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 Concession (1849-1945). Some hypothesize that since famous revolutionaries like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara also favored these practical chapeaux, Chinese men may have felt comfortable wearing them post-1949. Patrick Cranley’s been on the streets of Frenchtown and beyond, documenting the laokele (distinguished Shanghai gentlemen) and their berets. Here’s a selection.

Frank Quan, an English-speaking Shanghai gentleman who has written two books on old Shanghai.
Not surprising, for as the son of poet Zau Sinmay (Shao Xunmei 邵洵美, 1906-1968),
he knows something of that period. (2017)