Farewell, Tess
Tess Johnston, September 17, 1931 - September 14, 2025 It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of Tess Johnston, our beloved friend, mentor, and co-founder. Tess pioneered the study of pre-1949 Shanghai, beginning at a time when the city’s historic buildings and their stories were ignored, and continuing ...
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5 Reasons to Visit the Old City Right Now
This autumn, we’ve seen the atmospheric Old Chinese City disappearing with unprecedented speed. Sure, it’s been slowly vanishing for years, but a recent visit saw one of our favorite sections demolished, and recently living neighborhoods emptied out and boarded up. The recent rapid clip adds an urgency to taking a last ...
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Historic Shanghai Year in Review 2017
A look back at the last 12 months of walking through Shanghai’s storied history: the walks, the talks, the tours, the films, the cocktails, and an Art Deco weekend, too. 2017 highlights included our springtime jaunt to Xiamen, the treaty port formerly known as Amoy, for a fabulous Amoy Art Deco Weekend. We ...
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