McTyeire: The School for China’s Daughters
Young women in smart uniforms run down the wide steps, ponytails flying, laughing and talking. Clusters of girls sit and chat on the green lawn that fronts the grand building with its own turret. At first glance, they seem like adolescent girls anywhere, but look closer, and the girls of the Shanghai No.3 Girls’ Middle ...
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The Chaste Widow of the Shanghai Racetrack
The Chaste Widow’s Monument, an 18th century memorial arch on the old racecourse, was a legacy of Shanghai before the foreigners came, a bow to an ancient Confucian virtue that stood stubbornly on the racecourse infield until the 1950s. Restored in the 1940s by shipping tycoon and Shanghailander Eric Moller, it was one of ...
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Tour Report: Inside Marble Hall, The Kadoorie Mansion
Old Shanghai was a city full of exquisite mansions, yet even so, Elly Kadoorie’s Marble Hall was considered the most beautiful of all. On Saturday, August 5, Historic Shanghai visited this jewel. Here's the story. “It is palatial ….built on a lavish scale, yet not ostentatious.” – North-China Herald, March 22, ...
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The Astoria Confectionary & Tea-Room
When Kyriaco Dimitriades arrived in Shanghai in the 1920s, he was young, ambitious and ready to make his fortune. When he left, in 1949, he had created an icon: the Astoria Confectionary & Tea-Room, which sold bread, pastries and the city's most gorgeous wedding cakes. His daughter, Daphne Skillen, tells his ...
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No Exit: David Marshall and the Last Jews of Shanghai
David Marshall, Singapore's first Chief Minister, visited China in 1956, and became the man who got the last Jews out of China. On Sunday November 20, we heard from Marina Shlau Cunningham, a member of one of those Jewish families who was here until 1957. It's quite a story. (For the event recording, click here.) Who's ...
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Selling the Ruan Lingyu Drama: Tragedy, Irony, and Exploitation in a 1934 Ad
March 8 - On the anniversary of the death of Old Shanghai’s movie goddess, Ruan Lingyu, MOFBA* delves into the story of an ad that is inextricably linked with the actress, her final movie, and her tragic death. By The Little Museum of Foreign Brand Advertising in the R.O.C (MOFBA) // The 1930s marked the first ...
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The Creative Ambiguity of the Shanghai Communiqué
February 2025 - This month marks the 53rd anniversary of the Shanghai Communiqué, the world-startling diplomatic letter that marked the beginning of the rapprochement between the People’s Republic of China and the United States. The communiqué was signed on February 27 1972, at the end of a week-long visit to China by ...
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