
The former Royal Asiatic Society building
Far from the maddening crowds on the Bund, the Rockbund Art Museum on Huqiu Lu (虎丘路) is a favored destination that singularly embodies the East meets West history, design and architecture of…
Far from the maddening crowds on the Bund, the Rockbund Art Museum on Huqiu Lu (虎丘路) is a favored destination that singularly embodies the East meets West history, design and architecture of…
I’ve always liked the predictability and soothing effect of uncomplicated patterns. This was one reason why I found myself standing in front of a discreet entrance off the…
What makes a shikumen (石库门) header an architectural tapestry so emblematic of Shanghai? The grey stone pediment, shaped in a triangle or semi-circle, contains designs that range from the…
My interview with Maureen Fan about her grandfather, Robert Fan Wenzhao (1893-1979), has been long overdue. What started as an introductory email several years ago grew into a…
I love hearing from passionate artists who reach out to share their works – photo essays, poems, short films – a reflection of their time, consideration and dedication….
In the years of photographing Shanghai, I’ve had a chance to meet a wide array of talented photographers and researchers as enthusiastic about documenting the city as I am. They…
I’ve finally pulled together a list on books and websites for anyone who wants to learn more about the origins of Shanghai’s lilong and shikumens, the origins of Shanghai’s Old Town, as…
Far from the maddening crowds on the Bund, the Rockbund Art Museum on Huqiu Lu (虎丘路) is a favored destination that singularly embodies the East meets West history, design and architecture of…
I’ve always liked the predictability and soothing effect of uncomplicated patterns. This was one reason why I found myself standing in front of a discreet entrance off the…
What makes a shikumen (石库门) header an architectural tapestry so emblematic of Shanghai? The grey stone pediment, shaped in a triangle or semi-circle, contains designs that range from the…
Readers have noted how quiet the blog has been. I confess to its woeful neglect but would point them towards the blog’s Facebook page which continues to brim with photographs and factoids of Old…
My interview with Maureen Fan about her grandfather, Robert Fan Wenzhao (1893-1979), has been long overdue. What started as an introductory email several years ago grew into a…
I love hearing from passionate artists who reach out to share their works – photo essays, poems, short films – a reflection of their time, consideration and dedication….
There is nothing quite like watching history in movement, the flickering of black and white, and jerky movements of humans and machine caused by the limitation of old…
Before I began photographing lilongs, I, like any newly arrived transplant in Shanghai, methodically made my way through the must-sees around the city. The area around Moganshan Lu…
In the years of photographing Shanghai, I’ve had a chance to meet a wide array of talented photographers and researchers as enthusiastic about documenting the city as I am. They…
The 1990s may not feel too long ago for many of us but with the pace of modernization in Shanghai, it feels like a different era. I first…
Frank Langfitt is the Shanghai Correspondent for US’s National Public Radio (NPR), and his stories can be heard on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Langfitt is no…
What I love about photographing old shikumens and lilongs are the designs and motifs threaded into the exterior and interior of the buildings. How elaborate or simple, modern…
For a long time, the Battle of Shanghai (淞沪会战) was just a footnote in my layman’s knowledge of the Sino-Japanese war. Having read Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the…