Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
White Russians
After the Bolsheviks took power in 1917, loyalists of the czar, known as White
Russians to distinguish themselves from the Red Communists, first fought, then,
when defeated, fled into exile. Many came to Shanghai. As stateless peoples without
extra-territorial protection they were subject to Chinese laws, and suffered harsh
Chinese punishments. Some had brought their family jewels and heirlooms, but most
arrived with little.
The girls, ex-ballerinas and oper
a
singers among them, could at least rely on their
feminine charms; many became “taxi girls”, dancing for a small gratuity at night-
clubs, or the mistresses of established Westerners - the divorce rates shot up as a
result, particularly among the British. Other girls (as many as one in four, according
to a League of Nations report), drifted into prostitution.
The lives of the men were even more precarious. Destitution forced many to earn
their living in ways no other foreigner would consider, as rickshaw pullers or beggars.
Ex-soldiers found work as bodyguards for Chinese gangsters. This was all terribly
embarrassing to other foreigners, as it punctured a carefully constructed facade of
superiority, and a scheme was mooted to have them all packed off to Australia,
thought it came to naught.
But the influence of the Russians was by no means all negative; as well as a certain
élan, they brought a wealth of skills. Cultivated sophisticates became teachers,
exposing the children of boorish merchants to cultured pastimes such as fencing and
horse riding, and it was Russian musicians, ballerinas, and singers who more than
anyone created the city's unique cultural scene.
The hotel has recently been modernized, but the VIP Club still retains much of
its 1920s architecture and
Great Gatsby
ambience. Non-guests might be able to
sneak a peek by taking the lift to the top floor of the old wing of the
Jinjiang
,
where the club is located, although gaining entrance to one of the twenty
astonishingly beautiful refurbished Art Deco VIP mansion rooms on the floors
directly below (a snip at US$800 per night) might prove slightly more difficult.
Never mind: visit the excellent and much more affordable
Yin
restaurant instead
(see p.121).
If you keep walking up Maoming Nan Lu you come to the Art Deco
Lyceum Theatre
, built in 1931 and once home to the British Amateur
Dramatic Club. It now holds nightly acrobatic shows (see p.130).
Around Shaanxi Nan Lu
From Maoming Nan Lu, head west along Changle Lu, turn north up Shaanxi
Nan Lu, and you'll see an incongruous Gothic fantasy up ahead - the
Hengshan Moller Villa
. It was built in 1936 by Eric Moller, and - rumour
has it - designed by his twelve-year-old daughter. There's certainly something
appealingly childlike about the tapering spires and striped brickwork. It's like a
castle made of cake - perhaps she should have been allowed a hand in more of
Shanghai's buildings. These days it's a pricey hotel (see p.108) and also home to
the excellent on-site
Bonomi
café (see p.114).
From here, it's a short stroll north over Yan'an Zhong Lu to the sternly
communist Exhibition Hall (see p.82) and the brash commercialism of
Nanjing Xi Lu. Head south and west onto
Julu Lu
for a more relaxed
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