Biased Review

I always try to write unbiased reviews... but this one will be a bit different since I have been involved in creating the book. "Promenades au coeur de l'ancienne concession Francaise" is the new version of an old guide about Shanghai's French concession. As the original one, this book was made by "A pleines mains" an expat charity in Shanghai. Proceeds are used in various help projects in Shanghai and the surrounding cities. The original guide was published in 2002 and has become out of print since then. It has been transformed into a number of guided walks throughout the French Concession. Each walk is about one hour and can be easily fit into a busy afternoon shopping or as a short break in a business trip. Walks are spread the old French Concession and the adjacent Xu Jia Hui area. One of them passes by the entrance of the lane where I live. Fortunately, my house is not included... which will avoid disturbing the quietness of my little private Shanghai.

The book is both in French and English, ensuring that the information collected within the important French community in the city is spread out to every lover of the old Shanghai. The original text was written in 2001 and the original author interviewed a few remaining Chinese survivors of the Concession time. This adds anecdotes and real stories to the book, making it a lively read. Having been interested in the topic for a few years, I still managed to learn quite a few things from it.

I did not design the walks, but I contributed is by landing some of my own collection of old Shanghai postcards and documents to be used as illustration. I am quite proud of having been part of it as the result is really good, but it's for you to judge. If you are looking for a practical book about old Shanghai, it's a good point to start.

Now on Blogger

Welcome to Shanghailander.net on blogger. If you come from the old host, you made it over successfully. I am glad you are staying along. For the newcomers, I write a weekly post about Old Shanghai.
I had been using Typepad as a blog hosting service since the beginning, i.e. two years ago. However, a few months ago Typepad blogs became inaccessible in China. With the Olympics approaching a large number of blogs became blocked. This had not consequence for anybody out of China... but for all my Shanghai friends it became a serious issue. I have tried to go around it using Facebook as a display and giving the address of proxies to a number of friends... but at the end of the day, it is not possible to have a blog about Shanghai... that is not visible in Shanghai. Blogger has been more clever than Typepad on this, introducing a system that allows viewer in China to get through, so I finally move to Blogger.

During my holidays in the Philippines, I have moved all the posts to this new host. The www.shanghailander.net address should be working very soon, i.e. when I have managed to solve some techincal difficulties. That should only take a couple of days. For the subscribers of the blog, there surely is a way to do that in Blogger as well but I have not found it yet. Please send me a mail if you want to continue receive notices about posts.

While moving all the posts I also took time to read them again (and correct some typos). It was a great time to see how this blog has evolved from an simple idea to a weekly column about the great city that is Shanghai. Postings will continue on a weekly basis, so see you at the new address: www.shanghaioldnew.blogspot.com and soon www.shanghailander.net

The perfect Sunday

Warm weather finally has come to Shanghai. Spring 2008 was just a nightmare with gray sky every day for weeks and temperatures remaining around 12 degrees... when they should be above 20. Spring is one of the best time in Shanghai along with autumn... and it has finally started this year. This was an opportunity to spend a great Sunday. A day like this is the best antidote to the restlessness of the city that drives people mad at one point or another.
The perfect Sunday starts with waking up around 9 or 10 am and write or read a little on the balcony. The garden of the old house we live in is full of trees and green leafs have just come out, obscuring the view from all the neighbors. Birds sing in the trees, they create a countryside atmosphere right in the middle of the city. Drinking coffee on the balcony while writing or reading, I just enjoy the view. While Jiajia is waking up, I take my bike to the Paul bakery on Dong Ping Lu a few roads down. I often meet friends in this neighborhood, taking time to chat while buying croissants for breakfast. After eating French pastry and more of the balcony, I jump on my bike again for a trip to the old city.
The peak time of my perfect Sunday is biking along the streets of the former French Concession. I cruise on my bike under the shadow of plane trees. Passing by the old houses, it really feels like I am back in 1930's Shanghai. I generally take Route de Seyes (Yong Jia Lu) up to Route Delastres (Tai Yuan Lu), then going on Fuxing Lu all along the way. Rue Lafayette (the old name of Fuxing Lu) is a one way street with a large bike lane. Crossing right through the whole of the French Concession, it has kept a lot of its old buildings and is still very charming. The end of Fuxing Lu reach into the old Chinese City... that now exists only in some people imagination since most buildings have been destroyed. Fan Bang Lu and Dong Tai Lu antique markets or Wen Miao Temple book market are my favorite places to go to.
Walking through the lines of shops, one needs a lot of attention to spot anything valuable amongst the stacks of stuff piled around. The most interesting sellers are the ones that get in bulk straight the demolition works. They are not the most appealing but something they have hidden gems. Most of the items are of little if any value... but you may find something interesting. This is when strong bargaining is required as the asking price is often beyond any reason. After shopping, I jump back on my back, going home via one of my favorite coffee place on Route Cassini (Taikang Lu) or Citizen Cafe (Jinxian Lu) and enjoying diner with a few friends. This is my perfect Sunday in Shanghai.

Climbing Zo Se (She Shan nowadays)

The Shanghai hills are the nearest thing to a mountain near the city. Driving there takes about 1 hour from the center if traffic is good. Located in the East of the city, it is quite near from the major expatriates area of HongQiao and HuQinPing. Since the opening of the Meridien hotel, is has become popular spot for Sunday family outing. While indulging with delicacies, few people seem to be aware of the hill's history and climb to the top of it.
In the old Shanghai time, SheShan was known as Zose (Sheshan in Shanghainese). The name was also the one of the village at the bottom of the hill. It is mentioned as an interesting excursion from Shanghai in my American Express guide for "Sigthseeing in and around Shanghai" from 1934. The return trip to the hill took then 1 full day starting with train from "Shanghai North Station at 7.10 a.m" arriving at "Sungkiang 8:39am". (Songjiang is now a part of Shanghai, with a metro line reaching is in less than 1/2 hour.) Traveller would then take a boat on the canals reaching Zose "in about 2 and half hour". The guide also recommended to take your own picnic (in a picnic basket) to eat after climbing the hill before going back to Shanghai in a journey of about 4 hours by the same way. It even propose "a more leisurely alternative" in taking a boat on the Suzhou Creek from Shanghai to reach Zose in the evening and climb the hill the next morning. People climbed the hill enjoy the landscape of "surrounding plains, with their villages and cultivated fields and waterways winding like silver bands." Rice paddies in that part of Shanghai are long gone, and villages have been replaced by compound of luxurious villas but the viewing is still very nice from up there.
The attraction on the hill in 1934 was the Observatory established in 1900 by the Jesuits fathers. It was one of the most advanced observatory in Asia. Weather informations were gathered from all over Asia, to be able to predict the weather for sea transportation. Information was sent to Shanghai French Bund for display on the Guslav Tower. The observatory has now been turned into a museum but is still nice to visit.
What is not mentioned on this guide from 1934... is the She Shan cathredral built by the Jesuits and finished in 1935.
The cathedral is the largest in Asia, dominating the surrounding planes. It is very impressive and has been well renovated, after damages done during cultural revolution. Like XuJiaHui Cathedral, it is a strong symbol of the Jesuits presence in this part of the world. It is a nice building and visiting it is a nice complement of a nice meal in the hotel downhill.

Red Mandarin dress

This is the fifth novel of inspector Chen. I read the four others last year, after having seen Qiu Xiaolong speaking at the Shanghai Literary festival. The other novels were really enjoyable, so I could not wait to read this one. At first, it seemed just like another inspector Chen novel. Another young chinese girl killed in strange circumstances in Shanghai in the late nineties. Once again, the novel start with a crime that inspector Chen has to solve... this sounds very much like every one of the inspector Chen novels. But this one deviates from the normal course really fast as the killer starts again one week later. Putting the corpses in very visible location (first on Dong Hu lu / Huai Hai lu), on People Square the murderer is sure to create heavy publicity for himself... just at the time when our favorite inspector is putting his job on the back burner... I won't spoil it all by telling the end, but this new novel is a page turner.
Qiu Xialong novel also evolve one after the other. They are all happening in the 90's in Shanghai, but this one clearly includes a number of element that are more from 2000 Shanghai than 1990. From one novel to the next, we see the character's life evolving and the city change. Part of the intrigue is still base on Cultural revolution and dark secrets from this time that come back to the surface many years later, but the whole topic also becomes broader including more part of Shanghai's history. At the same time, the novel keeps in touch with the city's reality and depicting the specific atmosphere of the transforming city. Reading it was a couple of hours of pure enjoyment.

Reaching Heaven

Saint-Ignace cathedral was a famous landmark of the Old Shanghai. Built by the Jesuits in 1906 at the spot of any earlier one, its two towers were clearly visible from far away. The Catholic cathedral was located in the Jesuits estate in Shanghai, just outside the border of the French concession. The building suffered a lot during cultural revolution, with both towers severely damaged. It was rebuilt in the 1990's and now looks more or less as the original. It is open again for religious services for Chinese catholic Church, for Chinese people only.
The Church may look like the original, but two things have changed. First of all the environment has been totally transformed along those years. The cathedral used to be visible miles away, it is now dwarfed by neighboring buildings and shopping centers. Furthermore, the original stained glasses have disappeared, replaced by plain glass. People are working on trying to put back stained glassed in the cathedral. I recently attended a charity concert to raise money to support this project. I was very much looking for it, as concerts in the church are something unheard of and I was not disappointed.
That night's weather was perfect for it. It had rained the whole day giving a gloomy atmosphere to the city. I was running through the continuous rain, finally getting in after a bit of struggle with the security. The room was full with people, but it was the quietest concert crowd I have ever seen in China. Silence came and shortly after I got in, the Chinese philharmonic orchestra started to play Mozart's requiem. In this extraordinary of the cathedral and the excellent music, one could quickly feel like we were in 1928, not 2008. It was really a touching moment to be able to experience this great music in such an historical place.
The concert finally ended after dies irea, and the crowd of the Shanghai foreign and Chinese high society that was there could have also very well belonged to the 20's or the 30's. The succession of big cars and white gloves drivers at the exit perfectly completed the old Shanghai atmosphere. In the night, you could see the car lights only and the rain helped keeping noise from the nearby avenue down. I was walking under the rain in my trench coat, feeling once again in a time travel to old Shanghai enjoying this wonderful and unique evening.

Two months in rationnaires

Coming to Shanghai from Europe today is a 10 hours airplane trip. Time difference and the long sitting make it tiring, but it still is quite a short trip. I even know people who go to Europe from Shanghai for less than 24 hours or just a long weekend. Travel between Shanghai and Europe in the 20's or the 30's was a much longer journey. Passengers would embark on the cruise in Europe and travel on it for about two months before reaching their final destination in Shanghai. It is certainly difficult to imagine nowadays what it meant to be on the sea for such a long time. Passengers would disembark along the way for sightseeing, while goods would flow in and out of the ship. From writings from this period, it is clear that such a trip was in itself a fabulous adventure.
The main French shipping line was "Messageries Maritimes". Based in Marseille, they were sailing on the "ligne d'Extreme-Orient". The company was one of the three major companies of the French Concession (along with "Banque de l'Indochine" and "Compagnie de tramways et d'eclairage electrique de Shanghai"). Its headquarters was located on the French Bund, next to the Consulate (today between Yannan Lu and JinLing lu) in a building that is now occupied by the Shanghai Archives. The current building was erected in 1936, replacing a previous one built in the 1870's. Following a 1926 brochure of the company, the ships stopped at the following ports of call: "Marseilles, Port Said, Suez, Djibouti, Colombo, Singapore, Saigon, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe, Yokohama. Singapore omitted on return voyages." One of the ship traveling along this line was the Porthos, pictured above.

I recently found a few more postcards of the inside of the Porthos and made some research about the ship (most information come from the website of Philippe Ramona). The Porthos had 112 passengers in first Class. It is clear from the pictures that this kind of travel was luxurious with great food served in a luxurious surrounding. Although the first class cabin was not as comfortable as a luxury hotel room it seems to have been still very convenient.
Second class travel don't look so bad either with 96 passengers. The chairs of the dining room seem to attached to the ground, but this kind of travel was surely still comfortable. I don't have pictures of the accomodation of the 90 3rd class passengers, but they were not the worst. Although its luxury was far from 1st class, it was still a world apart from the "rationnaire", i.e "food ration" class. This was the lowest class which counted from 390 to 1000 passengers. I'm not sure how it looked like but people were clearly stacked on the top of each other for 2 months in the ship. 1st class travel was probably a great experience, but "rationnaire" travel was certainly much less fun and certainly not as glamorous as scenes from the movie Titanic. Long flight on today's coach class are not always so comfortable, but at least they only last for 10 hours.

.sh

Saint Helena Island is mostly famous for having hosted Napoleon after he was surrendering in 1815. The British first kept him in Elba island near Italy. The location prooved not to be far enough since Napoleon actually came back and restored his power for a few months. This period is known in France as the 100 days ("Les cent jours"). At their second attempt, the British empire sent him as far as they could, i.e. Saint Helena Island, South Atlantic. The Island seem to have all the features of the dream tropical island with blue sea and palm trees, though it is surrounded by rocky shores. About only 5000 people live on the island... but they found a new resource.
The internet domain name for Saint Helena is sh . It had little use until a clever Shanghai based weekly (8 days) started to use it for its website (the domain does not work anymore since the newspaper has changed its name and ownership). They came up with www.8days.sh. I think that most people in Shanghai associated this URL with 8 days Shanghai. Suddenly, .sh started to find many more usage. There are not so many yet, but I have already spotted www.hudec.sh, celebrating the 50th year anniversary of Hungarian architect Laszlo Hudec death. As Shanghai is become a leading city in Asia and the world, I am pretty sure more of those will soon appear. The 2010 Shanghai World expo should also help a lot.
St Helenans have spotted the opportunity as a .sh domain currently costs USD 120 / year, about 10 times more than a .com or .cn . Like Tuvalu Islands making money out of the .tv internet domains, another tiny island finds itself with a great money maker. Shanghai is becoming richer and richer, and I am sure that this kind of money will not deter Shanghainese to proudly advertise their beloved city. With its (nearly) own domain on the worldwide web, Shanghai is really becoming a world city.

Sin city

I am not sure anymore where is the first time I heard about Ralph Shaw. It must have been about 2 years ago when I started to get really interested about Old Shanghai. I heard the story of this ex-journalist from North China Daily News (the most important English Speaking newspaper in Shanghai and the whole of China). I tried then to buy a copy of the book and this is where the difficulties started. It was not available in any English book store in China, then I started to look on the internet. Sin City was displayed on several book sites such as amazon.com but was listed as sold out. I finally got a second hand copy on the internet. The one I got is not the original publication of 1973, but a reprint in paperback from 1986. I had it shipped by the seller in England to my parents place in France and finally collected it in December.
I don't think the book sold very well, certainly not helped by the cover of the paperback was definitely not representative of the content, slizy and in any case plain ugly. However, it is in the bibliography of most books about Shanghai including the biography of Carl Crow I reviewed in a previous article. I was really interested about and really anxious to read it. It did not last for very long, as I went trough within a few days of Chinese New Year 2008.
Sin City is the memoirs of Ralph Shaw, a Huddersfield (where I studied) boy that was sent to Shanghai as part of the UK military force and became journalist then night editor of the North China Daily News. He arrived in Shanghai in 1937 until 1949. Shaw was in his 20s in Shanghai and fully enjoyed all the pleasure that the city could offer in term of nightlife, drinking, partying and enjoying play with women. In Old Shanghai, like many men he found the perfect playground. His life in old Shanghai is depicted through a series of portraits, locations and actions. What is so interesting in this book is that he mentions all those people and all those places from the old Shanghai straight out of his memory. Shaw arrived in Shanghai a few days before the invasion of the Chinese city by the Japanese forces and witnessed the mounting tensions between the British forces and the Japanese, until the invasion of the settlement in December 1941 and his arrest the Japanese secret police and incarceration as a prisoner of war. There are many books about this period, but reading the actual experience of somebody who went through it is quite a unique experience.
Shaw does not stop at places and people, his memoirs also include a lot about the vices of the city, prostitution, gambling and corruption. Once again, Ralph Shaw was definitely well informed and the light he casts on the city is less than flattering. Corruption, prostitution and alcoholism were normal practice for the most men foreign community in Shanghai and it reflects in the book. Once again, Shaw adds many details about places and people including portraits of the people and funny anecdotes. The book is really good to take the reader in the Old Shanghai, into the smoky girly bars and opium dents. With cross referencing with other books, the picture of Old Shanghai really gets together while reading it.
What is more questionable and probably less interesting for most reader is the display of his own sexual performance, with a distinct preference for handy performances and self help. Although it adds to the story, it also takes away from the plot and take off some of the book's credibility. Some pages of Sin City would easily find there place in men-only literature and take the book far away from most readers. This is where most readers probably get lost. The erotic pages clearly dominated the cover and marketing of the book though they are not that many. It's a pity such a narrow approach was taken for a book that is so full of first hand details about the old Shanghai.

Looking for Hudec

Hudec was one of the main architect of the old Shanghai. He designed major buildings of the city, such as the Park Hotel and the House of Dr Woo (now used as a club and restaurant). Hudec introduced a new style to the city after his trip to America creating the most modern buildings at the time. His legacy can be clearly seen around the International Settlement of the old Shanghai. I got particularly interested in Hudec since he came from Hungary and I spent years in this coutry before. One of my architect friend was putting together a presentation about Hudec work. Since she is from Australian, she knew very little if any about the history of that part of the world. For her, I had to tell the story of the Austro-hungarian empire and how the treaty of Trianon (1920) dismantled it and created tensions that are still so vivid there. I even took my map of Hungary before and after Trianon treaty that I bought a few years ago in Budapest as a souvenir (my friends from Budapest will know exactly what I am talking about).
50 years after his death, Hudec is finding himself in the center nationalistic competitions that started after he actually left the country and never returned. Hudec was born in a city that was Hungary then, but is now located in Slovakia, know as Banska Bistrica today. Since he studied in Budapest Royal Academy, he clearly spoke and wrote Hungarian. Hungary was rouling this part of the world at that time so his education was certainly done in Hungarian, thus he is seen as Hungarian by Hungarians. At the same time, he is refered on all his buildings in Shanghai as Laudislav Hudec, a architect from Czechoslovakia. This surely infuriates any Hungarian knowing about it.
Having lived in Central Europe I heard the story from both sides so many time. I find it really strange to be caught back this typical central european story as far as Shanghai. Both countries are now part of the EU and entered the Schenghen space but this competition is still going on. Seen from China, they are tiny nations (Hungary and Slovakia's population combined is smaller that Shanghai). Hudec was taken prisoner on the Russian front in 1917 and escaped a train to a prisonner camp in Siberia to finally arrive in Shanghai. He stayed away from Europe and move to Canada when Old Shanghai closed its doors to foreigners. Though is never went back, he still finds himself caught back by it even after his death.
This will not stop the celebration of his work still that is so much part of Shanghai (more details on www.hudec.sh). More information about Laszlo Hudec and his life can be found on (http://students.washington.edu/lrh/hudec/index.html).

For everything else there is Mastercard

My last trip to London was like an advertisment for a financial services or credit card company.A long flight in a comfortable seat, followed by a trip to an old friend's house. After a few glasses of wine we started counting the number of years since we met the first time. We were actually living together in a Huddersfield's University dorm in... 1993, i.e. 15 years ago. We don't meet very often (last time was 4 years ago), but catching up was really nice. My friend is now married with Lucy and has little baby Grace. Life has changed a lot for both of us, but we still connected instantly. After so many years, the bond is still there.
The next day included a little bit of shopping, some sightseeing finishing with beers and then diner with 2 old friends from Budapest. Once again, we probably did not meet the 3 of us since 4 years, but it felt like we left each other yesterday. Suddenly this India restaurant near Gloucester Road transported itself to good old Budapest. The feeling of finding back all those friends was really nice and definitely priceless. Like in the add, for everything else there was Mastercard but rejoining these old friends was a pleasure that no money could buy.

London recalling

Shanghailanders like me are used to the mix of architecture that makes old Shanghai. Elements of various nations were taken to create buildings in the city and seeing faux-Tudor style next to Art Deco are quite common. All of them are reminders of the past and (in my opinion) much better than the present raws of unimaginative apartment buildings or ugly office tower.
It's only when coming to European capitals that one suddenly realizes how similar buildings in Shanghai are diverse as well as imitating to the style of the home or adoptive country of the one who built them. I remember taking a suburban train to Paris, and looking at houses from the 1910's, 1920's that look very much like the ones in my neighborhood in Shanghai's French concession. I have not been to Spain yet, but I can imagine that "Spanish" style houses like the one I live in in Shanghai can also be found there.
I had a similar revelation walking on Marelyborne road these days. I ran into the Court of Westminster (picture) and could not miss the similarities with some of the Bund's facades, in particular the customs building. The little tower on large buildings that I so much associate with Shanghai is just typical from British architecture from this period. The building even have the same flag poll with a Union Jack floating on it. It does not take much to imagine a Union Jack floating on every tower on the Bund like it floats on the one in the picture. Walking around the area, I went to neighboring Regent's Park. Regent College building does also look like some of the large mansions in old Shanghai. Similarly, some of the Lilong or Shi Ku Men houses have a lot in common with terraced houses in London or with row of houses in The Netherlands. They were also designed to maximise use of limited space and they tend to have a similar design of narrow front with deep rooms piled on the top of each other inside the building.
Old Shanghailanders only reproduced the architecture they were used to in their new home. Just like large columns and small towers represented power in t19th century London, it represented power in 19th century Shanghai on the Bund. With gray sky and brick or gray stone buildings, parts of London from this period feel like parts of Shanghai to me. People of the Empire really managed to re-create the illusion of their home countries far away from home... or Shanghai has become so much a part of myself that I see it everywhere I go.

The foreign concession of Suzhou

The colonial past of China and the western powers is quite well known. Most people have heard about Shanghai's International Settlement and French Concession. Other known famous ports opened by the early treaties include Amoy (Xiamen), Tientsin (Tianjin), Tsingtau (Qindao) and Canton (Guangzhou). What is even less known is that the foreign presence extended to many more locations. The treaty of Nanjing and Tianjin opened the door to a limited number of cities but they were followed by many others, creating local foreign settlements and open ports well inside China.
Suzhou (spelled Soochow before 1949) is a very famous city in China. Center of the silk trade and intellectual gathering point, the city is also famous for its wonderful gardens. Through modernization in the last 20 years, the famous canals of the inner city have been filled up and very little remains from the old charm. For the foreign visitor, Suzhou is quite a disappointment as the century old reputation far exceeds today's reality. I was recently visiting it, looking in despair at the raw of concrete buildings that makes Suzhou look like any second tier city in China. This is where local help came really handy, taking us to a further away part of the city. The "Chang men" only gets a few lines in the China Lonely Planet, but it's surely worth a visit. This "Old street" in the canals is a breeze after Suzhou's gray streets. It's quite charming and has a bit to show including the last remains of the wall that used to surround the city in ancient times. The gate is next to a wide canal, probably connected to the Suzhou-Beijing grand canal that used to be one of the major trade route in China. Around this location we spotted a few old houses that looked definitely of foreign style.
I could not see any indication whatsoever and the houses where in a pretty bad state. Two of them stood next to the river besides a Chinese temple. One was made of gray bricks and dated (looking at the style) from the 1910's or early 1920's. It closely resembles some of the Shi Ku Men houses in Shanghai that I used in comparison for guessing the building's age. The other house had a later style with stained windows like on houses in Shanghai, GuLanYu and Malacca. The building date on it stated 1931.

On the other side of the river, I spotted another old building. Although it has been quiet damaged by "renovation", its original structure of gray and red bricks is still visible. I would say that this house is probably older, from late 19th century of early 20th. It resembles the first building originally constructed on the Bund in Shanghai, of which few examples still exist, in particular next to Xin Tian Di in Luwan District. Theses houses were typically trader's that contained a large storage on the ground floor and living quarters as well as offices upstairs. This house is located next to the river bank with a concrete quay side, making loading and unloading easy. Foreign merchants and Chinese compradors would live around here, trading with local merchants. Goods would be shipped to Shanghai via the waterways to be loaded on boats onward to foreign destinations. Since Suzhou has long been a major silk center, most goods shipped from here must have been silk fabric and garments.
I did some research about Suzhou foreign concession that I heard of before. A Japanese concession treaty was signed in 1895. I also found mention of a foreign concession in 1896, but this was probably the same as the above mentioned. The foreign community probably gathered under the protection (at that time) of the Japanese. With a few foreign buildings in a location perfect for trade near to or just outside the city walls, it is highly possible that this area was the foreign concession in Suzhou. Looking at the dilapidated state of the building and the fast expansion of the city, most of what is left will have disappeared very soon. Another page of the history of foreign presence in China will then be erased.

Tarte aux pommes

Tarte aux pommes or apple pie is a traditional French dessert. My Mum used to make them often when I was a child, with apple or various other fruits. I missed tarte aux pommes since I left home until one day in 2001 when she taught me this family secret. It was far from home, in a flat in the center of Budapest and since then I have carried the recipe everywhere with me. Tarte aux pommes is one of these things I make when I want to please friends or I feel a little homesick. It's easy and only takes about half an hour (with about 45 minutes cooking on the top) and it's nearly impossible to miss.
Making this simple cake in an old house in Shanghai in the French Concession, I cannot stop thinking about the European families that used to live here many years ago. Tarte aux pommes was surely one children's favorite dishes and I am sure some families taught there Chinese Ammah how to make it. It somehow feels like time has stopped and that we are still leaving in this time when European were ruling Shanghai, just for duration of a tarte aux pommes.

A tough old China hand

Although the French translation of "400 million customers" seems to have been a strong success Carl Crown did not gain long term fame in France. I never heard about him before coming to Shanghai. The discovery came while listening to the author of his biography (Paul French), last year at the Shanghai literary festival. Having heard about the famous Carl Crow map of Shanghai before I bought the book after French's speech at Glamour bar.
Carl Crow was a very important figure of the old Shanghai, where he spent two periods of his life. He first started the China Press in Shanghai, a newspaper that was bringing an American voice to a scene dominated by the British North China Daily News. After moving to Japan, he became famous for being the first journalist to publish the "21 demands" from Japan to China in 1915.
Coming back to Shanghai in 1918 he created what became the prime foreign advertising firm in Shanghai, helping foreign companies to sell their products throughout China. Carl Crow Inc also maintained the first and largest advertising network in Eastern China, importing the concept of advertising and creating the famous Shanghai advertising posters with Chinese girls in QiPao. These posters have since become one of icon of old Shanghai. He also founded the Shanghai Evening Post in 1929, the Shanghai newspaper that mostly supported the Nationalist cause and the development of China. He finally left Shanghai on the last American refugee boat after the Japanese invasion of the settlement and finished his life in the US as a writer and adviser on Asian politics.
Carl Crow is the author of many books including "400 Million Customers", "The Chinese are like that" and "Foreign Devils in the Flowery kingdom". He crossed the path of Sun Ya Tsen, Chiang Kai Chek and his wife, Zhu En Lai, various Chinese warlords and many Shanghai known figures. He was part of the Shanghai publishing seen along with fellow Missourians such a Tom Millard and JP Powell.
It took me while to finish it, not by lack of interest but by lack of time. Paul French definitely spent an enormous amount of time to research it. He travelled extensively to the US, HongKong and other locations to pull together information, and the book really feels like a great study. As an Old Shanghai fanatic, I found in it many information that I missed, many cross references to things I had heard of and many points of high interest. Carl Crow's life takes us to the tumultous Chinese's history from the 30's. At the same time, I sometimes felt that without all my prevous knowledge of these events and characters, I would probably have been lost a bit. "A tough Old China Hand" is a highly interesting book, but not one for the freshers in the Old Shanghai.

Snow in Shanghai

With latitude in the range of to Casablanca, Baghdad and New Orleans, Shanghai is much more associated with warm summer than cold winters. Harsh winters happened every few years. I saw a little bit of snow in January 2005, but it's nothing compared to the snow in January 2008 (see pictures in my photo albums).
As you can see on the picture, snow in Shanghai is not a new thing. The postcard was written in December 1930, but the picture is from an earlier time. Peace hotel was not yet built when the picture was taken, so the picture is from before 1928. On this picture, Palace hotel still had it's tower that were destroyed in August 1912 and rebuilt in 1998 (according to "The Bund" from Peter Hibbard). Railways track visible on the postcard were laid down in 1908, thus the picture is from the period between winter 1908-09 until 1911-12. I have not found yet the records of temperature for this period, but clearly one of those winter was really cold. I am not sure how frequent snow fell on Shanghai then, but it could have been quite rare since the picture was still in use 15 to 20 years later.
Cold in Shanghai at that time was surely not a problem for the rich foreigners and Chinese alike. Most western style houses were fitted with fireplaces. It must have been warm in then, much warmer than later. As I explained in another post (Freezing Shanghai), most Shanghai houses have no real heating, only air conditioners that are used to warm up some air. Fireplace heating can be found in a few bars in Shanghai and a few house have it, but most people just freeze. Snow was rare then, but the cold certainly did not spare the pours. The rickshaw pullers on the picture must have been freezing, right on the most expensive stretch on road in the city. Poorer houses must have been heating burning coal, like they still do in rural parts of China. Just like today, people were certainly wearing multiple layers of cloths to fight the wet cold.
Pictures of Shanghai under the snow are very rare. This is one of the reason I bought this one. Besides the glorious pictures of wide avenue, large villas and imposing building, this picture shows a Shanghai that is rarely seen. I recall seeing another postcard of Huang Pu park covered with snow, that would be directly opposite where this picture was taken. I have not found yet when was the winter in the early 10's that saw so much snow... just some more research to do.

Shanghai is coming to you

I was reading a Shanghai based magazine recently, when I caught a full page advertising for Dragonfly Massage. I remember when Dragonfly started, or at least when the franchise had 2-3 shops. The surprise was that they now have many many more. Not only is there about 10 stores in Shanghai, but they also have a branch in Suzhou, a few in Beijing as well as Oslo (yes, in Norway) and soon opening in Dubai. If I am well informed, Dragonfly was originally started by Singaporeans but it's a true Shanghai creation. Thriving business in the city certainly helped them to grow and they are on track to open in many world locations soon. I'm not sure if I will got Dubai or Oslo any time soon, but I can imaging the day I will be passing by a Dragonfly store somewhere in the world and not be surprised about it anymore.
Dragonfly may be the most visible Shanghai franchise taking over China before going worldwide, but they are not the only one. I was recently having lunch at two of the most well known restaurant - Cafe in Shanghai i.e. Wagas and Element Fresh. When I arrived in Shanghai in early 2004, both stores were amongst the very few foreign cafes in the in the business district of Nanjing XI Lu. Both stored opened less than one year before. They now have about 10 stores each, with locations in Beijing and probably plans for other cities in China. They are the kind of franchise I could see soon in Hong Kong or Singapore and later in New York or London. Then, I will be able to say "I used to go to their first store in Shanghai, right when they started". This will probably sound like "I was a friend of Colonel Sander's" or that "I used to get my coffee from the original Starbucks in Seattle".
Services chain are not alone in this, I know at least two design firms of Shanghai that have opened stores abroad, Jooi Design and Shanghai Trio. I cannot count in the famous Shanghai Tang... as it is a Hong Kong brand. They both were opened by expat ladies who got relocated to a new place where they continued distribution of their Shanghai created brand. These circumstances certainly helped... but I was so proud last time I went to Budapest, to walk into the Jooi Design store and say "I usually go to the store in Shanghai". You should have seen the face of the local sales girl, she could barely believe it. Another example is my friends from Phonepha / The French Tailor, shipping suits and shirts all over the world.
These are times when I am proud to be a Shanghai expat (even a little bit of a Shanghailander). This is when I strongly identify with my host city. It surely helps that the franchises I mentioned were created and mostly frequented by foreigners like me. I am also thrilled when I see a add for Haier in France, a Great Wall car dealership in Romania, or can get cash at an ATM in Brussels with my Union Pay Card. But the Shanghai franchises are so much closer to my heart. When I see them expending, I somewhat feel like I took part in their growth. Not only Shanghai welcomes all kind of chains and products from all over the world. Its local firms expend in China and the rest of the world. With the Shanghai touch reaching out to the world, Shanghai is really becoming a world city.

Paradise

Blood brothers had a such a great trailer, it was impossible to miss. It promised it all, Chinese Shanghai gangsters, 1920's decor, a beautiful singer girl that all man are dreaming of, Shotguns fight and old cars... and the movie delivers. To add a little bit of flavor to it, I went to watch it in the historical Cathay theater on the old Avenue Joffre (nowadays Huai Hai Lu).

Tian Tang Kou (Paradise's door), or Blood brothers in English, is a traditional gangster movie. 2 young guys from the the village are taken in town by an older brother. They first struggle with low jobs, such as pulling rickshaws until they get introduced to the boss gang. As small bits of the big organization, they get protected by it and not getting anywhere, until they get a bigger mission which is the turning point. They have to choose between getting really big trouble within the gangs, or even bigger trouble in the gang and through this get introduced to the big boss. Climbing in the organization bring them benefits and honors, but also dilemma. The older brother kills the boss of the city gangs, and take his place. The movie finishes with a grand gun fight scene, where the evil boss gets killed by the younger one, who just goes back to his home in the countryside, leaving the city behind him.

Despite massive marketing, Tian Tang Kou was not a big success in China. It's really a pitty, as the movie really recreates the 1920's-30's Shanghai atmosphere. It has good reason, great decors and costums. The special effects are also excellent, but the best is probably the whole atmosphere of the movie. There has been movies and TV series about gangsters in old Shanghai, but this one is probably the best and certainly the more thoroughly researched. It's great fun to watch for all old Shanghai lovers.