The China Lettering Art Museum, Liugong Island, Weihai

When I posted this c.1929 photograph of a factory in Weihaiwei (Weihai) on instagram (oldshanghaipaul) I must admit I didn’t even both to even google it simply assuming it would be long gone. But, thanks to Weihai resident Yi Liu, I find that it is there still and has been brilliantly repurposed. It is now the China Lettering Art Museum of calligraphy and typesetting, which opened in 2012, on Liugong Island. The 200 exhibits show the integration of traditional Chinese characters with modern art forms.

It is obviously typical of the European-influenced, granite, architecture on Liugong, which was part of the British leased territory of Weihaiwei till 1931 and also a base for the Royal Navy China Station. Also unknown to me was that Liugong was designated as a key protection site of cultural relics by the State Council in 1988. Sources online claim the original building was a British built distillation tower.