Paul French on “City of Devils”
Ahead of our City of Devils tour this Saturday (June 21, 2pm), here's author Paul French talking about the book ~ lots on interwar underworld Shanghai, rumor and gossip, old Shanghai's soundscape, plus some bonus reading recommendations. To book the walk, click here or email info@historic-shanghai.com Historic ...
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Memories of Chinese New Year in Old Shanghai
新年快乐！Xin Nian Kuai Le! As we welcome the Year of the Horse in a world of WeChat hongbaos and electronic firecrackers, we wondered: what was Chinese New Year like in Old Shanghai? So we went to the experts: the men and women who grew up here. Here are their memories of Shanghai Chinese New Years past, from the 1930s ...
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Bookshelf: Death in Shanghai
MJ Lee’s Death in Shanghai is a delicious crime novel set in old Shanghai, and our September 2026 Book Club selection. Terrific plot, great characters, superb writing – and oh, the historical detail! It truly brings old Shanghai to life, infusing the characters, and even the crime. We wanted to know more, and author ...
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The Interview: Katya Knyazeva on Shanghai’s Old Town
The original Shanghai – the “old town” – is hidden in plain sight, in center of China’s wealthiest city. Yet it is but a shadow, unexplored territory for both foreigners and locals. And it's vanishing quickly. Journalist, photographer, tour guide, and blogger Katya Knyazeva has spent six years painstakingly ...
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In Conversation: Patricia Luce Chapman – An American Girl in Wartime Shanghai
Patricia Luce Chapman, the author of Tea on the Great Wall: An American Girl in War-Torn China was born in Shanghai in 1926 to a journalist mother and businessman father, and grew up here during a time that was both glamorous and difficult. She lived on Columbia Circle in a house designed by Hudec, went to ...
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The Interview: “Shanghai Homes: Palimpsests of Private Lives” with Jie Li
Jie Li, author of Shanghai Homes: Palimpsests of Private Life, (our June 2020 Book Club selection) has a unique insight into the lives within Shanghai's lane neighborhoods: this is where her parents and grandparents lived, and where she spent her childhood. And she's an anthropologist. In December 2014, she spoke ...
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The Interview: Researching Old Shanghai with Greg Leck
Greg Leck is the author of Captives of Empire, an exhaustive volume on the Japanese internment camps in Shanghai. Dr. Leck, a veterinarian who lives in Pennsylvania, answered a few of our questions about his books, his research and his inspiration. Captives of Empire is the authoritative book on the ...
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