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Chapter 6 - Seeing Shanghai 
Shanghai, with its modern skyscrapers, the highest buildings in the world outside of the Americas, and its straw huts shoulder high.
Modern department stores that pulse with London, Paris, and New York; native emporiums with lacquered ducks and salt eggs, and precious silks and jades, and lingerie and silver, with amazing bursts of advertising colour and more amazing bursts from advertising musicians, compensating with gusto for lack of harmony and rhythm.
Modern motors throbbing with the power of eighty horses march abreast with tattered one-man power rickshaws; velveted limousines with silk-clad Chinese multi-millionaires surrounded by Chinese and Russian bodyguards bristling with automatics for protection against the constant menace of kidnapping (foreigners are not molested); Chinese gentlemen in trousers; Chinese gentlemen in satin skirts.
Shanghai the bizarre, cinematographic presentation of humanity, its vices and virtues; the City of Blazing Night; cabarets; Russian and Chinese and Japanese complaisant "dance hostesses"; city of missions and hospitals and brothels.
Men of title and internationally notorious fugitives tip cocktails in jovial camaraderie; Colonels' Ladies and Judy O'Gradys promenade in peacock alley; social celebrities and convivial cocottes; ladies who work; ladies who shirk: ladies who live to love; ladies who love to live.
Behold! "The longest bar in the world!" The shortest street in the world with a blatant cacophony of carnality from a score of dance-halls; scarlet women laughing without mirth; virgins in search of life; suicides; marriages; births; carols of vested choirs; cathedral chimes; Communists plotting; Nationalism in the saddle; war in Manchuria!; it's a great old town, and how we hate it and love it!
Vital, vibrant, vivacious; strident, turbulent, glowing-Shanghai is the Big Parade of Life of every colour, race, tempo; the bitter end of the long trail for many wastrel souls; the dawn after the dark for others.
Shanghai the incomparable!
So this is Shanghai!
Let's take a look at it!THE BUND
Let's start at The Bund, the muddy tow-path of fifty years ago which has magically become one of the most striking and beautiful civic entrances in the world, faced from the West by an impressive rampart of modern buildings and bounded on the East by the Whangpoo river. It is the natural starting point for our tour of Shanghai, for it is here that a large majority of newcomers to Shanghai first step foot in the city.
The Bund is a development of commercial necessity, not in origin the result of a calculated plan for civic improvement. In the early Land Regulations, it was specified at the instance of Chinese authorities that in the building of the city a wide space should be reserved on the riverfront to preserve the tow-path used by trackers (coolies pulling boats with ropes). Shanghai's beautiful "front door" of today is the result of this precaution.
The handsome boulevard is flanked by a park space which extends to the river-edge with its un-obtrusive landing stages, where tenders bring passengers from great ocean liners, most of which dock elsewhere to the North or South or make fast to anchored river buoys in midstream.
At the northern end of The Bund is the Garden Bridge, spanning Soochow Creek, which separates downtown Shanghai from the Hongkew district. Soochow Creek is colourful, teeming with small Chinese craft skillfully navigated by natives, men, women, and children, most of whom are born, live and die on the water.
The British Consulate. At The Bund approach to the Garden Bridge is the Public Garden, a miniature but beautiful park. The large, imposing building to the left is the British Consulate. Across the bridge, to the right, are the historic Astor House Hotel, and the Russian, German and Japanese Consulates. Much of interest in shopping districts and native life is to be seen in the district north of Garden Bridge.
Retrace The Bund to Nanking Road, flanked by Sassoon House (Cathay Hotel) and the Palace Hotel. Facing the end of Nanking Road from across The Bund is a monument erected to the memory of Sir Harry Parkes, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan, 1865-82, and to China, 1882-5. This monument was erected in 1890 by "the foreign merchants in memory of his great services."
The Custom House. Continue South along The Bund, business blocks to the right, the muddy Whangpoo river to the left with its constantly shifting panorama of busy commerce. Three blocks from Nanking Road is the imposing building of the Chinese Maritime Customs. The original Custom House on the same site was an old Chinese building, formerly a Temple. The new building is one of the finest structures in Shanghai, its lofty clock tower a striking feature of The Bund skyline. The great clock is generally referred to as "Big Ching."
Facing the Custom House is a statue and monument to Sir Robert Hart, an early Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs in Shanghai (1863) and once guardian of the heir-apparent to the throne of China. Also opposite the Custom House, across The Bund, is the Customs' examination shed, flanking the pontoon for ship tenders.
Petting the Lions. Notice the huge lions guarding the entrance to the imposing building of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Their paws have been polished by the caresses of millions of Chinese passers-by, who believe they derive strength from this contact with the kings of beasts. There is also a belief (unverified) among the Chinese that gold was accidentally used in the casting of the figures.
Proceed South along The Bund another block and you reach the stately canopied entrance of the Shanghai Club (British but accepting other nationals as members), widely renowned as possessing the "longest bar in the world," a distinction which has been challenged since the abolition of prohibition in the United States.
The adjoining road intersection some fifty yards farther on is the beginning of Avenue Edward VII, the boundary between the International Settlement and the French Concession and the principal traffic channel to the latter district. Facing Avenue Edward VII, on The Bund, is the Allied War Memorial erected in honour of foreign Shanghailanders who were killed in active service in the World War.
Across Avenue Edward VII is an extension of The Bund, the French Bund (Quai de France), a very active shipping and commercial centre. Here, a few steps inland from the river, is the ancient native Chinese city. More about it later.CENTRAL DISTRICT
Foochow Road. Retracing the way North along The Bund of the International Settlement one comes to Foochow Road, flanking the South side of the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, and well worth a brief tour. Foochow Road, to the West, just before it terminates at Thibet Road (the Race Course), is famous as a centre of entertainment for Chinese.
Two blocks from The Bund on Foochow Road brings one to the Metropole Hotel and Hamilton House, at the Kiangse Road intersection, and in the next block, on to Honan Road, are located the new Central Police Station and the American Club, to the left, and, on the right, occupying the full block, the administration building of the Shanghai Municipal Council, housing the headquarters of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps as well as most of the chief departments of the city government.
Proceeding beyond Honan Road, still going West, one enters the very picturesque Chinese section with its gaily decorated, bannerdressed tea houses, restaurants and hotels. Several leading, Chinese theatres are in the neighbourhood. Thibet Road, to the left and right. at the termination of Foochow Road, with its group of large Chinese hotels facing the Race Course, is also worth inspection.
Nanking and Bubbling Well Roads. Nanking Road, the principal retail business street of Shanghai, extends West from The Build at Sassoon House (Cathay Hotel) and the Palace Hotel to the Race Ground and Public Recreation Ground (a magnificent public park) near the Thibet Road intersection, where Nanking Road magically and without warning becomes Bubbling Well Road, designated by an eminent American author as one of "the seven most interesting streets in the world."
Lower Nanking Road, from The Bund westward, is largely devoted to hotels, department stores, and speciality shops, practically all of them foreign-owned. Almost anything one cares to purchase in the way of foreign goods may be found in the first three blocks of Nanking Road.
Museum. Visitors interested in the flora and fauna, sticks, stones and skeletons of China should pay a visit to the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society, 20 Museum Road. It is situated two blocks from The Bund, along Peking Road. There are prehistoric relics of great interest and noteworthy collections of gems, coins etc. Displays are marked with dates and Dynasties. Catalogues are on hand with complete information.
Trinity Cathedral. One block South (to the left) of Nanking Road on Kiangse Road is the Trinity Cathedral, an historic landmark, where the first Episcopal Church in Shanghai was erected in 1847. Work on the present striking edifice was, begun in 1866. Westminister chimes sound from its tower.
Continuing up Nanking Road from Kiangse Road one begins to encounter with increasing frequency the colourful Chinese shops, with their fascinating displays of silks, embroideries, linens, jewellery and other wares of Chinese manufacture, and beyond Honan Road come the large Chinese shops. These are usually vividly painted and display fluttering pennants, advertising sales and wares in large red Chinese characters. The thin wailing of Chinese music tinkles from the upper floors of these shops and everywhere is the busy clatter of Chinese commercial life. At night this section of Nanking Read is a glittering fairyland with the brilliant display of multi-coloured lights which all Chinese adore and which illuminate the lofty towers of the three largest department stores in China.
Buddhist Temple. Between Shanse Road and Fokien Road is a Buddhist Temple, Hung Miao, one of the most popular Chinese temples in Shanghai, daily visited by hundreds. Here are shrines to Midoo and Waydoo. The chief idol, however, is that of Kwan-yin, Goddess of Mercy. To the right of the entrance passage is an enclosure with images on three sides, seventeen in the centre and twenty-three on each side. This is one of the temples in Shanghai which should be seen.
Bubbling Well Road begins at the Thibet Road intersection. It is here flanked on the left by the Race Course and Public Recreation Ground, and on the right by a number of impressive buildings, including the China United Assurance Society, which also houses a large apartment-hotel; the lofty Foreign Y.M.C.A., and the towering 22-storey building of the Joint Savings Society, containing the Park Hotel, the tallest building in the world outside of the Americas.
Up till 1862 the Settlement boundary terminated at the Race Course and the "Shanghai Riding Course" occupied the ground at the western termination of the present Nanking Road. In that year so many Chinese fled into the Settlement from the Taiping rebels that the trustees of the Shanghai Riding Course decided to construct a road 40-feet wide through the centre of the Course. This was originally intended to be a driving road only. It was completed in Octoter, 1863, two miles to the Well. Only subscribers to the Riding Course were permitted to drive on it free and gates were erected to exclude non-subscribers.
The present race course, officially named the "Recreation Ground," is controlled by the Shanghai Race Club and the Recreation Fund Trustees. There is a swimming pool, cricket grounds, golf club, baseball field, tennis courts, rugby and football grounds, and the race track.
Proceeding, beyond Chengtu Road are located the Italian Consulate, the American Women's Club, and the Country Club, to the left, and a short distance farther, to the right, the International Recreation Club.
Intersecting a little further up Bubbling Well Road is Yates Road, otherwise known as "Petticoat Lane." Every feminine visitor to Shanghai is particularly interested in Yates Road as it is lined with shop after shop devoted to the making and displaying of silk "undies" and things of the sort.
In its further extension to the West, Bubbling Well Road is largely a residential area. This district, however, is rapidly changing in character and during recent years the section between Carter Road and Avenue Haig has expanded into an important shopping centre.
"Bubbling Well." Bubbling Well Road derives its name from the famous well situated at the Avenue Haig intersection, opposite the cemetery. The Well dates back to the third century. Many fanciful legends have been woven into its history. Its action is due to the eruption of carbonic acid gas. The Bubbling Well cemetery, opposite the Well, should be visited.
Bubbling Well Temple. To the right of the Bubbling Well itself is the famous Ching An Ssu Temple, dating back to 250 A.D. On entering, three gods, the rulers, of Heaven, Earth, and Water, may be seen. Through the door to the left is a portly Buddha. A door to the right leads to the court of the main Temple building. Buddha sits in the centre shrine on a square lotus, below him a smaller image. Grouped around the walls are life-sized intimates of Buddha in gilded wood. They are Pah-ha, with a globe in his hand; Quah Tan, with a staff; two nameless ones sitting with Koe Yun the armless; Li Kon-lan wears top boots, probably out of deference to the tiger at his feet; Long Ho bravely holds a lion in his hands; Loo Hon does nothing in particular. This Temple is well worth seeing.
Every year in the Spring a Bamboo Fair is held near !his Temple. Originally the displays were articles fashioned from bamboo, but now almost any household commodity from tea pots of earthenware to dish pans of tin may be purchased at this "country fair" for amazingly low prices.HONGKEW DISTRICT
Hongkew roughly comprises that part of the International Settlement situated north of the Soochow Creek and is best reached via the Garden Bridge or one of the bridges over the creek at Honan and Szechuen roads. As mentioned elsewhere, this quarter of the city was formerly known as the "American Settlement." In Chinese "Hongkew" means "Mouth of the Rainbow," and is derived from the fact that the shape of the boundary on the creek side resembles the arch of a rainbow.
Bordering the creek between North Szechuen Road and Broadway are a number of imposing buildings, among them being the Head Post Office, the General Hospital, a very fine institution conducted by I'Institute des Soeures Franciscaines, the Embankment Building (an apartment house), and a magnificent structure now nearing completion to he known as "Broadway Mansions."
The Temple of the Queen of Heaven. Visitors should make a point of seeing the Temple of the Queen of Heaven, situated on North Honan Road, a few yards from the bridge. This is one of the most frequented temples in Shanghai and during festival occasions caters for enormous crowds of worshippers. In the inner court are found kiosks containing images of the gods Liu Tsiang Ching, who is credited with the ability to see anything within a distance of 333 miles of Shanghai, and Ching Tsiang Ching, who it is believed hears everything there is to hear within the same distance!
Shanse Bankers' Guild. Along the same road, at the Boone Road intersection, will be found the Shanse Bankers' Guild, one of the most handsome structures of the kind in Shanghai. It was erected in 1892. It is an excellent example of Chinese architecture at its best. The interior decorations are extremely elaborate. Special note should be made of the carved woodwork. The guild houses a theatre with a curiously shaped dome in which it is possible to see oneself upside-down!
Hongkew Market. A very early morning visit to this large market is recommended. It is located at the corner of Boone and Woosung Roads. Here can be seen hundreds of fishermen, farmers and butchers bringing in produce to be sold a few hours later. If it is difficult to arise at the crack of dawn it is recommended that a stop at Hongkew Market on the way to bed after a Shanghai night out is both unique and interesting. You may also purchase a live duck or lobster to take home for your "morning after" breakfast. Fruit and vegetables lie in miniature mountains to be distributed among the stalls and in huge tubs thousands of "walkee-walkee" fish (alive) gaze with indifferent eyes at the descending cleaver.
Japanese Colony. The Japanese colony makes its home in the area contiguous to the Hongkew market and the numerous Nipponese stores, hotels and restaurants in the neighbourhood, particularly those on Woosung and Boone Roads, have a decidedly native flair.YANGTSZEPOO DISTRICT
The Yangtszepoo district abuts the riverfront in the Eastern part of the city and extends from Broadway along Yangtszepoo Road to the Settlement boundary at the Point. This is the most important industrial section of Shanghai. In addition to many of the principal wharves, silk and cotton mills, engineering works and warehouses, here are located the main plants of the Shanghai Power Co., one of the largest electrical undertakings in the world, the Shanghai Waterworks Co., and the Shanghai Gas Co.THE FRENCH CONCESSION
The French Concession, like the International Settlement, abuts on the Whangpoo River which is its eastern boundary, and at the riverfront a traffic "bottle neck" is formed by the compression of the Concession between Avenue Edward VII to the North and the ancient native Chinese city to the South. As it rolls back from the river there is a lateral expansion of area. The map in this volume graphically indicates the boundaries of the French Concession, as well as other political subdivisions.
The North side of Avenue Edward VII lies within the International Settlement, and the southern half is incorporated in the French Concession. Thus, "believe it or not," West-bound traffic on the Avenue, one of the important streets of Shanghai, is subject to French regulation while East-bound traffic is controlled by International Settlement police, the "drive to the left" rule being universal in Shanghai. The two police authorities on this Avenue, however, work in perfect harmony.
Weather Signals. On the French Bund (Quai de France) a step South of Avenue Edward VII, is the signal tower from which are displayed the weather forecasts for the China coast as they are signalled from the world-famous Siccawei Observatory, conducted by scientists of the French Jesuits.
South on the French Bund from Avenue Edward VII, the next street is Rue du Consulat, named for the French Consulate-General, located at its intersection with the French Bund.
Rue du Consulat is well worth visiting, being lined with typical Chinese shops for several blocks. A short swing to the left then brings one from Rue du ConsuIat into Avenue Joffre, the principal business street of the French Concession. Here Russian merchants predominate and the Chinese advertising pennants of Rue du Consulat yield to neat Russian characters, advertising a wide variety of wares.
Russian Colony. The Avenue Joffre section is colloquially known as "Little Russia" for it is here that the thousands of Russians who have settled in Shanghai centre their commercial and domestic lives. There is tragic romance in the story of the Russians' peaceful invasion of Shanghai. Up to 1918 there were few Russians in Shanghai. The Russian Revolution and its political and economic results put thousands of "White Russians" to flight to the South. The Russian population of Shanghai is now approximately 25,000. Most of them arrived in a condition of utmost destitution after battling and starving their way out of Russia and Siberia. Most of them had a desperate fight for preservation; many perished. The Russian colony in Shanghai is now, generally speaking, soundly established although there is much poverty among them. They are, on the whole, law-abiding and worthy residents.
One interesting outgrowth of their struggle for existence in a strange land is the fact that Russian girls, many of them extremely beautiful, have almost monopolized the "dancing hostess" profession in the cabarets which have added much to the colour of Shanghai's fantastic night life.
Residential District. West from the Avenue du Roi Albert intersection with Avenue Joffre there are many beautiful homes and gardens. This section of Avenue Joffre is almost exclusively residential. Many wealthy Russians, Chinese, French, Germans, Americans and British have built mansions in this district.
The bi-settlement Avenue Edward VII extends westward from the Bund to Avenue Foch. It is almost entirely devoted to business, both foreign and Chinese.
Generally speaking, the major business and financial activities of Shanghai are centered in the International Settlement, while the French Concession, outside of its sectional retail business districts, such as those on Avenue Joffre, is largely residential in character. 
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