The Royal Asiatic Society Building: The Museum on Museum Road
I first saw the old building in the summer of 2000, coming out of a lane on Huqiu Lu. It stood there, in all its modernist majesty, still glorious despite half a century of neglect. We asked the residents at the lane entrance just opposite the building about it. One middle-aged man, shirt doffed in the ...
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Book Review: Witness to History: From Vienna to Shanghai: A Memoir of Escape, Survival and Resilience
by Susan Blumberg-Kason / In his new (but posthumous) memoir, Shanghai Jewish refugee Paul Hoffmann writes about his three most tumultuous experiences. One was enduring six months of Nazi Vienna, the other the terror inflicted by Sargent Kano Ghoya in the Shanghai Jewish Ghetto, and the third life ...
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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. On Saturday March 19, 4pm, we’ll screen that final movie, “New Women" - details and ...
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The Creative Ambiguity of the Shanghai Communiqué
February 2024 - This month marks the 52nd anniversary of the signing of the 1972 Shanghai Communiqué, on February 27, 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 ...
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1972 Nixon Visit: How Shanghai Changed, 1946-72
Fifty-two years ago this month, on February 21, 1972, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon flew into Shanghai on a landmark trip that would lead to the Shanghai Communique, signalling the beginning of a rapprochement between the United States and the People's Republic of China. America suddenly had ...
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Vintage Shanghai Comedy: “Da Li, Xiao Li & Lao Li 大李，小李和老李“
There are so many reasons to love this 1962 screwball comedy, our Historic Shanghai Film Club selection for February – let us count the ways: Scenes of 1960s Shanghai. You think images of 1930s Shanghai are rare? Try 1962, the year the Great Leap Forward ended. This is a rare film ...
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Sweet Old Shanghai: Heritage Bakeries
February is sweet season (you know - sweethearts, sweet delights...) so just in time for Valentine’s Day, we take a look at Shanghai’s surviving heritage bakeries and legacy of Western pastry classics. A selection of Shanghai heritage pastry classics from Kaisiling - Left, clockwise from ...
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