Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2017 | Page 27

The Fascinating and Horrible Old Shanghai
St. Paul's Co-educational College Primary School, Cheung, Joshua - 10
I
n the 1930s, Old Shanghai, also called the “Paris of the Orient,” was a bustling treaty port. It was the only
city in China where Chinese and foreigners could mix together, where black pepper steak and white rice came
together as good friends. Shanghai was a fascinating city of firsts: the biggest businesses, the greatest architecture, and the
largest settlement of Jews outside Europe. Unlike the rest of China, Shanghainese girls wore flattering qi paos and short
wavy hair while gentlemen sliced off their pigtails and strut around like penguins.
But history is not always fascinating, it can be horrible. To get a fair and honest picture of the past, you need to
know the good and the bad things, the legends, the lies and the truth. Here’s a brief walking tour around Old Shanghai.
Fascinating Shanghai
Since 1848, Shanghai has welcomed tens of thousands of Jewish merchants in search of new opportunities, and
scientists, musicians and refugees escaping persecution. Requiring no visa, the Jews came in three waves of
immigration.
1.
The Sassoons – Rothschilds of the East
The First Wave (1843-1920). The Sassoons were traders from Baghdad who expanded to Bombay, China
and throughout Southeast Asia. They started selling raw cotton and textiles, but became filthy rich by trading
opium and oil between India and China.
In the 1930s in the later waves, being worried about persecution and looking for a place to park his cash
(without paying taxes), Sir Victor Sassoon moved to Shanghai and invested US$85 million to build Shanghai’s most
luxurious hotels and residences. Still standing today, these landmarks include the Peace Hotel, the Metropole
Hotel and Cathay Mansions. The Sassoons have forged a global business empire that has outlived Chairman Mao
or any English monarch.
2.
The Hardoons – Made in Shanghai
Silas Aaron Hardoon was ‘Oliver Twist’ from Baghdad. He was sent to Sassoon’s charity school in Bombay.
With little cash and bulging brains, he worked for Sassoon & Co in Shanghai, sold opium to raise cash, built dozens
of lane houses along Nanking Road (now Shanghai’s “Fifth Avenue”) and became Shanghai’s biggest meanest
landlord. He married a Eurasian lady, adopted many Chinese children, built a Buddhist temple for his wife and
the Beth Aharon Synagogue for the Jewish community.
3.
The Leftovers – No Visa Required
The Second and Third Wave (1920-1937). In the 1920s, thousands of brilliant Russian scientists, thinkers
and artists fled revolutions by traveling across Siberia to Shanghai. As poor cousins of the Sassoons, they opened
coffee shops and became musicians.
From 1937 to 1940, over 22,000 Jews from Germany, Austria and Poland poured into Shanghai to flee
war-torn Europe and the Nazis. Between 1941 and 1945, Japanese authorities squeezed all of them into the
Hong Kew Ghetto, where 23,000 Jews lived within one square mile. The Jewish community not only survived,
but has retained its own culture, traditions and lifestyle.
We also have …
Horrible Shanghai
4.
“Shanghaiing” – A New Verb
Early last century, kidnapping was so common in Shanghai that the very act was called “shanghaiing.”
Established in 1912, Shanghai’s Anti-Kidnapping Society set out to rescue women and children who were captured
and sold to wealthy individuals in the south as sex slaves and doomed domestic servants. Shanghai’s super heroes
managed to save 10,233 victims from 1913 to 1917.
5.
The Three Bosses – ‘Pockmarked’ Huang, ‘Big Ears’ Du & Zhang Xiaolin
Du Yuesheng, called “Big Ears,” was the boss of the Green Gang who made masses of money selling opium. He
also bribed cops, bought houses of ill repute, politicians in the French Concession and almost one third of Shanghai.