Tours & Talks
APRIL-MAY 2024
TO REGISTER FOR AN EVENT: Scan the April Events QR at the bottom of the page or email info@historic-shanghai.com
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APRIL 2024
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Saturday April 27, 10am APRIL BOOK CLUB: Shanghai Faithful: Betrayal and Forgiveness in a Chinese Christian Family by Jennifer Lin /RMB 100 members, 200 nonmembers
The author will join us for the discussion
Shanghai Faithful is the dramatic story of 150 years of Christianity in China through the lens of the Lin family, from the first convert in a remote Fujian fishing village to the present day, centered around the author’s grandfather, St. John’s-educated Reverend Lin Pu-chi.
Jennifer Lin combines a journalist’s eye for detail with a scholar’s research and a novelist’s turn of phrase in this tour-de-force, describing her characters and their Shanghai in fine detail—as she describes how the twists and turns of Shanghai’s modern history impacts these characters, you’ll realize that you’ve come to care for them deeply. Lin is a wonderful storyteller, with a wonderful story.
Saturday April 27, 6.30pm /BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY: Deco After Dark – A World Art Deco Month event /RMB 300 members, 400 nonmembers, includes a cocktail
Everything looks different at night, and Shanghai’s glorious Art Deco is no exception. Join us for a dazzling look at the city’s Art Deco buildings by night, all dramatically lit up. From the Bund to Broadway Mansions and the wild neon of Nanjing Road, we’ll admire Shanghai’s Deco heritage, share stories of the city’s nightlife in the good old, bad old days, and finish up with a cocktail.
Sunday April 28, 10am / SHANGHAI FAITHFUL: A Walk Through 150 Years of a Chinese Christian Family /RMB 300 members, 400 nonmembers, includes private bus
There’s no more impactful way of seeing history than through the eyes of the people who lived it, and that’s what we’ll do in this deep dive of the story of a single family in Shanghai. The walk is based on Shanghai Faithful by Jennifer Lin, but you don’t have to read the book to come—it’s a great opportunity to learn about a Chinese family’s Shanghai story!
We’ll see the impact of the grand sweep of 20th century Shanghai history on the Lin family, centered around the story of St. John’s-educated Reverend Lin Pu-chi, his children and grandchildren—those who stayed, and those who left—as we visit the buildings where the dramatic, heart-stopping twists and turns in the Lin story takes place, from the family home to churches, schools, places of work, theaters, and more.
MAY HOLIDAY WALKS
Wednesday May 1, 2pm Along the River: Historic Ports, Docks, and Warehouses /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
The story of old Shanghai’s wealth and cosmopolitanism lies along the Huangpu River, in the ports, docks, and warehouses that were her engine of growth, and sent her people and goods into the world. On this walk, we’ll see the port from which a young Deng Xiaoping left for France; Jardine’s cotton mills, Wing On’s warehouses, an historic granary, a castle for waterworks, the Southern Manchurian Railway port. And we’ll take a ferry ride across the river, to explore both sides.
Thursday May 2, 2pm /On Peking Road: Avenue Road to the Bund (Part 2 of the Beijing Road walk) /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
Explore the secrets and stories of majestic Beijing Road from the heart of the city, where it was known as Avenue Road, all the way to Peking Road on the waterfront Bund. We’ll discover life, then and now, along one of Old Shanghai’s major arteries: from 1920s lane neighborhoods to historic firehouses; a theater district; Chinese banking houses; Old Shanghai’s grandest trading company, and much more – a walk that creates portrait of a place and a life as it once was.
This is Part 2 of the Beijing Road walk; we did Part 1, Along Avenue Road on Dec 2, 2023.
Sunday May 5, 10am /Lu Xun, Left-Wing Writers and the May 4th Movement /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
Join us for a walk through the streets, lanes, and parks of Hongkou, as we tell the story of Lu Xun, one of China’s literary giants; the left-wing writers who created a brave new world of literature; and the May 4th movement, which sought to create a new Chinese culture.
Left-Wing Writers Museum—the building itself is worth a visit—and the newly reopened Uchiyama Bookstore, where the writers gathered. Join us as we explore their world, their inspirations, and hear the story of this movement and these writers, whose ideas set them on the path to revolution and shaped the following century.
