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…
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The diversity of design in shikumen headers
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The Invisible Stain of Japanese Comfort Houses in Shanghai’s Lilongs
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Conversations: Jie Li on “Shanghai Homes: Palimpsests of Private Life”
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A history of the (underground) printing press in Shanghai’s shikumen
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“Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan (安源)”: A Mural in Siwen Lane (斯文里)
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Elaborate lattice woodwork in Confucius Lane (孔家弄)
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My favorite Shanghai moments for Vogue
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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…
Conversations
Conversations: Maureen Fan on the legacy of architect Robert Fan Wenzhao
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…
Behind the camera: K.S. McMullen on filming docu-fiction ‘Nail House’
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….
Behind the Camera: Alessandro Zanoni on Shanghai’s urban landscapes
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…
Latest Posts
White picket fences
He was sitting on his makeshift porch, mending his bicycle when I approached him. He stood up warily and it was then I realized that he only came…
What next?
“We think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If…
The remaining days
He laughed when I asked how long he and his wife were living in this house. “She’s not my wife. She’s my mother-in-law.” It was only after a…
大展鸿图: Achieving excellence
The room was neat with its distinctly light turquoise-colored walls and dark wooden furniture. It took a while to decipher the characters on the poster but it means…
If walls could talk
It was unusually quiet in this particular longtang*. For one, the cold snap has more or less driven everyone indoors to huddle around heaters, that is, if they…
The Indoor Playground
The girls slept with their parents in the same bed, and if it got a bit too crowded, one would sleep on a pile of blankets on the…
The Han (韩) sisters
So you see, I found them. In a spur of the moment, I had followed two faceless young girls into the alleys and it wasn’t too long before…
The White Rabbit(s)
For a moment, I felt like Alice in Wonderland. Trudging past food carts, fortune tellers and trinket hawkers along Fangbang Lu (方浜路), or Old Shanghai Street, I suddenly…