If there's one place in Shanghai I insisted on going with each visit, this is the one.
Steve
I translated the map of Shaoxing Road to English based on the link above:
Right side of the street No. 5 Shanghai News Publishing Company (former Zhu Ji-ling residence, Zhu was a prominent Catholic Shanghai business man ) No. 9 Shanghai Qun Opera Theater Company No. 9 New Quixote Restaurant * Sichuan cuisine No. 23 AdBay Cafe No. 25 Cafe Vienna No. 62 Hai Chen Japanese Tea House No. 62 Shaoxing Park * Shanghai's smallest park No. 74 Shanghai Culture Publishing Company (former Zhang Qun residence, Zhang was mayor of Shanghai in the 20s) No. 90 Tree * a leather goods store
Left side of the street:
No. 18 Jin Gu Cun * apartment complex that used to be a predominantly Russian Jews neighborhood No. 27 Old China Hand Reading Room Cafe (Former residence of Du Yusheng's fourth mistress) * Du is the most infamous gangster in Shanghai during the 30s No. 40-44 Angle Gallery No. 54 Shanghai People's Publishing Company (former residence of Du Yusheng's mother) No. 96 Shanghai's best preserved Shi-ku-men Style House No. 96 Le Petit Cafe
True. One should be on his wits when eating street food in developing countries, although this particular piece of news turned out to be a hoax. Someone with a video camera and an Internet connection
In Shanghai, all versions of street food are also available in snack restaurants. They probably cost 10 times as much, so instead of paying 10 cents for Da Bing, you'd pay a dollar. Worth the peace of mind.
In order to avoid hygiene mishaps with street food, don't hesitate to travel - and cater to those street eateries - using your own pair of chopsticks and your own bowl. Many locals do that.
Buddy your map "annotations" are ace. Du Yuesheng's old home. What a guy. Big Ears. What a life. The Soongs (Meiling, Qingling, etc.) also had a whole bunch of Bavarian style villas in the French quarter. One that was given to Meiling as her dowry for marrying the G-mo is now the conservatory of music.
Great page, Steve, it goes into my archive pronto.
May I make a handful of corrections: - Huangpu river, not Hangpu river. - Du Yuesheng, not Du Yusheng.
And when you mention "Sassoon (of the Peace Hotel fame)", I wonder if it is not useful also to mention the old name Cathay Hotel. -- This may seem nitpicking to readers of this generation, but the Cathay was one of a handful of fabled hotels of the Orient then, like Rangoon's Strand, Penang's E&O, Bangkok's Oriental and of course Hong Kong's Peninsula. Peace Hotel is a relative new and "PC" name used after 1948.
Likewise I hope others and in fact you, Steve, don't think I am nitpicking with the spelling. Spelling of Chinese proper names adheres to strict transciption rules for Chinese characters. For ex, Shanxi and Shaanxi are two distinct provinces. And the difference betwen Du Yuesheng and Du Yusheng would be like saying President Bash instead of Bush. Just an example.
Steve, I can't praise you enough for spending the time and effort in showing the non-touristy part of Shanghai. Lastly, I fervently hope that your report helps convince travellers that independent travel is not only possible but eminently desirable for a country like China.
greetings to all from overcast Shanghai! Landed yesterday afternoon, much the worse for wear after endless flight delays out of Atlanta, barely made my connection in LA to HK, but got there just as boarding was beginning. Cathay Pacific's superb in-flight service and extraordinary food (recently overhauled by renowned chef Annie Leung)went a long way towards soothing my stress; likewise the serene business class lounge in HK where we waited for our S'hai flight. Met at the airport by our guide and a representative for the tour operator my pal's company uses for groups, and had an informative ride to the Pudong Shangri-la. It is a world-class hotel, and at every turn I am noticing new, beautifully subtle design details. Our plan of striking out right away on a visit to the Jade Buddha Temple faded quickly in the face of the irresistible lure of the hotel's Chi Spa. What an oasis of luxurious indulgence!!! I have been in many a fine spa, but this one has leapt directly to the top of the list. A subsequent Trip report will have details, but let me just say that my 2-hour Accupressure-Tuina massage is something I will no doubt dream of in the future.
After a most interesting assortment of breakfast dim sum and congee (I am going native, Steve and Americana), we are off to the Shanghai Museum for the morning. More to come!
Ring (and Risa)
Posts: 286 | Location: Gastonia NC, near Charlotte | Registered: 11 October 2005
MoCA is located next to the Shanghai Museum and is having a special exhibit on Antoni Gaudi right now. The exhibit is a big one, I heard, spanning two floors.
If you are interested in a day trip, one of the water villages, Xitang, is located 70 miles away and an easy 1 1/2 hour drive from Shanghai. Preferable, Xitang should be visited after 4pm on a weekday to avoid the crowd, and be sure to stay after dark to see the night scene with red lanterns lit over the canals.
Ring, Just came home from a 10day foie gras overdose in the Dordogne-Lot. What I wouldn't do for a congee breakfast - or night snack. Sigh o sigh and sigh again.
Congee makes me feel right at home since it reminds me of grits, but from now on I'll be serving that old southern staple with an assortment of toppings. Congee is such good comfort food! we've also eaten sichuan at South Beauty, chinese-malaysian at Kam Pak Kitchen and some fabulous fried river shrimp at Mei Long Zhen. plus some incredibly varied lunches all over Shanghai and in Suzhou.
S'hai itself is a truly amazing city, and a smorgasbord of cutting edge modern architecture. Even though Pudong is a high-tech phenomenen, I have to say it has a great and distinctive energy. But the French Concession area and Gubei neighborhood are truly like another city altogether, and I hope that the tree-lined streets and the quirky little alleys don't entirely disappear in the frenzy to modernize. Bargaining in the markets was so much fun!!! We got right into the high drama of the deal, and scored some good buys.
The Shanghai Museum blew me away....we went through the Bronze, Jade, Ceramic and Sculpture galleries, and the gallery for Ethnic Minority art, but were overwhelmed by that point. The sheer volume of incredible artifacts in each gallery is hard to take in --- you could spend a lifetime studying just a single subject. Looking at a simple flat jade pendant arc that was worn nearly 4000 years ago gave me chills.
Renmin Park was certainly interesting, and I believe we were the only non-Chinese on the MOCA side for a while --- lots of students came up to us and wanted to practice English --- the cross-cultural exchange was a highlight for me.
Our day in Suzhou was rainy and cool, which fortuitously cut down on the crowds and made the Humble Administrator's Garden even more beautifully melancholy and evocative, especially in the "Pavilion for Listening to Rain"... Huge lotus pads glistening with diamond-like raindrops, giant lazy koi gliding through the waters, misty vistas and a distant pagoda precisley framed by perfect landscaping, and a veritable small forest of extraordinary bonsai.
Petted some petal-soft silkworms feasting on mulberry leaves and was completely fascinated by the silk museum; and the silk factory seriously depleted my shopping funds. Cannot wait to curl up under my cloud-soft silk comfortor in its exquisitely embroidered cover!
We are now in HK, and I miss Shanghai already. I will very definitely be back, since the time just seemed to evaporate and we didn't get to see half of what we wanted. Our initial schedule was overly ambitious, and the quality of what we did see merited the ST approach. I now have several contacts in S'hai and a feel for the layout of the city, which will make the next trip a bit easier.
thanks again to all of you who helped me prepare for this incredible trip --- I'll be posting some photos soon! pls excuse all typos, as my sleep patterns are so disrupted that my brain is not functioning at full capacity.
Ring and Risa, live from Hong Kong
Posts: 286 | Location: Gastonia NC, near Charlotte | Registered: 11 October 2005
But the French Concession area and Gubei neighborhood are truly like another city altogether
My old haunts! Oh, Ring, my eyes are watering.
The shopping mecca Gubei Road used to a country road surrounded by farm land and fruit trees leading to the old airport. One of my fondest memories of Shanghai in the 80s.
Slow Travel Talk 
