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Tours & Talks

MARCH 2024

TO REGISTER FOR AN EVENT: Scan the March Events QR at the bottom of the page or email info@historic-shanghai.com

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MARCH 2024

SOLD OUT Saturday March 9, 10am /Showgirls, Revolutionaries, and Literary Icons: Women of Old Shanghai /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers – to join the wait list, scan the QR code at the bottom of the page

New route, new women! In honor of International Women’s Day, join us for a walk through the story of the women of Old Shanghai—the famous and the forgotten. Women like pioneering textile artist Huang Daopo; literary icon Eileen Chang; Shanghai’s most liberated woman, Laura Kadoorie; Nellie Farren and the showgirls of Shanghai; goddesses, revolutionaries, educators, and more!  We’ll see where they lived, worked, and played, the legacy they left, and consider the unique environment of old Shanghai that allowed them to blossom.

Sunday March 10, 2pm Gangsters in Paradise /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

In this city of legends, Old Shanghai’s notorious underworld is in a class by itself. Its tentacles spread into every aspect of the city, and their dark deeds weren’t just dramatic and shocking, they changed the trajectory of history.  On this walk, we’ll explore this complicated, fascinating world and its larger-than-life characters through the built legacies that remain: from a scandalous pleasure palace to a gangland casino; a mob boss’ grand mansion; a street once world-famous for its lawlessness; the Peking Opera stage that launched a kidnapping, and much, much more.

Saturday March 16, 2pm Route de Sièyes: Yongjia Road /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

This charming, unassuming former French Concession street packs a century’s worth of history into its seven blocks, along with some of the finest historic architecture in the city. Powerful Old Shanghai families built houses here, a bank housed its staff, and architects from France and China designed signature villas along this street—including what may be the last Art Deco house to be built here. There’s the home of a famous painter and a forgotten singer, a patriotic musician and a world-famous wartime photojournalist, and much more, all along this pretty, tree-lined former French Concession street.

SOLD OUT Sunday 17 March, 2pm Inside The Drummond House & More /RMB 300 members, 400 nonmembers, includes entry, coffee/tea & nibbles – to join the wait list, scan the QR code at the bottom of the page

What secrets lie within Shanghai’s lanes? Come see two houses that lie hidden in plain sight.

Lawyer William Drummond built himself a palatial house in 1890s Shanghai, and against all odds, it still stands, with an interior that features original panelling, staircases, and more. Tucked away down a lane, it’s been invisible and inaccessible for decades, but this private tour will take us inside the mansion, now a showcase of historic Shanghai brands, including a tea break in an upstairs space that’s usually off-limits to the public.

And as long as we’re in the area, we’ll visit the lovely lane neighborhood that was carved out of the Drummond estate, and visit the charming villa, nearby, the former residence of educational reformer Cai Yuanpei, where we’ll get a look inside.

Saturday 23 March, 10am-5pm Discover Eileen Chang’s Shanghai /Bus & Walking Tour /RMB 550 members, 650 nonmembers, includes lunch

On this day-long tour, we’ll explore the Shanghai world, and literary legacy, of Eileen Chang, the quintessential Shanghai scribe. You don’t need to have read her books to come: this tour is a great opportunity to discover Eileen Chang! We’ll share snippets from her writing to illustrate how she brought a city and an era alive as we trace her legacy throughout the city, visiting the places that featured in her life and her books.

We’ll share her own extraordinary story, which she weaves into her fiction: a wicked stepmother, distant mother, opium-addict father, and a philandering husband, who collaborated with the Japanese.

Book Club this month will read Eileen Chang’s short story, Lust, Caution.

Sunday March 24, 10am The Art Deco of Alexandre Leonard with a look inside the Amyron /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

Join us in an exploration of the legacy of one of the city’s architectural geniuses, Frenchman Alexandre Leonard. His many, many buildings are legend, and so is his story.

Leonard was part of one of the most successful architectural practices in old Shanghai, Leonard Veysseyre & Kruze (“LVK”). Both with the firm and solo, Leonard designed a host of mostly Art Deco buildings that, to this day, define the former French Concession, from glamorous apartments and private residences to clubs, schools, police stations, and more.

He designed his final building, the Amyron, for his great love, his Russian wife Anna, but after World War II, Leonard vanished without a trace. The mystery has never been solved—but there are theories, which we’ll discuss them in Leonard’s old penthouse apartment at the Amyron—the very place where he was last seen.

Come and hear the stories of Leonard and his architecture, who he built them for, who lived in them then, and what happened in the generations since.

Sunday 24 March, 3pm March Book Club: Lust, Caution by Eileen Chang /RMB 100 members, 200 nonmembers

In the midst of the Japanese occupation of China and Hong Kong, two lives become intertwined: Wong Chia Chi, a young student active in the resistance, and Mr. Yee, a powerful political figure who works for the occupying Japanese government. As these two move deftly between Shanghai’s tea parties and secret interrogations, they become embroiled in the complicated politics of wartime—and in a mutual attraction that may be more than what either expected. Written in lush, lavish prose, and with the tension of a political thriller, Lust, Caution brings 1940s Shanghai artfully to life even as it limns the erotic pulse of a doomed love affair.

This novella by Eileen Chang/Zhang Ai-lin, considered the quintessential writer of 1940s Shanghai, is said to be based on the true story of a wartime spy, drawing on the author’s own experiences as the lover of a notorious collaborator.

SOLD OUT Saturday March 30, 10am Inside the Jesuit Library & MoreRMB 250 members, 350 nonmembers – to join the wait list, scan the QR code at the bottom of the page

The Jesuits left Shanghai a rich legacy of architecture, learning, and the arts. On Easter Saturday, we’ll visit the highlights, including a private visit to their beautiful 1847 library, the Bibliotheca Zikawei. The library’s collection of rare books—the oldest dates from the 15th century—is as stunning as the building’s 19th century architecture, which includes a section modeled on the Vatican library.

We’ll also see the glorious Gothic St. Ignatius Cathedral, the observatory, convent, and schools they left, and the final resting place of the first Chinese Jesuit convert, whose name was given to this area.

Sunday March 31, 10am The Secrets of Rte Frelupt (Jianguo Road) /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

Route J. Frelupt, now Jianguo Road, is a lovely tree-lined street, so evocative of the former French Concession, and a glorious brew of old Shanghai. On this walk we’ll find grand European garden villas, Japanese Gothic modernism, Spanish style neighborhoods, sprawling Shanghai lilongs, some of the city’s finest Art Deco, and a fascinating hidden history of revolutionaries, collaborators, riches, and underworld bosses.

To book March events: Scan the QR code, click here, or email info@historic-shanghai.com