The Founders
WM PATRICK CRANLEY
Patrick Cranley is president of Historic Shanghai, which he co-founded in 1998 with Tina Kanagaratnam and Tess Johnston. A native of Baltimore and a fluent Chinese speaker, he has been a student of Chinese affairs for more than forty years, and has lived in China for nearly three decades.
Patrick brings an in-depth knowledge of Shanghai and Chinese history to his acclaimed historic tours of Shanghai (over 130 different tours!) that explore the multilayered stories hidden in every corner of the city. On a Patrick Cranley tour, you might meet an elderly local resident and learn about their personal history, spot a faded slogan, go deep into a lane to experience Shanghai life, or see interesting details hidden in plain sight, always coming away with a new appreciation of this fascinating metropolis. Patrick’s bespoke private tours come highly recommended by Condé Nast Traveler; Luxe Guide to Shanghai; Nota Bene; Departures magazine; and by a number of top-tier travel companies.
A frequent speaker for corporates, educational institutions, and travel groups on Shanghai history, architecture, and society, Patrick has also been featured in newspapers and magazines worldwide, and authored chapters on historic Shanghai walks in Still More Shanghai Walks, Final Five Walks, and Step by Step Shanghai. In 2015, Patrick brought the World Congress on Art Deco to Shanghai, the first time this global international conference had been held in Asia.
Patrick holds degrees from Brown University, the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, and the Ross School of Business and certificates from the University of Dijon and the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies. He is the managing director of PR agency AsiaMedia.
More on Patrick from the New York Times, click here.
Twitter/X: @HistoricSH ; @ShanghaiArtDeco / Instagram: @historicshanghai ; @artdecoshanghai
TINA KANAGARATNAM
A co-founder of Historic Shanghai, Tina is an award-winning writer and in her almost 30 years in the magic city, has authored several books and numerous articles on Shanghai. These include the original Insight Guides Shanghai guidebook, the Zagat Guide to Shanghai, two historic walking guides to the city, and she wrote a column on historic Shanghai architecture for the Shanghai Daily for several years.
Tina researches and writes the stories that accompany the Historic Shanghai walks, delighting in the archives, historic newspapers, old books and oral histories that bring these tales together. Many of these stories are featured on the Historic Shanghai and Shanghai Art Deco websites and social media accounts. Tina co-founded and ran the renowned Shanghai International Literary Festival (R.I.P.), and her love of stories also led her to start the Historic Shanghai book club, where authors frequently join in the lively discussions.
Tina speaks to corporates, educational institutions, and travel groups on topics that include Women in Old Shanghai, Shanghai’s Western Food Heritage, and Shanghai in the Literary Imagination, as well as introductory overviews of Shanghai history. Walks with Tina highlight the stories that bring the architecture and city alive, mined with fun facts, and quirky bits of information that engage and entertain: you might pop into an heritage bakery for a taste, discover a stained glass window, an assassin’s lair, or a secret, stunning view, and invariably fall in love with Shanghai.
A Singaporean of Ceylonese heritage raised in Washington, D.C. (yes, it’s complicated!), Tina holds a B.A. in International Relations from American University’s School of International Service and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
More on Tina from Smart Shanghai, click here.
Twitter/X: @TMK_TinaManiK / Instagram: tinamani
TESS JOHNSTON
Tess Johnston, the original Shanghai city walker! Tess first came to Shanghai in 1981 to work at the American Consulate General and in 1996, after over thirty years in the diplomatic service, she retired and stayed on to research, write, lecture, and conduct walking tours. Tess co-founded Historic Shanghai with Patrick and Tina in 1998 – the first meeting was held in her lane house off Huaihai Road, where so many showed up that people had to stand on the stairs!
Tess is best known as the first, and many would say best and most complete, researcher and documenter of the western presence in old Shanghai, and more broadly, old China. She and co-author Deke Erh published 25 books, including 15 volumes on Western architecture and the expatriate experience in old China. A native of Virginia, her life spanned three continents for over 45 years, seven in Germany (both east and west), and some 35 in Asia, including 28 in Shanghai and seven in Vietnam (1967-74). In addition to Shanghai and old China, Tess has written on her peripatetic life in Permanently Temporary: From Berlin to Shanghai in Half a Century and her years in Vietnam in A War Away: An American Woman in Vietnam, 1967-1974.
Tess repatriated to the U.S. in 2016. She is now 93, but continues to be engaged in Old Shanghai, and always welcomes any news on her beloved buildings!
For more on Tess from NPR, click here.