The Only Day the Party Stopped in Shanghai

Shanghai before the war was of course a city famed for 24/7, 365 partying and nightlife. Nothing interrupted it – not war, civil strife, plague outbreaks, freezing cold or stinking humidity – except, it seems, the death of King George V in January 1936. So significant was this that the papers at the time felt it important to record that the city’s nightlife halted for a moment. Of course, as a footnote, George V’s death meant the accession to the throne of Edward VIII who had to abdicate after a short stint due to a certain American lady with a rather shady Shanghai past!!