Chin Woo Athletic Association Buildings

“Historic Beauty to be Torn Down”, blared the headline. It was August 5, 2011, and it was clear that time was of the essence, so despite the sweltering Shanghai heat, I headed down to 379 Huimin Road, at the corner of Dalian Road, in Yangpu District.

There, I discovered an island of architectural beauty in a desert of what was once a lane neighborhood, surrounded by boxy apartment buildings, and wide, empty boulevards.

The article was brief, but had one tantalizing tidbit: these buildings, it said, had once housed the Chin Woo Athletic Association 精武体育会. The Association, which had been founded in Shanghai in 1910, was said to have moved into these buildings in 1916 after their original headquarters were destroyed in a typhoon.

The founders were an illustrious group, and included legendary martial artist Huo Yuanjia, famous for his victories over foreign fighters, as well as members of the Tongmenghui.

Chin Woo was one of China’s first public martial arts institutions, created so that Chinese could organize to strengthen themselves and defend their country; Republic of China founding father Sun Yat-sen was a sponsor, and visited twice.

The announcement from the Labor Daily that the buildings were to be demolished “sparked so much debate and fury from the public, local authorities quickly denied there were any plans to tear down the four buildings involved”, reported the Global Times.

Officials from the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage said–rather defensively–that they had not bestowed protected status on the buildings because they had not been able to definitively establish a connection with the Chin Woo Athletic Association.

The Yangpu Cultural Relics Bureau added that even though buildings did not meet the criteria for being a cultural heritage relic, “the authority has decided to retain the buildings anyway because it is a century-old structure that deserves protection.”

Remember that–it’ll show up again later in our story.

To be sure, these buildings don’t look like they were purpose-built for a martial arts organization. But even if they were, there were other factors at play that may have had a role in denying it protected status: the Chin Woo Athletic Association was a training center for Nationalist Party members, preparing them to fight against Communists.

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Whether the Chin Woo Athletic Association ever owned them, whether Sun Yat-sen ever visited, these historic structures deserved to be preserved, and they were in pretty good shape. On my visit in 2011, four houses stood on the property, all in a row.

Three of these were identical, and according to the Construction Archives, had been built in 1924. Each had two and a half floors with terraces, with a large reception room and kitchen on the first floor, a tingzijian (pavilion room) on the landing, three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor, and a terrace on the third floor, with a loft and a storage room.

The fourth house, built in 1930, was much larger, and in a Mediterranean style. And surprisingly, a great deal of original detail was intact.

But they demolished them anyway.

The houses were dilapidated, untouched for decades – which somehow make the details, like the stained glass on the second floor terrace of House 3, even more stunning.

Situated in an already flattened neighborhood, the residents were all migrants, working for the demolition company. (“If you wanted to know the history, said one, you should have come two years ago, to talk to the residents of this neighborhood before it was demolished.”)

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On my visit, relics of what had once been a thriving lilong neighborhood were everywhere. Doors, carefully stacked; century-old relics preparing for another life wherever they could get a good price and wood might be needed for building.

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In August 2011 I wrote, “How long will these houses remain in this desolate landscape? Sadly, it won’t be long before an anonymous building, like the one behind it, replaces an irreplaceable piece of Shanghai history.”

And it wasn’t too long at all. There has always been a force in Shanghai greater than any historic or cultural legacy, and that force is the developer. (It has always been thus: in 1936, the China Press mourned the demolition of the old SMC building and the old Hall and Holtz building!)

So in 2013, it wasn’t much of a surprise when the fate of the Huimin Road houses was sealed when a developer bought the plot, with plans to build a 32-storey building. The buildings that the heritage authority had described as “century-old structures that deserve protection” were quietly demolished.

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When local preservationists peered over the construction wall and asked about their whereabouts, the Yangpu District Cultural Management Committee explained that alas, despite their plans, “The four old houses were severely damaged.” Soothingly, they added, “They were only temporarily demolished, and they will be restored.”

Temporarily demolished?! Seriously now? It appears that some of the materials from the old house were retained, but not in any systematic way. In 2016, copies of the houses, and not particularly good copies at that, were rebuilt in the shadow of that 32-storey building near its original site.

They’re now located at 379 Huimin Road/Pingliang Road. And in a final twist of the knife, these brand new rebuilt houses are NOW immovable cultural relics.

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Sources

“Historic Beauty to be Torn Down”, Shanghai Daily, August 5 2011, accessed September 5 2020

“Likely Martial Arts Site to be Saved”, Shanghai Daily August 9 2011, accessed September 5 2020

A reporter from Dongfang.com visits: a “hundred-year” bungalow that has nothing to do with Jingwumen, Eastday.com, August 9 2011, accessed 28 September 2020

The site of the “Jingwu Club” Centennial Meeting is facing the demolition of 4 old houses at the intersection of Dalian Road and Huimin Road, scarred by the Yangpu Cultural Administration, saying it is not an excellent historical building, October 28 2009, accessed September 28 2020

“Still Looking Up”, Global Times, Sept 16 2012, accessed September 5 2020

Workers who demolished a century-old house in Shanghai said they would build a 32-story building, Eastday.com May 26 2014, accessed September 30 2020

“Dismantled ‘Chin Woo’ buildings to be Rebuilt“, Shanghai Daily, May 27 2014, accessed September 5 2020

Immovable Relics, Huimin Road, rabbit_3922’s blog, October 2, 2018, accessed September 30 2020

“Two Historic Buildings Are Rapidly Disappearing”, China Press, January 14 1936.