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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Yellow Mountains

As in today's Shanghai, many foreign residents of the old Shanghai rarely left the sprawling city. As the small frontier port transformed into Asia largest megalopolis, time needed to reach the countryside became longer and longer. Furthermore, warlords fighting, civil war, bandits and finally Japanese invasion did not help making trips outside the city any easier.
The ones adventurous enough to leave the protection of the foreign settlements could reach quite a few interesting sights. Just like today, Hangzhou's lake, Suzhou's garden and pagodas and Qingdao's beaches were high on the list. HuangShan (the yellow mountain) was also within reach. Travellers would take the overnight train and climb the mountains by foot, just like some people still do today. Carl Crow, the famous advertising agent used to do it quite often.
I recently went to Huang Shan and few things have changed... although there is not a cable car most things are carried up there by people and the mountains are still the same. More photos are available following this link.

Paramount's suicide

Paramount Club was the hippest dancing hall in old Shanghai. The main hall had a big orchestra playing jazz and twist tunes for the enjoyment of the dancing crowd. Taxi girls, romance and gangsters in the corners, Paramount had it all. Fortunately, the building survived until today, having kept it's tower and a big part of its style. It is still a landmark of Shanghai. The top floor or the building still hosts a broadway style musical. It is far from broadway's quality but one can have diner in style there, while watching a live musical. It's not what it used to be, but the old lady still manages to keep up appareances. Going to the paramount show is one of those old Shanghai moments that I affectionate so much.
The outside of the building has more or less kept it's original shape and inside was also preserved in original state... until recently. This is the much talked about renovation of the Paramount. I had heard about it and ended up one night there. Having seen the original I was expecting the worse... and the worse it is. Some Taiwanese investor spread a large amount of money on this venerable old lady and it just turns into a disaster. The entrance has been transformed with bad design, not to mention the chandeliers (cheap copies of the Bar Rouge ones). This is supposed to impress... it probably does impress peasants from the country side, but Paramount's lobby is very far to be the most elegant or the most original of Shanghai's bars. The entrance is bad enough, but the main room is the worst. If you like nightclubs in second and third tiers cities in China... you will feel right at home in the new Paramount. There is not one single fixture from the old room that can be recognized. Everything has been done to destroy or cover the old walls. Any brand new shopping center or 1970's concrete building could have been built the same way. Forget the original parquet, the balconies and the charm of this old lady.
The worst is not even there. Without the old colonial atmosphere of Glamour Bar or Face, bar Rouge designers managed to hide the age and create a hype and highly original place. Muse or Muse2 (ex Wynn's win) designers did the same in another genre, and all those places definitely have an originality and an atmosphere. One may not like them all, but they are memorable. Paramount is memorable for it's dullness. I am sure that the new owner spent millions to redecorate it, but it does not get anywhere near the above mentioned. Paramount clearly remind me of clubs I visited in Chengdu or in Guilin... not of Shanghai's cream of the crop. The worst is probably that the sound was so bad in the building. Please somebody teach them how to set there sound system properly.
I have read a number of articles flattering this new club... we must not have been to the same place... or the articles were written after a few free boozes generously offered by the club. The saddest part of the story is not that some Taiwanese spent a lot of money on creating something that is just bad. This could have been done anywhere, without destroying one of the few remaining Shanghai's old icons. When some parts of the old Shanghai are used to create mix of the old and the new, Paramount's owners just did not get anywhere.

Majesty up the street

Majestic Theater is one of the old Shanghai survivors. The outside of the building does not look much anymore. The façade has been not been cleaned or repainted for a long time, and various advertising and neon lights have been added to it without any concern to the original design. In contrast, the inside is a great example of Art Deco theatre architecture. The entrance hall is probably in the original state, with high windows and a grand staircase. The inside of the theater with large waves and parallel lines is also an art deco showcase. There is little decoration in it, apart from the architecture and it’s quite refreshing compared to other old buildings in Shanghai. In any case, I hope that nobody will try to “renovate” the interior by adding some mint green, peach yellow or bright blue to it like in other places.
World famous musicals have started to come to Shanghai few years ago. “Phantom of the Opera”, “The Lion King” and this year “Mamma Mia”, all of them stayed in town for one to two months. They all came to Shanghai Grand theater on People Square (in the middle of the horse race track of the old Shanghai), the pearl of the modern Shanghai. 42^nd street the musical probably had a lesser budget and a tighter production. Instead of a long stay in Shanghai, they went on a tour to Chinese major cities. Majestic theater was chosen for Shanghai and it was a great choice.
42^nd street is the stage adaptation of a famous musical movie from 1933. Although the play itself is from the 80’s, it was modeled after the 30’s and the result is amazing. The dancing, the singing and tap dancing create magic and transport us back to the 1930’s. It is a real Broadway show that is worth every penny of it.The show was great and the art deco location added a lot to the atmosphere. 1930’s décor were art deco styled and they fitted the Majestic theater perfectly. The magic of the show mixed with the magic of the old Shanghai. 42^nd street is also a simpler kind of show relying mostly on the dancers and the small orchestra traveling with them as opposed to a massive production. All of it made it a great night during and after the show. Even after leaving the theater, Bubbling Well road (today Nanjing Xi Lu) had the air of the old Shanghai for a moment, before getting in a taxi a going back to Frenchtown. If the taxi had been a 1930’s car the illusion would have been perfect.

The return of the Dauphine

Jianguo lu (ex Route Frelupt) is one of these small streets in Shanghai old French concession. Walking around it, one can admire an long line of old villas, sometimes interrupted by a small cubic building from the 1970's. A lot of these villas have not been touched for years, but slowly these old ladies get a face lift and recover their former glory.
I noticed one of those building, with street side Grey and dirty, unwelcoming walls topped with barb wires. My own apartment is not so far from it, so I cycle around it quite often. Looking between the gate doors, I could see that this military building was the Dauphine, one of the landmark of Leonard & Vesseyre, the architecture company that built most of the Art Deco buildings in the French Concession. The walls were Grey and looked uncared for. It is clear that the building was used by the Chinese army and that they did not care about it. The inside of the building was probably not renovated, just covered by layer of dirt but near to its original state. But due to it's military status, the Dauphine Building and its garden were out of touch for old Shanghai's amateurs like me.
I was cycling along one of those lazy Saturdays of summer, when I realized that the door to the Dauphine was open. As a matter of fact, they were doing work on the pavement in front of the building. I rushed home to take my camera backpack. Playing the innocent, I talked my way in pretending to just have a look. The building looks great again as the outside renovation has kept the old look. As opposed to other renovations of Art Deco building, the original shape has been kept untouched. Balconies have been left open and the original iron windows have been kept in place and not replaced by horrible plastic sliding windows. The tiling on the facade has also been kept in it's original state. The Dauphine looks just as it did 70 years ago. The outside is a great work of preservation.
I walked into the garden and then got through the entrance door. Inside view was far from thrilling, as the building interior has been gutted and replaced by modern imitation. Fake marble is everywhere and I am sure gold will be splashed all around. The work is far from finished and I only could stay there a few minutes before being asked to go... but it's clear that interior was not part of the preservation program. The return of the Dauphine is both a good and a bad surprise. It's a great outside renovation (apart from the garden that is getting its kitch touch) recreating the Grand Shanghai atmosphere from a building left in abandon. At the same time, the original interior is gone away as are all the furniture and fixtures, another post-modern minimalistic fake interior replacing the original art deco. I guess I should look at the bright picture and enjoy the bright new outside... and the fact that this great building was at least saved from destruction. Too bad for the interior though.

The Master of rain

Field is a young English officer in the Shanghai Municipal Police, freshly arrived from Yorkshire. Through his uncle high in the Shanghai establishment, he is very quickly introduced to both the high Shanghai society, and the less glamorous parts of the megalopolis. The master of Rain is a crime novel based in Shanghai 1927, centered around the resolution of furious murders of Russian prostitutes. Field tries is best to solve the murder, along with his newly found friend, the American detective Capresi. They are surrounded by a fallen White Russian noble turned into serving men (Natasha Medvedev) and the Taipan of one of the largest trade house (Charles Lewis), all of it under the shadow of the king of Shanghai's mafia.

Although I bought this book without knowing anything about it, I have loved every page. Tom Bradby was the foreign correspondent for a British TV. Based in Hong Kong, he clearly used a lot of time and efforts to research and recreate the old Shanghai in his novel. Characters have the right tone and locations in the city have been thoroughly researched. Only Shanghai experts will notice a few omissions, or inventions but they never deviate too far from documented history. Action flows at a fast pace making this book a real page turner.

Though enjoying the book tremendously, I have to admit that the universe created by Tom Bradby has a lot of sight, but very few sounds, smell or taste. It fails a little to immerse us in the (noisy) streets of Shanghai. There is a also a little too much indulgence in making the characters meet various historical figure (such a Borodin) without any need for the actual story. The actual plot is sometimes bizarre and the book leaves many questions unanswered, which is a bit disappointing for a crime novel. Finally, the sexual serial crime at the center of the novel seems a little odd in the 1930's.

Nevertheless, The Master of Rain is a great introduction to the old Shanghai, recreating the Paris of the East and illustrating the high life of a few as well as the hard life of many. As a quick introduction to the Old Shanghai, it comes highly recommended.

Qian Xiang Fang

Walking around Wing On I have tried to find the restaurant on 4th and 5th floor of the Wing On department store that I mentioned in a previous posting. The old Wing On has only restaurants on 6th and 7th floor, that are not inspiring at all. The New Wing On has a restaurant on the 7th Floor that is called 7th Heaven. This place seems to have been really famous in the old Shanghai, but the renovation has not left much of the old atmosphere. Going around the old building for a last look, I was attracted by a groups of tourists going through a back door with a restaurant sign above it. Because of the long queue to get into the lift, I climbed the 5 floors of stairs noticing that they were very well renovated... This was little compared to the beauty of the restaurant itself, Xian Qiang Fang.

The wonderful renovation of what used to be the restaurant and ballroom of the Wing On was a wonderful surprise. It has been done with a lot of taste, a lot of attention to details and great preservation of history of this building. Most of the original flooring has been preserved, as well as the radiators, doors and other equipment. Some modern touch has been added without changing the grandeur feeling of the place. The main restaurant room features a high ceiling and old style furniture, giving a real classic touch. Food is great and well served by an effective staff. Many tourists are dining in the private room, but they don't really invade the main space.

Xian Qiang Fang was made by the same group than Yong Fu Elite and The Door, others famous restaurants in Shanghai. This restaurant is perfectly re-creating the 1920's and 1930's Shanghai atmosphere. This is by far the best part of the visit of Wing On and a great addition to it. It also proves that the grandeur of Shanghai's history can be brought back with a modern touch.

Xian Qiang Fang, 4h & 5th Fl, 600 JuiJiang Rd, Shanghai - Tel:021-63515757

Wing On

Shanghai has always been the place where new developments where brought to China. Department stores were of the main features, starting to populate Nanjing Road from 1913. Wing On was the third shop to open in 1918 after Whiteaway Laidlaw & Co (1913) and Sincere (1917) (more information about the history of Wing On this article from Shanghai Star). Wing On was clearly one of the most influential department stores in China, setting the trend for others in Shanghai and other cities.
Fortunately, the Wing On shop still exists and is still a department store. After many changes of names, the Wing On company of HongKong got it back and the shop is now called Wing On again.
The exterior has been recently renovated, making it once again one of the stars of Nanjing Road. An additional building was erected in the 1930's next to the original one. It also has a shopping center on the bottom (now hosting a massive Giordano shop), with an hotel above it. Both buildings are linked by two bridges that do not seem to be used anymore.
Unfortunately, renovation of the interior of both buildings has left very little of the original construction. They look just the same as the brand new shopping centers built in other parts of the city. The old time spirit has been completely lost, though I recently learned that the 4th and 5th floors of the old building that used to be the restaurant and dance hall have been turned into a Old Shanghai themed restaurant. I will have to check that out soon. Wing On and Sincere (the opposite department store) used to feature various animals and displays to attract people to the shops. Wing On seems to have restarted the trend, as they had 3 peacocks and a few other birds in a large cage in front of the shop in early March this year. This was attracting a lot of attention from people passing by, renewing an old tradition.
The object featured in this post is an original letter size note paper pad from Wing On marking the 14the anniversary of the shop. As the opening of Wing On was 1918, one can guess that this article was produced in 1932. I Actually found 2 of them of slightly different colors at the same time. Of course, the paper has become a little yellow but once again having this object in hand is like a transportation to the old Shanghai, it's department stores and busy shopping streets.

Sweet like chocolate

Last Saturday was again focused on cruising antic markets. I was showing my favorite spots to a visiting friend, hoping to find something interesting in these old relics.

The item I brought back was one of the weirdest ever, the wrapping paper of chocolate that looked really old. I am not sure exactly when it was used but it' clearly from the 1920's or 30's. The chocolate contained in it was made by Bianchi chocolate factory, located on 23 Nanking Road (Nanjing Dong lu 23 today). The address is written in Latin letters and in Chinese characters on the brown paper. Although I have not been to this specific address yet, it's surely on the beginning on Nanjing lu, around the Sasoon House (Peace hotel today) and the Palace hotel (Peace hotel South wing now). I went to the actual location of 23 Nanjing West Road. This address is the entrance of the Palace Hotel (now called Peace Hotel South Wing). The Bianchi Chocolate shop was certainly within the hotel itself. I guess Bianchi chocolate was the shop on the right-hand side of the main entrance, nowadays selling horrible fake souvenirs for a lot of money.

The Bianchi chocolate shop does not exist anymore of course, but just finding this piece of the old times was wonderful. I imagine walking to buy my chocolate near the riverside. I am walking those busy streets, full of a mixture of trendy office workers, vendors of all kinds shouting to advertise their products and dockworkers. I get to the Bianchi shop, push the glass door. I look at all the chocolates in the shop, talk to Mr Bianchi about his chocolate, good food, life and other topic before getting my simple piece of chocolate, just like I do nowadays in Visage chocolate shop in Xin Tian Di . After leaving the shop, I open the chocolate and starts eating it. It takes me a few minutes to wake up from my dream, holding my 60 years old chocolate paper in my hands. This old relic is so powerful that I still feel the taste of this chocolate created and eaten many decades ago.

Hotel des Colonies

The French settlement in Shanghai was started in 1884, but it did not grow as fast as the British (then international) next to it. When the international settlement was busy with traders shipping things in and out of China, the French settlement remain a much quieter place, eventually extended to become the residential and garden city of Shanghai.
One of the few prominent buildings of the French settlement, was the "Hotel des colonies", the only hotel of the French settlement for quite a long time. It was located on the "Quai de France", the French part of the Bund, located South from the Bund itself. "Hotel des colonies" is mentioned in "Les Francais de Shanghai" and was clearly an important location both for traders coming to Shanghai and for the community. Some of the traders based in Shanghai even lived there for years.
I found the enclosed postcard in an antic shop in Malacca. It was written in Saigon and sent to Shanghai by the post, carried by ship to Shanghai, another French settlement. More than the picture on the front, it's the address of on the back that caught my attention. The postcard is simply addressed to "Monsieur Millon, Voyageur, Hotel des Colonies, Shanghai". No street, no number only the hotel's name, where the card would wait for the traveler to arrive and collect it from the counter. "Poste restante", i.e. letter sent to a post office and remaining their until the receiver collects it used to be quite a popular mean of sending letter, although it's quite difficult to imagine it today. It's just nice to think about a time when time schedule was so relaxed, that people would just post the letter and wait for months until an answer arrive... what a change from today's email. I was still quite happy to be able to check my email in the old port of Malacca. The modern world also has it's great advantages.