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 Version Française Built in 1927 by the Kadoorie family, Hong Kong Peninsula Hotel is actually not located in Hong Kong Island but in Kowloon for a good reason. It was there that most of travelers who ended there journey on land would wait for the ferries to cross the Hong Kong strait. The lavish palace was precisely facing the railway tracks of the Trans-Siberian, next to another place of memory for long distance travelers or migrants, the Kowloon YMCA. Stories of migrants are many but not everybody, by far, could afford... [Lire la suite]

Version Française A lot of things have already been said or written on Victor Sassoon, the founder of the Peace Hotel in Shanghai. Recently the wonderful book by Taras Grescoe "Shanghai Grand" gives an extensive account of his love relationship with American author Emily Hahn, a woman he had to share with Chinese dandy and poet Shao Xunmei. After reading this amazing story, I wanted to know more however, about this extravagant character and decided to travel to Dallas to dig into his personal diaries which are kept there. Elice... [Lire la suite]

Version Française Among the iconic places I still had no opportunity to visit during my years staying in Shanghai was the legendary Ezra Mansion at 1209 Huaihai Middle Road. Surprisingly this house is located right near where I live but it was never visible from the street until these a few weeks. On the occasion of the moving of the Redleaf International Hospital to Songyuan Road, the front part of the compound has recently being demolished, revealing one of the most legendary residences of Shanghai to strollers on Middle... [Lire la suite]

Version Française When I received a message from James McCabe, asking for help into tracing his family roots in Shanghai during a visit with his son Andrew, I was more than excited. James lives in Santa Fe New Mexico but his Portuguese origin family used to live in Shanghai from the 1880s to 1949. Of course, I knew that many Portuguese migrants had settled in Hongkew at the end of the 19th century, following the opening of Shanghai treaty port. There might have been some 1300 "Macanese", as the Macao originated Portuguese were then... [Lire la suite]

Version Française When I was young, as  Internet simply did not exist, there was no such thing like fast search engine or knowledge sharing sites like Google or Wikipedia. The best way for me to learn about the rest of the world was a Larousse dictionary. Apart from the common names section, it included a short illustrated encyclopedia telling about countries, famous people and cities. At that time, the Cold War between the West  and the Soviet Block was officially over but the Eastern part of Europe was still separated... [Lire la suite]

Version Française As I was flipping in the pages of "Chin chin" (青青电影), a Shanghai late 1930s cinema magazine, I was attracted by the many pictures of movie stars photographed at the swimming pool. I have already written the story of Yang Xiuqiong, the famous Chinese mermaid, who won swimming competitions during the 1930s. I did not realize, however, how much swimming was in style in those years. Actually almost every life and culture magazine had a section dedicated to pool activities, portraying young beautiful ladies in swimming... [Lire la suite]

Version Française As I was having xiaolongbao, a Shanghai type of dumpling, in a tea house called Lao Shanghai on East Fangbang Road, my attention was caught by an exhibited 1930s Art Deco magazine cover. It showed a young lady wearing a bikini-type swimming suit. This outfit is not  common on Shanghai magazines as ladies often wear qipaos. However, swimming was quite fashionable, representing modernity in the 1930s. So I thought that this cover was just another way to attract the readers attention with the new type of healthy... [Lire la suite]

Version Française When I first came to Shanghai in 2010 for the World Expo, I remember being impressed by the remastering of the Huangpu banks from a messy industrial area into a modern and clean designed visitors park. At some point, I crossed to the West side  D zone to see pavilions dedicated to technology. Then I walked on an elevated pathway overlooking a plaza containing three longs dry docks. I could not imagine at that time that those were the last traces of one of China's earliest shipyards.  History of the... [Lire la suite]

Version Française If you are still not convinced that Shanghai is a lifelong love, then you should read the story of Anna Michaels-Gaudreau, a New Yorker who spent her childhood in wartime Shanghai and now teaches to Chinese students there. Anna was born on 11st February 1943 at Shanghai Country Hospital, a masterpiece by Hungarian architect Lazlo Hudec, now Huashan Hospital. Her father, Franco Montanaro, was an Italian Merchant Marine Captain and her mother Lidia Teimoffov, presumably of Jewish Russian origin, although Anna... [Lire la suite]

Version Française As I was having a drink at The Fellas Terrace for my birthday this 20th May, I could enjoy an unusual view which focal point was neither the former British Bund nore Pudong towers but... the Gutzlaff semaphore! The Gutzlaff tower is a not so frequently commented among the riverside landmarks. It actually stands on the former French Bund, once called Quai de France. Build in 1907 in its present shape, this column crowned by a mast provided informations to the ships stationed on the Huangpu... [Lire la suite]