The Canton Flowerboats

Two pictures today, to get your week started right, of the infamous Canton Flowerboats of what is now referred to as Guangzhou. The flower boats, floating brothels basically, lasted on the Pearl River right up until the 1930s – of course they came in various levels – straight shagging boats, boats where you got a bit of dinner and a sing-song etc etc. Originally they rather nicely took you for a little voyage up and down the river so you could get a shag while enjoying a breeze in Canton’s humid summers.

Vandalism in Beijing – “Soul Removers”

I cannot bring myself to write too much about the destruction at Chinese New Year of Liang Sicheng’s house. Liang (below) was an incredible architect famously offered a plan that would have held intact the ancient city of Peking. But no, Mao rejected it and we got the architectural destruction and horror of the Mao years and then the rampant philistine culture of the last 30 years. The destruction of the property also revealed, once again, that buildings supposedly under preservation orders still get regularly bulldozed (in Shanghai too) – if a government-linked property developer is involved then none of it means anything – if another apologistic foreigner in China tells me that the government is serious about heritage and preservation and points to these preservation orders I swear I will stab them! I obviously expect no more from rapacious, philistine and corrupt communist officials – that one said not to worry as they’ll build a replica just shows how ridiculous things are. “Soul removers” one Chinese preservationist called these vandal government-developers – absolutely correct.

So obviously I’m fuming – so here are some links from more balanced and clear headed people:

New York Times

Guardian

Bloomberg

The Shanghai Mixed Court

The Shanghai Mixed Court got underway in 1863 to mediate cases between the British and Chinese in Shanghai, initially criminal cases but quickly also hearing civil cases too. It’s remit grew to include any cases brought by Chinese within the International Settlement, as an alternative court to those of the Qing. I think the Mixed Court started life in the British Consulate on the Bund but then moved to these premises on Nanking Road.

Princess Puffer on-screen

Just a quick follow up to my post recently on the BBC’s new adaptation of The Mystery of Edwin Drood (if that’s what it was seeing as they supplied an ending to Dicken’s unfinished last novel – so part adaptation, part original – and none the worse for that). I noted in that post (here) that word had reached me from the UK TV watching masses that the opening East End opium den scene was included. Finally, thanks to the magic of iTunes (no, I didn’t do those pirates at Youku or the DVD pirate palace up the road here in Shanghai), I got to see the programme and there is a pretty grubby den – nice. Even better Princess Puffer, the den’s madam and based on a Limehouse opium den madam called Opium Sal that Dickens had met, features quite a lot. And very good she is too – nicely spaced out and shabbily rotten. Princess Puffer’s played by Ellie Haddington, an actress who pops up on TV all the time (most recently in the excellent, and for my money modern Gothic, Luther on the BBC). Rather annoyingly, I can’t find a picture of her from Edwin Drood as Princess Puffer, so you’ll have to make do with an old cover of Drood I came across.

Midnight in Peking – How to Write and Pitch a China Best Seller – Shanghai FCC 8/2/12

The Shanghai Foreign Correspondence Club Presents

“How to Write and Pitch a Best Seller”

Paul French

Glo Restaurant

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 12:00 – 2pm.

Doors open at 12:00. Event starts at 12:30.

Venue Details: Glo Restaurant,

1 Wulumuqi Road, across from the U.S. Consulate

Admission: Set menu for members 80RMB; non-members 130 RMB

RSVP: fcc.sfcc@gmail.com

About the Speaker:

Paul French, author of the best-selling “Midnight in Peking,” explains how the book’s success didn’t follow the usual publishing industry routes. Paul will talk about Midnight came to be, the rise of English-language publishing in China, and greater on-the-ground interest from major Western publishers in writing from China. He will also offer tips for authors working on the ground here about how the traditional route to market via New York or London is no longer so crucial.

North Korea – February Film Screenings in Shanghai

Simon Cockerell, General Manager of Koryo Tours will be presenting two evenings of North Korean cinematic delight in Shanghai in February: first at The Apartment on Sunday February 12th, and then at The Public on Wednesday February 16th which also happens to be the 70th anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong Il, so a very auspicious date to see a DPRK-related film!

North Korea has been all over the news of late so if you’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about then why not go along and experience a snippet of this fascinating country through three very different, and very interesting films as well as some short clips of North Korean TV propaganda commonly seen in the country but very rarely in the outside world.

Simon will be on hand to present the films and answer any questions about them and about the experience of visiting North Korea, and he hopes to see you there!

Place: The Apartment – 3/F, 47 Yongfu Lu, near Fuxing Xi Lu永福路47号3楼, 近复兴西路

Tel: (021) 6437 9478

Date: Sunday 12th February

Time: Please arrive by 18:00, seating is limited and the first film will start at 18:15

Cost: No cover charge (Free!), and there will be happy hour pricing on drinks (2 for 1) and burgers

Here are the films that will be shown:

A State of Mind (2004) Second documentary produced by Koryo Tours following the lives of two North Korean schoolgirls and their families over the course of a year as they struggle to prepare themselves for the Mass Games – Pyongyang’s massive Socialist realistpropaganda spectacular, an event which can be seen nowhere else in the world. This is the first film ever to feature footage shot inside local North Korean apartments and gives an unprecedented look at the hopes, dreams, thoughts, and life experiences of ordinary Pyongyangers, as timely as ever!

Starting time: 18:15 – running time 93 mins

Gulangyu Charming?

OK, so it’s been over 6 years I just realised since I last got time to visit Gulangyu Island in Xiamen (Amoy). Then I saw this article on Gulangyu on CNNGo Shanghai, the island that was home to the majority of the foreign population when Amoy was a treaty port. The article (and CNNGo does not run anything but gushing articles for some reason) claims it’s still charming though when I was last on the island, though still blessedly car free, the treaty port era western houses were mostly in a very bad state of repair and basically crumbling away. Since then I’ve heard differing reports about restoration or destruction so any serious information welcome. This article suffers a couple of problems in that the author appears to be a first time visitor so therefore has no idea whether Gulangyu is more or less charming, more or less preserved and protected than it was a decade ago and, sadly, the pictures accompanying the story give no indication as to the state of repair of the island’s housing stock. The fact that the article claims the government is to charge an entry fee worries me – we all saw the ‘tartification’ that happened to Shanghai’s water towns and countless other locations once that happens. Any recent and informed information and opinion on Gulangyu much appreciated.

Shanghai: Art deco capital of the East

I know I am very late with my annual Shanghai Architecture: What We Lost list for 2011 but it is coming along and I’ll get it up in the next couple of weeks – though the destruction last year was slightly less than previous years due to construction slow down and the architecture catastrophe that was the EXPO moving on, there were, and are, still significant casualties. Anyway, before that then here’s a piece celebrating the best architecture in the city from art-deco fan Spencer Doddington on CNNGo Shanghai – click here. Usefully Spencer explains why Shanghai’s art-deco tradition is different from either New York or Miami, the two art-deco American cities most often spoken of in comparison to Shanghai. A picture of South Beach’s marvellous Colony Hotel below – there’s some great Shanghai photos accompanying the CNNGO article