SHANGHAI
Shanghai is not easy to fall in love with. Long exalted in print and celluloid as the smoky seedy world where espionage, violence and romance collide, the city in reality often turns out to be a colossal over-hype.
For one, smog perpetually casts a pall over the much-photographed Pudong skyline. Maybe that is not a bad thing, for the landmark Oriental Pearl TV Tower does look a little less grotesque and tacky in grainy grey.
(Then again, come nightfall and Pudong becomes more visible with its dancing neon lights, one realises how sorely missed is the far more stunning Hong Kong skyline.)
Even the legendary stretch of colonial buildings better known as the Bund looks unusually listless, its mighty façade upstaged by construction cranes – the unmistakable symbol of the demolishing-building-renovating frenzy that grips the entire city.
And however hard one tries to avoid succumbing to ethnocentrism – a term that originated from anthropology as the seeing of other cultures different from one’s own as inferior – the city’s denizens do have a way of testing your patience, cutting your queue before you are done with your purchase or clearing their throats and discharging their phlegm just a tiny footstep away.
So Shanghai is worlds apart from the one as romanticised in Lust, Caution or even Empire of the Sun. There is also no denying Shanghai is crass and commercialised (in an almost thuggish manner) but she does seem to have a conscience – the stately villas that once belonged to the prominent figures in China’s modern history (think Dr Sun Yat-sen, Song Qingling, Zhou Enlai and the like) have been preserved for posterity. So long as they fit into the prevailing discourse, of course.
05 SHANGHAI ART MUSEUM __ Like the cosmopolitan city itself, the Shanghai Art Museum impresses with its eclectic smorgasbord of exhibits, from Chinese watercolour paintings to the deceptively simple photographs of Japanese master Kimura Ihee to print and video images by Belgian artists.
Yet, the museum’s building could have been better used as a repository of the city’s social history than fine artistry. As the former clubhouse of the demolished Shanghai Race Club, it is the only physical reminder of a race course track that once covered present-day Renmin Park.
Besides, during the Japanese Occupation, the building’s rooms were converted into military offices. And when its glittering days of hosting the rich and famous were over in 1953, it was turned into a public library for some unfathomable reason (maybe re-education was the best way to “atone” for its period of decadence and book shelves lined its rooms until 1996).
Then again this colonial structure – built in 1933 – is an appealing piece of art, a sculptural installation that seemingly takes on different mutations with each passing day and making grand statements about the connection to the past and the indomitable forces of nature. As for the artists behind this enigmatic masterpiece: creepers on the verge of camouflaging its classical clock tower.
04 YUYUAN GARDEN __ While quite comely, Yuyuan hardly qualifies as an oasis, no thanks to the stream of tourists trampling on stone bridges and hoarding the pavilions. It is after all one of the more ancient sites found in this future-forward metropolis, built between the 1550s and 1570s by a Ming dynasty official as a verdant sanctuary for his family.
Still, Yuyuan is not without redeeming qualities: instead of the typical Chinese moon gates that unveil courtyards, rock formations and lotus ponds, the garden’s numerous gateways are shaped in a quirky fashion – one resembles a flower vase and another, a cascading waterfall.
Equally captivating are the numerous wooden windows that break the monotony of the weathered walls, each weaving elements of the Chinese culture into its intricate motif latticework.
Depending on your luck, it is actually possible to amble into a courtyard filled with nothing but the chirpings of birds (synchronised with patriotic songs playing from a cleaner’s radio) and the fragrant scents wafting from the nearby pyrus and punica granatum trees.
The dainty demeanour of Yuyuan is almost skin-deep unless one is aware of its “blemished” past – it once served as the headquarters of the Small Swords Society. In 1853, inside the gardens’ Dian Chun Tang Hall, a clandestine group conspired to join the Taiping Rebellion to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The society members managed to seize control of parts of the city but their rule was short-lived, as they were crushed by Chinese and Western troops a year later.
Today the hall displays artefacts associated with the society, such as weapons, waist belts and coins minted by its members. Perhaps reflecting the fate of the rebels, the aura emanating from the room feels rather subdued.
03 THE FORMER RESIDENCE & MEMORIAL HALL OF LU XUN __ Tracking down successfully the former abode of Lu Xun – often described as the father of modern vernacular Chinese literature – is akin to discovering a limited edition novel in a second-hand bookstore.
Sandwiched amongst a row of three-storey Japanese-style brick houses, the apartment was the late author’s last residence in Shanghai (he stayed there in the early 1930s) and is well worth the hunt. Adorned with furniture donated by his father, the rooms are carefully maintained to record the final chapter of Lu Xun’s unassuming domestic life.
As the guide (or security guard?) helpfully singles out the personal items in the house –such as the bed on which Lu Xun took his final breath as well as the toys and glass used by his son – a maudlin air permeates throughout. The feeling is most palpable inside a small room that is dominated by a cupboard stacked with bottles of medicine and a respiratory device, all belonging to the tuberculosis-stricken author.
For a more detailed – and expectedly glorified – interpretation of Lu Xun’s life, take a stroll to the nearby Lu Xun Park where a memorial hall specially dedicated to him is located. (Tucked in a corner of this seemingly ordinary park is a 1920s-British drinking fountain, an unspoken testament to the park’s once foreigners-only status.)
The stern and unsmiling expressions of the security guards aside, the museum is quite visitor-friendly, narrating chronologically the prolific author’s life through his personal items and original works and correspondences. Bound to tug the heartstrings of any Lu Xun admirer are his “random thoughts” of an essay composed two days before his demise and a note from the famous Song Qingling (wife of Dr Sun Yat-sen, founder of modern China), urging him to seek treatment at the local hospital.
Kudos too to the museum’s curators for not omitting the less publicised aspects of the author’s life, including his contributions to promoting the art of woodcut in China through his writings and his switch from medical studies to literature, as it is “more important to cure people’s mentality than to cure their body”.
02 SHIKUMEN HOUSES __ It may come as a surprise to some that Shanghai – and not Beijing – is the birthplace of the Communist Party of China. In fact, the splendid brick house where Mao Zedong, 12 other delegates from communist cells across China and two European Comintern advisers surreptitiously convened and founded the party on 23 July 1921 still stands in the French Concession district of Xintiandi.
That monumental meeting is now commemorated inside the building in the form of a wax display, complete with the original tea cups and chairs used by the delegates. Known as the Site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, the distinctly European-designed house also serves as a more decorative representation of the traditional shikumen architecture unique to Shanghai.
A hybrid design infused with elements of European townhouses and Chinese architecture, shikumen houses were the norm in Shanghai between the 1850s and the 1940s, with the houses’ black wooden doors framed by stone arches being its aesthetic hallmark.
Besides narrow lanes and a courtyard, the typical shikumen house also consists of a small room located near the staircase between the first and second levels, often rented out to struggling authors and artists.
The Shikumen Open House Museum in the touristy Xintiandi proffers a comprehensive but clinical introduction to this underrated architectural style (at least compared to the more famous hutong in Beijing) but nothing beats exploring an actual shikumen neighbourhood.
Tianzifang is one such neighbourhood and with a haphazard charm to boot – wooden ladders and bicycles parked against brick walls with air-conditioner compartments and cable wires hanging above are a common sight.
Sadly, signs are pointing to gentrification with the young, professional and expatriate crowd staking ownership in the neighbourhood’s cafés, designer boutiques and art galleries on the ground level. One then can only hope that the elderly residents would not be evicted in the process.
The nearby Cité Bourgogne neighbourhood (better known as Bugaoli in Chinese) has thankfully remained insular to such commercialism – it is strictly a residential enclave and its shikumen houses boast prettier Baroque designs too.
01 ZHUJIAJIAO __ When you need to pay an entrance fee to explore a Ming dynasty water town dating back over 1,700 years, you cannot help but suspect that it has degenerated into a theme park where actors walk around in traditional costumes and perform ancient crafts.
Fortunately, real people – mostly silver-haired and going about their daily chores of hanging their laundry – still reside in this town and looking unperturbed by the presence of city dwellers and tourists desperate for a change of scenery and fresher air.
Indeed, Zhujiajiao is a picturesque spot where as many as 36 ancient stone bridges overlook a dozen wooden boats with oars slicing placid waters in canals flanked by traditional houses.
Each of these bridges also connects to narrow lanes that in turn lead visitors into a wealthy merchant’s private garden, a City God temple, a century-old medicinal hall, a Qing dynasty postal office and even a Catholic cathedral.
Still, this does not mean that Zhujiajiao is untainted by mass tourism. Eateries serving up “home-cooked” fare and shops hawking reproductions of Mao propaganda posters outnumber those selling traditional snacks and handicrafts. Try to contain your dismay too if you are accosted by someone asking if you would like your photograph imprinted on a mug.
Zhujiajiao may be a respite from fast-and-furious Shanghai but there is no escape from money-making-crazy Shanghai.Zhujiajiao | Buses to Zhujiajiao depart from the depot at Pu’an Road near the Shanghai Museum. Take the bus that states “Huzhu” line. The journey is about 50 minutes and the bus fare is about Y12.
Shikumen Houses | The Site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and the Shikumen Open House Museum are located in Xintiandi which is accessible by metro – alight at the Huangpi Road Station. Tianzifang at Taikang Road and Cité Bourgogne are located in the French Concession District, within walking distance from the former residence of Dr Sun Yat-sen.
The Former Residence & Memorial Hall of Lu Xun | The metro station nearest to Lu Xun Park is the Hongkou Football Stadium Station. The former residence of Lu Xun is located at 132 Lane, Shanyin Road. The personnel manning the ticketing booth at the Lu Xun Memorial Hall should be able to direct you to the former residence, if language is not an issue.
Yuyuan Garden | The historical garden is part of the old city, near the Shanghai Old Street, and is hard to miss when the “traditional” Chinese roofs of the Yuyuan Bazaar dominate much of the streetscape.
Shanghai Art Museum | The museum forms part of the city’s cultural hub in sprawling Renmin Park which includes the Shanghai Museum and Shanghai Grand Theatre. In the vicinity is the People’s Square Station.