Posted: February 29th, 2012 | 2 Comments »
And so here, as usual a little late (well a lot late actually), is What We Lost 2011 – following on of course from previous What We Lost’s (2010, 2009). First of all this year a confession – I’ve been out of Shanghai a lot due to work and publishing commitments so I’ve not had as much time to wander the streets of the city cataloguing the destruction as you might have expected. Still, this list never claimed to be comprehensive, just to highlight the continuing destruction of architecture and the continuing blatant abuse and ignorance of heritage and preservation in Shanghai by the government and property developers. And even a cursory glance shows that the massacre continues…..
And so in no particular order:
Ruijin No.1 Road/Huaihai Middle Road north east corner
The loss of the corner structures on Huaihai Middle Road (Avenue Joffre) and Ruijin Number 1 Road (Route des Soeurs) is worrying. Though these were not particularly distinguished structures and had been severely tampered with over the decades there must now be additional concerns for the remaining lanes and traditional housing (much supposedly ‘preserved’) that run of the northern side of Huaihai Middle Road between the North-South Expressway and Changshu Road. Though numerous and mostly intact the loss of this entire corner indicates that that is not a necessarily permanent state.
Nanchang Road/Shaanxi Road south west corner
As we’re still in the former French Concession let’s note that there is a lot of chat about how the former Frenchtown is now supposedly safe and nothing more will be coming down – I have heard this from Shanghai officials (obviously liars by definition), estate agents intent on selling foreigners expensive houses (ibid) and naive foreigners believing the two previous categories of compulsive liars. As you see above corners and whole chunks still disappear. One such example is the south west corner of Nanchang Road (Route Vallon) and Shaanxi Road South (Avenue Roi Albert) I identified as liable to go back in January 2010. It has now gone. Before and after below
Sinan Road – Opposite Sinan Mansions
Last year we mentioned the ridiculous Sinan Mansions development and the knocking down of perfectly refurbishable properties along Fuxing Road to replace them with fake heritage properties with a bit more space between them!! On the south west junction of Sinan Road (Rue Massenet) and Fuxing Road (Rue Lafayette) several late deco buildings are being mucked about with. The one closest to the corner, which we were able to see inside, had been completely gutted internally. Still believing the Frenchtown is preserved bollocks?
Dalian Road – Shanghai Watch Company Housing
Crossing over to the north of Suzhou Creek and the former Yantgszepoo (now Yangpu) area where foreigners largely pay no attention to anything that happens. The substantial block of lane housing, mostly dating back to the late 1920s/early 1930s to the east of Dalian Road (Dalny Road) between Yulin Road (Yuuin Road) and Huimin Road (Baikal Road) has been steadily being demolished for several years now – in 2011 the block was cleared completely. The only remaining building (just to the right of the picture) is the premises of the Shanghai Watch Company who’s heyday was the 1960s and 1970s prior to the market being flooded with cheap Japanese watches. Many workers at the Shanghai Watch Company lived in these homes as well as many small, independent watch dealers (a few still remain on Yulin Road).
Wholesale destruction continues along Yulin and Huimin Roads east of Dalian Road, however with this block gone (more high rise houses to come) one cannot but be concerned for the future of the western side of Yulin Road across Dalian Road which is home to an eclectic and varied range of architectural styles from Queen Anne to Shikumen to corner shop premises. Most are supposedly under ‘preservation orders’ and several properties date back to 1910. However regular readers of this annual round up will know the true the value of preservation orders in Shanghai! Below are arches and lanes being demolished along Huimin Road east of of Dalian Road.
Yangtzsepoo has seen some serious gutting of notable industrial architecture in the last couple of years:
The front building of the Shanghai Soap Factory at 2310 Yangshupo lu
The old GE factory is now under hoardings at 2218 Yangshupo lu
The Taiping Temple at Lanzhou Road Lane 400
The Shanghai No. 1 Woollen Fibre Factory and Yangtzepoo cotton mill at Huaide Road (formerly Wetmore Road) – all gone along here excdept for a rather poorly restored former Taipan house
The Aluminium factory at 260 Heljian Road has been heavily, but not overly well, restored.
Finally on Yangpu, the junction of Huoshan Road (formerly Wayside Road) and Huaide Road (Wetmore Road) is now cleared – here it is in its last days:
Hongkou/Tilanqiao
Just as Frenchtown is supposed to be protected so too the former Jewish Ghetto (Heim) in Tilanqiao. But Hongkou and Tilanqiao keep getting packed away at. Really the loss of buildings in Hongkou is too numerous to mention but here’s a couple of especially sad losses.
Corner House – Gongping Road/Dongdaming Road
Just a few years ago Dongdaming Road (formerly Seward Road) had over a dozen distinctive corner houses, those marvellous curved structures that typified corners across much of the International Settlement with commercial premises on the ground floor and residential above. They were leit-motifs of the Shanghai cityscape. Seward Road was home to over a dozen, the main drag out of Hongkew to Yangtzsepoo. Now most are gone, victims of the road widening along the street due to both EXPO and the construction of the new Shanghai Port Terminal. Now another one is boarded up on the corner of Gongping Road (formerly Kung Ping Road) and is due to go any day now.
Baoding Road/Yuhuang Road
The north west corner of the junction of Baoding and Dongyuhuang Roads (formerly Yuhuang Road East) is on the edge of the former Ghetto but that’s not saved it from complete flattening. What’s going there I don’t know but you can now see how vulnerable the lanes to the west are and exposed to the bulldozers.
The Northern External Roads
Hongzheniao Road and Feihong Road was a big junction just to the north of Zhoujiazui Road (formerly Point Road) in Hongkou/Yangpu (Hongkew/Yangtszepoo) – as such it was in what were referred to as the Northern External roads, technically outside the formal International Settlement boundaries. Still there was much interesting architecture all the same. Indeed the approximately half mile or so of traditional architecture along Hongzheniao Road is all going.
The Bund
I noted the poor internal refurbishment of the old Butterfield and Swire building (no.22) on the former Quai de France or French Bund last year (see here). That situation hasn’t improved. I also note the ripping out of the reasonably OK Lounge 18 at the No.18 The Bund development and its replacement by the completely inapproriate Cuvve – before and after below – a sad end for one floor of the old Chartered Bank Building.
A Few Others to Note:
I mention Nanchang Road (Route Vallon) above but it’s worth going along to see the old french college on the street (now the Shanghai Science Hall) which is under heavy renovation at the moment and isn’t expected to emerge from that in an improved stage heritage-wise! It dates back to 1904 and the interior had been fairly intact. What the state of it is now is anyone’s guess.
Though most of it was gone already – everything on the corners of Xinjian Road (Sinkeipang Road) and Dongchuanzi Road is now gone in Hongkou; similarly with Dongchuanzi Road and Lushun Road (Arthur Road). Nothing remains.
Widespread destruction along Desheng Road and 1930s properties. I don’t know this road so well but it has been catalogued by Sue Anne Tay here.
The final destruction of a once lovely compound on Lintong Road (formerly McGregor Road) – below – more details on that here.
I’ve posted several times on Kunming Road destruction (Kwenming Road) – i.e. here – That destruction is now pretty total bar one remaining building where the residents are holding out.
Yuezhou Road (formerly Yoochow Road) along the two blocks between Baoding Road and Zhoushan Road (Paoting and Chusan Roads) is one of those great northern border roads of the Settlement. That destruction is moving ahead and will be completely cleared in 2012 I expect. More details and pictures of that road here.
The 1920s architecture along Yoochow Road has also taken a hit out on the northern borderlands – more details and pics here on that one.
The square block at Liaoyang Road (formerly Liaoyong Road) and Huimin Road (Baikal Road) in Hongkou (Hongkew) is now completely cleared – some of these three storey house structures were gorgeous. More details and pics here.
The old Seward Road frontages that I went on about several times in Hongkou are now all gone – see them in their last days here. The entire block between Dongdaming Road (Seward Road) and Lushun Road (Arthur Road) is now no longer.
Posted: February 28th, 2012 | No Comments »
The Economist’s new China blog “Analects” (yea, never underestimate how smart those guys think they are!) has a piece on the history of the Economist in China. The Economist was one of the British and American papers that mis-reported the murder of all foreigners in Peking in the Boxer Rebellion. They like to suggest that the quality of their reporting has improved since – there’s that WE know best tone from the Economist again…It thinks you’ll find smarty pantsers that WE, the prospective readers, get to make that call!
The whole article on the ups and downs of the Economist’s China reporting here
Here’s the cover of Peter Fleming’s book that tells the whole story of how they all got it wrong in 1900
Posted: February 28th, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Sorry for late posting – I only just heard of this – presumably because I’m quite a few years past ever passing myself of as a “young” China Watcher. Got to love the young though and their rather precise 20:15 cut off times – are they so young they need to get home to bed? Anyway, subject looks interesting, especially in light of the Pizza Marzano debacle just noted in the last post!
The Hopkins China Forum and
Young China Watchers
cordially invite you to
European Imperialism in China: Forgetting History and Recalibrating the World
Professor Erik Ringmar
Zhi Yuan Chair Professor of International Relations Jiaotong University
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 19:00pm –20:15 pm
In today’s talk, Professor Ringmar will challenge us to see the European destruction of Beijing’s Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace) in new ways. How do Chinese and Westerners feel about this act of imperialism? Are Chinese feelings of humiliation balanced by Western contrition? And how can we overcome perceptions of inferiority and superiority this watershed event has imposed on subsequent history to create a more equal relationship between China and the West? Can history be forgotten? Professor Ringmar will offer us historical insights transposed onto today’s situation to help us understand better the current state of China’s relations with the West.
Erik Ringmar is Zhi Yuan Chair Professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University in the department of International Relations. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Yale University and taught for twelve years in the Government Department at the London School of Economics. Professor Ringmar has written about state-making in the 17th century, economic history and sociology, and relations between Europe and East Asia. His books include Why Europe Was First: Social Change and Economic Growth in Europe and East Asia 1500-2050 (2007) and Surviving Capitalism: How We Learned to Live with the Market and Remained Almost Human (2005). His upcoming book, Liberal Barbarism, deals with the Anglo-French destruction of Yuanmingyuan. Professor Ringmar may be contacted at his blog, www.ringmar.net.
About Hopkins China Forum: Hopkins China Forum events are organized by The Johns Hopkins University and its affiliated alumni associations worldwide. For more information on events in Shanghai, contact the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association – Shanghai at fgt200@gmail.com.
About Young China Watchers: Young China Watchers is an informal group of young professionals living in and working on China. Through regular roundtables and talks, it provides a chance for dynamic individuals – of all nationalities and from all employment backgrounds – to interact, broaden their professional networks, and discuss the most pressing political, economic, and foreign policy issues of relevance to China today. For more information, please write to: youngchinawatchers@gmail.com.
The Wooden Box
9 Qinghai Lu (just to the South of Nanjing West Road) é’æµ·è·¯ 9 å·, è¿‘å—京西路, 地é“二å·çº¿å—京西路站
19:00 – 19:45 Presentation
19:45 – 20:15 Q&A
20:15 – Mixer/Drinks/Dinner
21:00 – Live Jazz/Folk at the Wooden Box
Please RSVP to Frank Tsai (Hopkins-Nanjing Center ‘03) at editor@shanghai-review.org.
Posted: February 28th, 2012 | No Comments »
So a new branch of Pizza Marzano (as Pizza Express is so called in Shanghai) got into trouble down on Yongjia Road (formerly Route de Seyes) for describing their location as “French Concession”. Some curmudgeon on the internet got all hot under the collar – colonial, unfair treaties, etc etc. Not exactly mass outrage down on the Route de Seyes really – one miffed nationalist micro-blogger and then some mates of his, rather than the Boxer Rebellion reduxe. Then an academic weighed in with a bit more outrage – but then outraged Chinese academics are two a penny these days so I don’t expect much will come of that! Lots of errors taking place – “colonial” of course being technically incorrect – I’ll take “imperialist” and I’ll accept that it was an “unfair” treaty – but treaty it was and colonial it weren’t.
Here’s the rub though. Harking back to the pre-1943 days (another little error – the Concession and the Settlement technically ceased to exist in 1943 not 1949 – they were negotiated out of existence between the foreigners and the government, the KMT – nothing to do with Mao and “Liberation”) is very popular. Residents with property to sell to high spending foreigners or overseas Chinese in the area have no problem letting their real estate people invoke the French Concession evocation, plenty of local property developers have used French Concession in their blurbs while the local government has had no problem with developments previously (except for one case way back when in 2001) such as Ferguson Road (why no anger at the invoking of “colonial era” road names then?It’s hardly a term unknown among the savvy Chinese cafe and shop owners of the area or their local denizens. The tourism authorities have been known to evoke the French Concession label too – no-one objects to “former-” being appended obviously.
God love the internet – where one voice suddenly becomes equated with “public opinion”.
The full story – such as it is – here
I suspect that people will continue to talk of the French Concession – nice to see that Pizza Express, the McDonald’s of North London, is at the forefront of the culture wars in China though – bring on those excellent Four Cheese Pizzas. Dismantling Communist hegemony one Garlic Dough Ball at a time!
outraged locals on Yongjia Road who simply can’t decide between pizza or pasta!! The indignity of it!!
Posted: February 28th, 2012 | No Comments »
(Sorry – due to being at the Perth Writers’ Festival and now in Adelaide for their arts festival I’m posting this a little late – let’s think of it as a long weekend) Let’s finish of my little Somerset Maugham weekend in tribute to the man himself and to Selina Hastings’s terrific biography of the old fella. In 1949 Graham Sutherland, a great artist of WW2 perhaps best known for his Christ in Glory that hangs in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral, painted Somerset Maugham. He was in good company; Sutherland’s other well known portrait was of Churchill. Now whether you like the portrait or not is a matter of personal taste; Maugham apparently didn’t like but then he was, to be fair, quite vain about his looks and he was starting to get on a bit by 1949 and in his mid-seventies. Maugham looks grand enough, painted at his home at St Jean Cap Ferrat.
There are Chinois touches to the portrait to recall Maugham’s intrinsic literary link to the Far East throughout his career – the Chinese bamboo stool he is sitting on, the background yellow designed to recall a Buddhist monk’s robes. Apparently it took ten one hour sittings. Maugham’s friends were asked their opinion of the portrait. For the purposes of this blog the comments of Maugham’s old friends from his pre-WW1 Paris days, the artist Gerald Kelly, are most fun:
“you look like the madam of a brothel in Shanghai”
Maugham’s reaction is not known
PS: the portrait now resides in the Tate Collection
Posted: February 25th, 2012 | 1 Comment »
As I’m in about to be in Adelaide with Selina Hastings, who produced the recent and brilliant bio of WSM, The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham, I thought I’d retell the story she notes in her book about Maugham’s first experiences with Hollywood, the adaptation of his great play Rain about the prostitute Sadie Thomspon (who I’ve blogged about previously here, here and here). The story is a classic and also includes another much loved character of this blog that gets an occasional mention (here with Noel Coward out east) but not enough for my liking, Tallulah Bankhead.
“Here’s a rule I recommend: Never practice two vices at once” – Tallulah Bankhead
William Somerset Maugham’s call to Hollywood came almost immediately after he had arrived back from his first and most prolific tour to the Far East after years of being desperate to see China and have described the Far East as “tantalising” when he almost made it on his voyages through the Pacific South Seas. Eventually in 1919 he had visited Hong Kong, Shanghai, Peking and Mukden (Shenyang) and gone up and down the Yangtze resulting in his book of impressions On a Chinese Screen, the novel of ex-pat shenanigans in Hong Kong The Painted Veil and a (now almost forgotten) play on murder and adultery among the British colony in Peking called East of Suez.
Hollywood came calling in 1920 in the form of the producer Jesse L Lasky who had started up in business in 1912 with his brother-in-law Samuel Goldwyn; their first employee was a man called Cecil B deMille! Lasky was working with Paramount Pictures, the dominant studio of the silent era who’s stable of talent included Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino. Despite movies being silent Lasky believed in hiring the best literary talent he could find on both sides of the Atlantic. It didn’t really work – writers didn’t get silent screenplays. Maugham, though well paid, produced few screenplays if any of worth though did sell the film rights to some of his earlier plays that had done well in both the West End and on Broadway. Apart from that Maugham did little more in Hollywood except sightsee and become friends with his fellow Brit in California Charlie Chaplin.
Pure luck intervened when an American looking to get a start in Hollywood, John Colton, offered to adapt Maugham’s short story Miss Thompson – then unpublished but soon to be a sensation as Rain. It is the story of a notorious American prostitute Sadie Thompson who is thrown out of Hawaii and takes ship to Samoa where she establishes a new brothel in Pago Pago. On the voyage she corrupts most of the men onboard her ship including a man of the cloth. Maugham claimed to have met Sadie on his own voyage from Hawaii to Samoa. Rain was a massive success on the stage – grossed US$3mn in America alone as well as being a massive hot in London at the Garrick theatre. Maugham got the astronomical sum of US$150,000 for the film rights.
Eventually several films were made of the story (see ???) the first, silent one in 1928 with Gloria Swanson as the eponymous Sadie Thomspon. Her true life role was played down somewhat but audiences got the point of who and what Sadie was!
However, it could have all been different. In England Rain’s producer Basil Dean at the Garrick had been keen to cast the beautiful and talented, but troubled and volatile, Tallulah Bankhead as Sadie. Bankhead desperately wanted the part but after two days of rehearsals Maugham insisted she be replaced as he was disappointed by her performance. Bankhead through a trademark volcanic tantrum at Basil Dean, left and went home, wrote a suicide note, took a few aspirin ands then woke up the next morning with a headache!. Eventually Olga Lindo took the part. Years later Maugham admitted that preventing Tallulah from playing SAdie was probably one of the greatest mistakes of his career. Though Swanson and later Rita Hayworth and Joan Crawford would play SAdie (with ever more sexiness), the t world missed seeing Talullah Bankhead in what many considered the perfect role for her – being sultry and promiscuous across the Pacific from Hawaii to Pago Pago.
Tallulah – never one to be beaten – did eventually get to play Sadie on the stage in a 1935 revival in New York.
