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 Fall of Kashgar

Savage destruction of old cities is nothing unusual for people living in today's China. We all have witnessed the fast disappearance of the Hutongs of Beijing and of the Shikumens in Shanghai. These are the most well known examples of what has been happening in China since the 50's. Commercialization and economic opening have accelerated the process since the late 90's, fueled by the appetite of mega real estate companies. They eagerly transform century old ways of communication into "Prime real estate location" with great potential return. In the meantime, they forget that the value of the land was mostly created by the generations that walked these streets before, much more than by the cheaply built concrete stacks they added up on the top of it. This is clearly supported by all kind of authorities whose interest in the process varies from genuine (but sometimes misplaced) will to propel people into a brand new world... to more direct lucrative personal interest. Often both are closely intertwined, the former being an excellent excuse for the later.
Kashgar's case is even more touching, as one can easily feel the ideological touch behind it. Walking in the old city, you fell like you are somewhere between Tehran or Marrakesh, as far away from Beijing as you can be. The last remains of the century old city walls are used as junkyards and old tombs are being surrounded by concrete blocks. A Chinese city that looks totally out of place was created next to the old Kashgar. It is still possible to see really old remains but one really has to look for it out of the fast reducing central old quarter. Most of them are one or two floors buildings surrounded by concrete blocks with blue windows and white tiles... they are scheduled for destruction soon. The most ridiculous of it all is the Aldous Huxley's Brand New World style new city that is standing empty in the middle of the countryside. Designed to host people living in the old city, it remains unused as the inhabitants refuse to leave traditional habitat. The new argument to move them out is the scare of earthquake, somewhat reminding of the destruction of Bam in Iran in 2003. This is surely a real danger, but I somehow doubt whether the quickly built concrete blocks would resist any better to an earthquake that traditional constructions.
Fast destruction of Kashgar is such a remainder of the fast destruction of my beloved Shanghai. Replacing traditional houses with concrete blocks seems the instant solution to urbanization questions at each end of the country.

Life at the end of the lane

Old Zhang is sitting in his home, at the end of the lane, looking at the cranes tearing down the street. “I was born in this street, and now they break it down. It does not look so good but I am used to it and to this neighborhood. ‘Your house is not just a shag, it’s a jewel of XIXth century colonial architecture.’ I’m not sure what it means, but it’s what a passing by foreigner told me with his terrible Chinese. He also told me that the cube of a house next door was a jewel of Art Deco. I am not sure what he meant about either but this all seamed pretty important for him. It does not matter anymore, he has gone away and they torn down this house last week.
They told me that it’s for the best, that our life in a far away suburb, in a new high rise building will be so much comfortable. It’s surely true, but I don’t want to go. It’s not the little money they want to give us to move away, that will be enough in any case. I can’t remember the name of this new place and I don’t even want to learn it. All my friends will be lost, spread into various districts, and I will loose all my life with it. It’s maybe the future, but I’m not sure I want to be part of it. The past was tough some times, but not always so bad. I am so sad for Shanghai and my home that the skyscrapers are rapidly eating.
My son already moved to this new apartment and loves it. He often comes by to take me there, but I still refuse to go. Old Ma, my old neighbor, moved into one of this new tower about a year ago. He was the first ones to go, moving with a smile on his face, realizing the long life dream to have a place of his own. He had been promised long time ago to get an apartment and it finally came. He disappeared for a while, and then started to come back. He comes here everyday now. It takes him hours to cross the whole city, just to enjoy old friends and familiar places. He says life is comfortable there, but there is nobody to talk to. My life has always been at the end of this lane and I can’t imagine it differently. Seeing it disappear makes me feel that I am also going to die soon.

Budapest old and new

As much as a I love Shanghai, it was not the first city I fell in love with. Getting used to the Chinese megalopolis was actually not easy coming from the charming Central European City of Budapest. I have spent more than 5 years walking the paved streets of this XIXth century beauty. I knew about every corner of several districts, in particular the 6^th district, home of numerous theatres and cafés.
Though I left the city about 4 years ago, I have managed to come back regularly, being able to keep a strong link with my old community of friends. The city still feels like home, though the more time passes the more my memories separate from reality. The pioneer spirit that pushed a lot of foreigners to come to Hungary10 years ago seems to have somehow vanished... they are all in China now. The community of pioneers who arrived in the early – mid 90’s in Budapest is getting smaller and smaller. We had a real group of friends, most of us are gone away… just like me. The remaining ones are busy climbing the corporate ladder or heavily involved in raising their kids. Their daily life is far remote from the group of bachelors and young couples that we used to be. To my surprise, some of my friends now only meet when I am in town… passing by from China. After a few days, I miss the speed and energy of today’s Shanghai. The Budapest when I lived in was full of hopes and new energy, most of it seems to have vanished.
The city is getting more beautiful, transforming from a dark intriguing labyrinth to a colorful tourist paradise. Thanks to a current real estate boom, old buildings are being renovated into former glory, or torn down to be replaced by new. The mix creates a nice atmosphere that is catching up with Vienna or Munich. It has become a nice Central Europe city within the European Union, as opposed to this mysterious city so attractive because of its mystery. I am sure new people still arrive and create there own little world here… but it’s just not the same for me. Budapest is still a great place to visit and I always invite my overseas friends to go there. Shanghai is where my life is.

So many things to do... so little time

In an age of light speed communication, I did not take the time for month to write a post on this blog. It’s always the same spiral, when one loses the habit, try to catch up and ends up forgetting about at the end. It’s not that I did not want any more, time seems to have just fly these last months. Work has been intense in the first half of the year, and two major changes have been swallowing most of my free time including the one dedicated to blog writing.

First of all I have to introduce my girlfriend Jiajia to my readers. We have been together since late last year and our relationship is going strong. Although she does not write it, Jiajia has a major influence on this blog. She is one of the very few Chinese people that I know who is actually interested in Shanghai’s history. We go to markets together, bargaining with sellers and discovering even more interesting things. As a matter of fact, my research into the old Shanghai has become a lot of our research into the old Shanghai. I have also become the president of the French Speaking association of Shanghai
(www.cerclefrancophonedeshanghai.com). Although I am highly honored to be elected at this post, it swallows an enormous lot of my time, again competing with other activities such as reading books and writing this blog. I have been kind of submerged by it and it’s now only that I am on vacation that I finally find time to actually write. It’s not that I missed ideas, as the stack of my old documents related to Shanghai has increased a lot since the time I stopped writing… but other priorities came along. I also had to stop my Chinese lessons and I am not sure that I will be able to restart them anytime soon. I will try to be more thorough about this from now and catch back with writing this blog.