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…
Neighborhoods
The simplicity in patterned wood
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…
The diversity of design in shikumen headers
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…
Find me (in the creak of an old stairwell)
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…
Footage of the Lost Battalion in 1937 Battle of Shanghai
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…
Details that define a shikumen lane
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…
The Invisible Stain of Japanese Comfort Houses in Shanghai’s Lilongs
If you look closely, the legacy of Japanese presence in pre-war and war-time Shanghai can be found across the city’s old neighborhoods, dating back to their emergence as…
Shanhaiguan Lu (山海关路) through the eyes of an older Shanghainese
The streets have grown quieter. As Siwen Lane (斯文里) in Jingan district empties out ahead of demolition and redevelopment, the surrounding neighborhoods are anticipating changes too. New basketball courts,…
From Shanghai to Fuzhou: Discovering the former Fujian Xintai Bank (辛泰银行)
Every time I travel along the busy Henan Lu (河南路), I watch for the blue plastic awnings that dot each window of the seemingly nondescript building. The walls are…
A history of the (underground) printing press in Shanghai’s shikumen
Buried amidst the largely demolished Chengyu Lane (成裕里) (or Achieving Abundance Lane) on Fuxing Zhong Lu (复兴中路), a mountain of debris hid a small piece of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP)…