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The Shanghai Beret Project

Meet the beret-wearing gentlemen of Shanghai. It's a classic Shanghai sight: older Chinese men sporting rakish berets. The iconic headwear of the French never seems to have gone out of style among gentlemen of a certain age in Shanghai, a legacy formed during the period of the French ...

A Short History of Gluttony In Shanghai

by Bill Savadove Gluttony has a weighty presence in the history of Shanghai, where East met West as Chinese merchants and foreign settlers brought their home cooking to the city after the late 1800s, when the port opened wider to the outside world. In 1929, the Sunday breakfast menu at the ...

Remembering Shanghai: A Memoir of Socialites, Scholars and Scoundrels

We've lost one of the last voices of Old Shanghai with the passing of Isabel Sun Chao on March 13 2023, just a day after her 92nd birthday. Luckily for us, Isabel shared her story with us in her memoir, Remembering Shanghai. Spend a little time in Shanghai and it becomes clear that the history of ...

The Shanghai Garden in Winter: Winter Sweet

China Journal, February 1929:   “On the subject of shrubs and trees for the garden in winter, it might be well to say more about the winter sweet (Chimonanthus fragrans), a plant which has been in full bloom during the past month or so, and is noted for the fragrance of its odour. Everyone ...

The Shanghai Snows of Yesteryear

January 25, 2018: As a rare snow falls in Shanghai today, we thought it a good time to look back on the snows of Shanghai past, with this reprise of our post from January 31, 2008 on the Great Snow of that year. [caption id="attachment_1359" align="alignnone" width="880"] January 29 2008, Gao'an ...

Historic Shanghai Year in Review 2017

A look back at the last 12 months of walking through Shanghai’s storied history: the walks, the talks, the tours, the films, the cocktails, and an Art Deco weekend, too. 2017 highlights included our springtime jaunt to Xiamen, the treaty port formerly known as Amoy, for a fabulous  Amoy Art ...

The Historic Shanghai Gift Guide

Looking for a unique Shanghai gift? Here’s our definitive guide to the best presents that celebrate Shanghai’s history. And we make it easy, too, with one stop shopping: all of these items are available either on the Shanghai Art Deco website or at Madame Mao’s Dowry, 207 Fumin Lu/Julu ...