Luxury brands have been using old Shanghai houses to make stores or customer experience centers for a few years now. Although renovation does not always follow historical lines, it’s a great opportunity to preserve and open those old buildings to the public. The earliest I can remember the opening of Three on the Bund, the … Continue reading Longchamp house in the former French Concession

Although they were at most 1500 French people in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s, they were keen on getting together in regional groups. This was made clear in previous post. “French regional associations in Old Shanghai“. Amongst the French regions, Brittany has long had an history of emigration with a strong diaspora and support … Continue reading Bretons association in Old Shanghai

French people love “associations” or clubs around a specific topic. Incorporating a non-profit corporation (“association loi 1901” in French) is easy to create a legal framework for a sport club, a cultural society or a charity. As soon as a number of French people gather together, they form an “association”. The oldest one representing French … Continue reading French regional associations in Old Shanghai

Image: https://paris1814.com/shanghai/sv-rovs Map from 1920–1921; my collection. Aerial from 1927. Virtual Shanghai. Tentatively for now, it seems that the address of the Russian Officers Club (Русское офицерское собрание) in 1927–1930 was this villa at the corner of Route Voyron, described as “a…

Negotiating extra-settlement roads: Boundary making, administrative disputes, and power shifts in treaty-port Shanghai, 1860–1937 - Volume 58 Issue 3

“Shanghai-la-juive” by Michèle Kahn had been on my bookshelves for years. I finally took the time to read it this summer, and I wish had done it earlier. Published originally in 1997, the novel tells the story of Walter Neumann, a young Austrian Jew who reached Shanghai in 1938. Arriving without a penny like many … Continue reading Shanghai-la-Juive

In October 1990, I conducted fieldwork in Shanghai to observe and, where possible, visit the city’s factories. My research at the time focused on understanding how these workplaces were being transformed under the sweeping...

During World War II, Shanghai became an unlikely haven for thousands of European Jewish refugees and other foreigners fleeing persecution. The city’s unique status as an open port (requiring no visa for entry into...