Historic Shanghai Year in Review 2019

In our 21st year, we spent more time than we would have liked racing to see neighborhoods before they vanish. Laoximen, Xiaonanmen, Jinling Road, Hongkou, Siwen Li – the list goes on.

Yet interest in Shanghai’s history has never been higher. Members of the newly formed Shanghai Heritage Society, a local Chinese organization, are passionate about the city’s history and preservation. More and more heritage signs are going up around the city. More and more books are being written about Shanghai history and architecture. Talks on historical topics are packed.

In January, a new regulation stipulated that remaining lane neighborhoods will be preserved. A new renovations in place policy is keeping communities together. Even as historic, richly textured neighborhoods are emptied and communities lost, yet increasingly, their architecture is retained. Certainly, as progress in terms of preservation it’s imperfect. And yet, students of history know that the past is prologue.

“Two of Shanghai’s most famous landmarks are rapidly disappearing. Wreckers are busy and within a month they will be almost forgotten,” mourned the newspaper, adding, “both structures house memories.” This could well be Jinling Lu, Laoximen, or Siwen Li, but as it turns out, the two landmarks in question are from a century ago — the old Shanghai Municipal Council Central Police Station and the old Hall & Holtz building, as reported in the China Press in January 1936.

Every generation mourns the passing of the old, and as we once again enter the roaring ‘20s, we’re reminded that it was a thirst for progress that built this city a century ago, and her DNA is, has always been, progress. So how can we be surprised when, with so many factors the same – money swishing around, the world at the door, hungry developers – that Shanghai wouldn’t behave the same way as she did a century ago, crushing the old to make way for the new.

So this year, like every year, we do what we can to raise awareness of Shanghai’s incredible built heritage and social and cultural history. Walking, researching, documenting and discovering, meeting the people who have lived it, experiencing the history and the stories of the city that we love. Of course we mourn the passing of beloved neighborhoods, but we celebrate the depth of what is still here, and delight in surprising discoveries. For even after 21 years of exploring Shanghai, there are new old things to be found. A forgotten farmhouse off Wulumuqi Lu, a Ming-era temple in the heart of Nanjing Road, Dr. Ann Fearn’s sanatarium, the Gardenia nightclub.

This year, too, we developed an answer to the question of what people should read to learn more about old Shanghai by starting the Historic Shanghai Book Club in September, with authors and experts often in attendance.

In 2019, your favorite events were walks in the old Chinese city and the former French Concession, and you’d much rather walk than see a movie. Popular talks included ones by Tess Johnston, Historic Shanghai co-founder and the pioneer on research into the western presence in old Shanghai, and Helen Zia, author of Last Boat Out of Shanghai. We created 10 brand new walks this year, from Lu Xun, Left Wing Writers and the May Fourth Movement to Shanghai’s Urban Greening.

Thank you for being part of Historic Shanghai in 2019 ~ we’re looking forward to lots more old Shanghai fun in the roaring ’20s!

Here’s our summary of the year that was:

Historic Shanghai’s 2019 by the numbers

73 events: walks, talks, movies

10 brand new walks

Started a Book Club

Ended the year with 160 members

20,000 fans on social media / Facebook, Twitter & Instagram for Historic Shanghai & Shanghai Art Deco

Most popular blog post of 2019 (and of all time): The Evolution of Shanghai Fashion

Our most requested walk: Laoximen