Roar, China! Langston Hughes in Shanghai

February is Black History month, and Shanghai has a fascinating, hidden history of Black American poets, activists, and musicians. Our Shanghai Black History walk (Sunday Feb 23) is sold out, but you can sign up for the wait list here.

Langston Hughes, the poet laureate of the Harlem Renaissance, spent three months in Shanghai in the blazing summer of 1933. He ate red-hearted watermelons from street vendors, visited child workers at a textile factory, and hung out with stride pianist Teddy Weatherford at the jazz clubs. He met Soong Ching Ling and the writer Lu Xun, and in some ways, found it not unlike his home country.