... let alone most Chinese people. I admire the lady who opened this restaurant, as she probably spends many hours explaining to people where her country is, and what you can expect to eat there. Anyway, I had my roti like in Holland (where Surinamese restaurants are available in mass) and the feeling that I had taken a trip away... 10 minutes from my office. I'm looking forward to far and unknown places... with more of those coming here, Shanghai is really becoming a world city.

A l'arriere des taxis

This song called "A l'arriere des taxis" (On the back seats of taxis) keeps on coming in my head. The band who sings it is called "Noir Desirs" (Black desires). It used to be the most popular French Rock band, until the lead singer and composer killed his girlfriend and his career in 2003.
It's the story of people who just spend a lot of their lifes, taking taxis to link the different points of their live in these big and incredible cities. "C'est Paris, Moscou, Berlin, Berlin l'enchanteresse" (It's Paris, Moscow, Berlin, Berlin the magic one). The song is from 1989, just before the Berlin wall fell, and the world changed forever. Had it been a little later, you could add Prague, Budapest, Beijing and Shanghai. The song is full of references to Moscow and Russian communism. I can't stop having images of Lenin statues being toppled by crowds and falling communism when I hear it.
"Ils s'aiment a l'arriere des taxis, tant que les heures passent" (they love each other on the back seats of taxis, as long as the hours fly away). People live and love at the back of taxis, flying around the arteries of Shanghai. Taxis are just so much a way of life here you take them to go everywhere... particularly at night time. I take taxis about twice a day on average... Taxis are where we live, work and love. I have so many memories on the back seat of taxis... As in Budapest and Saigon before, a lot of my Shanghai life takes place "A l'arriere des taxis".

Clash of two worlds

Standing in a Metro entrance, waiting for a friend who is late. I have time to look at people passing... as well as being showered by the looks of the hundreds of people passing in front of me. It's about lunch time, and this entrance is the connection of most busy metro station of Shanghai, with one of the main brand new shopping centers. The Shanghai metro is like all metros, functional, used by thousands of people a day. The shopping center is just a different world, clean, bright with marble and bright lights of advertising flashing around.
I noticed a little girl about 5 with a women about 35 (her mother probably) and a man 60 (I would guess the grandfather). I would guess they come from one of the neighboring provinces or one of the faraway parts of Shanghai. They are not really at ease with the whole environment, somewhat looking for their way in the labyrinth of corridor. They have just bought a Mickey Mouse puppet for the little girl. I guess, it comes from one of the street vendors and it's probably a fake one. I also guess it's a substantial amount of money for the family, just to please the little girl. They stop just before the entrance of the shopping center, the grandfather squatting like Chinese people do in the country side. The face of this man is marked by nature, hard work and age. He probably spent many years in the factory, the field or something even worse. They start to unpack the puppet and play with it.
It took about 1 minutes for the security guards from the shopping center to ask them to move away. They were polite but firm. The family wanted to stay but after a short discussion stood up and started to move along. What marked me was the look of total incomprehension on the face of this old man. He obeyed the big guys in white shirts, just as a routine because they represent authority and this is what he has learned all those years. Having been through years of hard work and political turmoil... he just to find he just find himself pushed away again, because they say he does not belong here. I guess the new Shanghai is just impossible to understand for people like him. I have seen the same look from Budapest to Saigon, on the face of these people that the disappearance of the communist dream world took by surprise... it still deeply touches me.

Boona Cafe (Xin Le Lu)

On a small street, at the heart of the French Concession, there is this cafe that a friend mentionned over diner, Boonna Cafe. It's not a bar, nor a French Grand Cafe type, but definitely kind of a Manhattan inspired coffee joint. About 10 meters by 5, with 9 tables and 25 seats, it's not the biggest Cafe I know in Shanghai but it's really friendly. Yellow and Red walls, giving light when the Shanghai suns goes away (i.e. most of the days). Lot's of books, black and wait pictures on the wall... even a ganja leaf somewhere in a corner. Some blues notes playing in the background. This place has a slightly artistic, alternative touch. It's not really Chinese, but these kind of places are so needed in Shanghai to make it more international. I love the atmosphere of a small place owned and run by a couple of friends. It's just the opposite of big chains, the opposite of standardisation, though globalisation and media overexposure gives it an air of deja-vu. Starbucks has opened the way, now it's time for more intimate places with a real atmosphere. Great place for a date, for starting a relationship, for closing one or meeting this friend perdu de vue since a few months... and last but not least, they have no smoking policy today... Definitely recommended for frequent visits.

Pudong tower at sunset

It was a bright and sunny afternoon. I decided to walk a little in Pudong, after my meeting next to DongFang Lu. I walked back toward Lu Jia Zui, waiting for a friend to call back for maybe having a coffee together. As this friend never called back, I hanged around this area a little, taking pictures as the sky was blue (rare in Shanghai nowadays because of the pollution). This side of the tower was enlighten by the sun, enhancing this golden color.
It's always funny to me, how people associate taking pictures with being a tourist. I guess that only tourist actually take pictures. The rest of us (like me most of the time), just pass in front of buildings and situation, without really seing them anymore. Blue sky days are rare in Shanghai, so I am carrying my camera with me all the time, just to be able to snap with an opportunity comes along.

JingJiang Hotel Cafe, Avenue du Roi Albert (Now Maoming Lu)

I have passed so many times in front of this landmark of Shanghai that is the Jing Jiang Hotel. Tonight, I was walking next to it on the way home and decided to visit it for a change. So I am having a Cafe Late in the upstairs Cafe. One gets through the underground entrance to the hotel, and the Cafe is on the first floor, after climbing the grand stairs. The furnising is certainely not the original from the 1930's and the renovation has been done without really taking care of the original decor, but this place still has an atmosphere. Like in all the JingJiang hotels, the service is mediocre and the company is mostly exploiting the grandeur of the buildings taken over at liberation.

It feels like air of old times in here, looking through cafe glass roof towards the hotel walls. The music is tasteless and very few people sit in the cafe. At roughly 7:00pm, I am about the only customer. It's easy to think about all the activity that was happening here in the 30's, and how this point of the French concession was clearly the center of the activity. The Lyceum Theater, the Club Sportif and the Cathay Cinema are just few steps away, this place must have been the ideal place for a coffee before the entertainment. Sitting here, I cannot help thinking about the Astoria Hotel in Budapest, or another old hotel in Prague that I forgot the name of.

With all the new hotels being build in Shanghai (starting with the new JingJiang next door), it's easy to understand why there is so little activity here, but sitting here is a time travel to old Shanghai.

Opening post

It's a warm night in Shanghai, and after discussing it many times with friends, I start this blog about Shanghai. There are already many blogs about Shanghai or about the experience of foreigners in China. I will try to add my little original touch to this electronic mess. This blog is dedicated to Shanghai both old and new.
By "Old Shanghai", most people understand Shanghai during colonial times, i.e. from the settlement of Shanghai (1842) before the "liberation" of China by the communist party (1st October 1949).
By "New Shanghai", I mean the change of the city from sleeping beauty until the opening fast development of the city from the early/mid ninesties. This also includes present times, as Shanghai is still a city in rapid transformation both in its appearance and socially.
My fascination and love are for both periods in a different ways, this is why I have tried to share this double passion in the same blog.
I hope you will enjoy reading this blog, as much I enjoy living here.

Xi Shi Bell tower

Xi Shi Bell Tower. This was the result of 2 weeks ago trip to a street apart from Sichuan Bei Lu. It's nicknamed "Famous People Street" by chinese as several famous people lived on this street, including Lu Xun, one of the famous modern Chinese writers.
The street has been pedestrianised, and houses are being renovated. One of the feature is this bell tower. There is not plate indicating the date of construction as on many old buildings in Shanghai, but it's clearly early 20's century. The style is somewhat similar to the one of the now museum of modern art (used to be Jockey Club) on people Square (used to be on the Shanghai horse race track).
The area of this tower is now completely transformed into a modern housing section. There are still old building around, but they probably will soon disappear.