Tours & Talks
NOVEMBER 2024
TO REGISTER FOR AN EVENT: Scan the November QR code, below
Or email info@historic-shanghai.com
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RECORDINGS: We’ve recorded our most popular talks, for your viewing pleasure! To order, click here.
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NOVEMBER 2024 EVENTS
To book, click here.
Saturday, November 2, 3pm /AMERICANS IN OLD SHANGHAI ~ U.S. Election Day Special! RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
On the weekend before U.S. Election Day, join us for a walk through the long, rich history of Americans in old Shanghai. Americans cut a wide swath through Old Shanghai society from the earliest days—and they were a fascinating lot!
Meet characters like the wild adventurer who led the Ever Victorious Army; the baseball-playing Mr. Big of Shanghai gambling; the China Spymaster; the dapper lawyer they called the ‘Mayor of Shanghai’, the sharp San Francisco courtesan who became the city’s most celebrated Madam; the journalist who scandalized polite society; missionaries, revolutionaries, poets, jazz singers, and more. We’ll see where they worked and played, the buildings they dreamed up, the clubs where they sipped their Manhattans, and more.
Saturday November 9, 2pm /SHANGHAI’S ART DECO SKYSCRAPERS: Former French Concession edition /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
An autumn walk through some of the most charming parts of the former French Concession, as we explore Shanghai Skyscraper Deco. Shanghai’s Art Deco ‘skyscrapers’ never reached Manhattan heights, but they nevertheless enthusiastically embodied the same spirit—modernity, luxury, progress. No coincidence that this was also the spirit of Old Shanghai! On this walk, we’ll see some of the icons of Shanghai Deco skyscrapers, built by architects from around the world, and share the legends and tales that surround them.
NEW Sunday November 10, 2pm /DEEP DIVE: Rue Massenet/Sinan Lu /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
In the Deep Dive series, we pick a street or two and go deep, because that’s where all the treasures lie!
This walk dives into delightful Rue Massenet (today’s Sinan Lu) from its southern border by a long-gone creek all the way to the heart of La Concession. Along the way we’ll explore the stately mansions and leafy parks, the meandering lanes and historic buildings of justice, churches, underground revolution, and more – so much history, so many stories, in just one Shanghai street.
NEW Saturday, November 16, 10am /TREASURE HOUSES: The Banks of Old Shanghai /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
Money was one of Old Shanghai’s very favorite things—making it, spending it—and on this walk, we’ll tell the story of Shanghai through the stately banks that once housed the fortunes of the city. In cosmopolitan Shanghai, banks from around the world and around China competed to build the finest cathedrals to commerce, and they still dot downtown Shanghai, with their vast columned marble halls and exquisitely decorated details.
Join us as we explore the story of these financial institutions–who built them, the businesses they funded, the crises they survived (or didn’t!) and what became of them.
NEW Sunday November 17, 10am/ Sleaze and Sin in Old Shanghai with Douglas Clark /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
Old Shanghai was famous for its wild side. Doug Clark will take us on a tour of the scenes of some infamous crimes that came before the former British and American Courts in Shanghai. Starting from the original site of the old US Court for China, we will wind through the streets past the sites of bribery, corruption, police stings, assassinations, murders and executions. Doug will recall scenes from his book Gunboat Justice to reveal stories of sleaze and sin in Old Shanghai.
Doug Clark is a practicing lawyer in Hong Kong. A former Shanghai resident, he first arrived in Shanghai as a university student in the 1980s. In addition to the original three-volume Gunboat Justice, he has produced a condensed one-volume edition, Justice by Gunboat, and extensively annotated a new edition of Shanghai Lawyer by Norwood Allman. All are available from Earnshaw Publishing (and critical to any Old Shanghai library!).
Saturday November 23, 10am /DEEP DIVE: Rue Ratard (Julu Lu) /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
Julu Lu: it’s not just bars and restaurants! Come with us on a discovery of one of the city’s most fascinating streets.
We’ll traverse the length of plane tree-lined Rue Ratard (Julu Lu), to uncover the tales of treasures like a romantic gift of love in marble; the story of a spy and of a legendary American taipan; the legacy of French missionaries and of underground Communists; a stunning mansion that was once a gangster-owned nightclub—and Art Deco lanes, a stash of early Hudec houses, a film star’s legacy, and much more!
Sunday November 24, 10.30am /NOVEMBER BOOK CLUB: Shanghai Acrobat by Jing Jing Xue /RMB 100 members, 200 nonmembers
An artfully-wrought memoir of an orphan boy who became a world-famous acrobat.Dropped off at a Shanghai orphanage in 1949 at the age of two, Jingjing is selected for the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe at the age of nine. This extraordinary autobiography tells the moving story of Jingjing’s rise from poverty to becoming one of China’s star acrobats, performing for top leaders, and touring overseas to perform as part of a cultural diplomacy initiative. Xue weaves together history, cultural relics, music, Chinese proverbs, and images in this portrait of the latter half of the twentieth century in China.
To book November Events, scan the QR code below or click here.
