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  • Welcome to Shanghai Sojourns
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Chinese courtesans playing mahjong (Source: VirtualShanghai.net)

Chinese courtesans playing mahjong (Source: VirtualShanghai.net)

Night Sounds in Shanghai: From Sing-Song Girls to Coolies on the Bund (1921)

July 27, 2018

I discovered this article while researching the history of Shanghai nightlife at Columbia University in the 1990s. It gives the reader of the age an evocative if somewhat orientalist account of Chinese life in the city in the early 1920s, before the jazz age hit the Chinese population of the city like a firestorm. The author's recounting of the Sing-Song girls in the Chinese teahouse is hilarious and also revealing of the attitudes of many westerners towards Chinese culture and music during that age--a combination of curiosity and disdain. The author has the Chinese girls speaking "pidgin" English, which was quite common in westerners' depictions of Chinese speaking English during that period. If you can get past the orientalist overtones, you might find that this is a very valuable account from westerner's eyes and ears of what it must have been like to stumble into a Chinese teahouse and be served by the young Sing-Song girls. The section on coolies is similar and it's hard to say whether the author is being serious or tongue-in-cheek in his lavish descriptions of what the coolies were saying.

Night Sounds in Shanghai

By James W. Bennett

(Sunset Vol 45 Nov. 1921)

It was the second evening of the Chinese New year festival. The streets of Shanghai were deserted. China had ceased functioning as an ordinary, work-a-day country and was taking the entire week for merry-making.  

I walked down the silent, echoing lanes, ordinarily so filled with the polyglot throng of China's great Clearing House and was conscious of a feeling of loneliness.  I missed the accustomed cries of the burden carriers, the calls of the vendors, the shouts of the hucksters.

As my walk took me away from the homes of the International Settlement further into the native Chinese city, I began to note subtle breakings of the silence.  From within each dark boarded-up house I thought I detected the faintest strains of' music. At first I could not be sure that I had heard aright, so I stopped. Then, as I shamelessly listened at the entrance of one of the houses, I recognized the unmistakable notes of Chinese fiddles, flutes and tom-toms, notes that seemed to drift leisurely out to the street.

Chinese music heard broadside from a distance of fifteen feet is a barbaric diapason of discord, a medley of blues. an earsplitting dissonance. But the same music. coming from a radius of a hundred feet, filtered through several doors, undergoes a change. When it reaches the street, purified of its tympanum-jarring blare, it becomes almost a thing of rare melody.

As my walk progressed, the evening darkened into night, and the festivities behind the boarded-up doors appeared to grow more hilarious. In passing one particular darkened house, I detected the high-pitched shouting which denoted the progress of the Chinese drinking game of "Numbers." This game is a guessing contest played by two persons and in which each player holds up simultaneously one to five fingers and instantly guesses the number of fingers elevated by both. They play very rapidly, and, as the game proceeds, the pIayers unconsciously shout their numbers at the top of their lungs. The Chinese are keen students of gambling psychology and are very clever at guessing the play of their opponents. Strange to say, the loser must pay the penalty of drinking all the wine in his cup, while the winner is absolved from imbibing that round. The Chinaman can never understand the evident willingness of Occidental players to lose, for he himself desires to remain sober at the game and at the banquet as long as possible; he has an abhorrence of quick alcoholic oblivion.

As my time still lacked an hour of an eight-thirty dinner appointment, I decided to while away a portion of it by entering a tea-house. I climbed the stairs and, as I reached the top, the reek of hundreds of perspiring people seemed to strike me full in the face. The room was enormous yet crowded almost to overflowing.

A waiter found me a table on which was cluttered the cold remains of a dish of shark's fins, looking nauseatingly glutinous, a half-filled bowl of equally cold rice and an empty tea-cup.

"I wantchee tea," I told him crossly.

"No sabe." he countered. "

I pointed to the tea-cup and nodded a vigorous affirmative. I then indicated the shark's fins and the rice and shook my head in violent negation. He grinned delightedly. He then began to talk in rapid Chinese and ended his sentence with a jovial wink. I presumed that he was descanting on the brand of tea to be brought to me, so I nodded a "Yes," and he disappeared on a dead run.

In five minutes I learned the reason for that wink, for three girls, dressed in gorgeous silks, appeared at my table. They knelt down on cushions at my feet. Their ages appeared to be about thirteen years, but they were painted and calcimined within an inch of their lives. They were Chinese "Sing-song Girls," the cabaret singers of the Celestial Empire, the geishas of China.

"No wantchee," I said.

In a flash one girl jumped up and frowned at me. "I spiggoty Eeng-leesh veree goodee. You right now tellee Bossman you wantchee me come singee one song. Hell-dam', here I am. I veree goodee singee."

"All right, infant," I capitulated weakly, "trot out your grand opera," and she, sensing my consent, if not understanding my words, motioned to her orchestra.

Now, a Sing-song girl's orchestra consists of one player, and each girl has her own accompanist. The "orchestra" of my linguistic singer was a wrinkled octogenarian with rheumy almost sightless eyes who performed upon the squawkiest Chinese fiddle I had ever heard. He played four notes and then the girl began to sing. Her voice was stupendous in volume; it was shrill as the grating of a hundred files; it was as tuneless as the first notes of a rooster, heard by an insomnia-ridden man. How can I describe that song?  Imagine a man yodeling a cracked falsetto at the top of his voice and religiously attempting to sing two out of every three notes a half beat out of time and two degrees out of harmony, then permit him to be assisted by vicious interruptions from a pocket edition of a horse-fiddle and you have the tout ensembleof a Chinese cabaret song.

A factor which adds a fantastic quality to such songs is that the words are alwavs poetic.  Translated, they probably would read

The wind softly caresses

The snow-driven white breast

Of the mountain.

Winter birds huddle

In the green branches

Of the fir trees.

I am lonely with a loneliness deep,

And my soul is troubled,

I am lonely for my home;

My heart grieves;

The gentle sighing of the night wind

Whispers of home.

The other two children sang their songs with equally enthusiastic furor. I have been many times told that the Sing-song girls are not children. It has been patiently explained to me that they are never younger than fifteen years of age, and more often their ages average from twenty to twenty-five years. But they are all so tiny; their hair dressed with the long bangs that proclaims the unmarried woman, their flowered jackets and absurdly high-water trousers--all makes them seem like little children, costumed and be-painted for some amateur festival.

After they had finished their song they bowed low to me, and the girl who first sang asked if I would do her the honorable favor of presenting her with my pocket handkerchief and three of my calling cards. I did so.

She thanked me very prettily, and then, with all the importance of a conjuror doing a famous trick, she scrutinized my visiting card and said:

"Now, I weel read your mas' honorable dam' name. It ees-'Jambs Ben-eeet'."

Whereupon, with a delightedly triumphant smile, she tucked my pocket-handkerchief in her jacket, apparently as a memento of the occasion. The two other girls crowded about her, and she distributed the two remaining visiting cards. This ceremony completed she led her troupe of co-stars away.

Leaving the tea-house, I began to retrace my steps back from the native city to my rooms at the Consulate and soon reached the French Bund. Here, I found they were busily loading coastwise and river steamers; for the poor stevedore coolies are never given a holiday even at New Year time.

The confusion along the Bund seemed tremendous, coming upon it, as I did, from the quiet streets of the native city.  The ant-like running to and fro of the burden-bearers under the flares of rush lights, their singing and shouting, made it all seem indeed like the city of Hurly-Burly itself.

I have heard the negroes singing on the levees at New Orleans; I have listened to the Polynesians crooning as they loaded copra at Papeete or Pago-Pago; I have accustomed my ear to the shouting of the blacks engaged in similar work at Thursday Islands, but all those sounds fade into an orderly silence in comparison with the noises heard along the Bund.

Like the inward urge of the hound to bay at the moon, it seems that the coolie must sing at his work. It is traditional, persisting tenaciously through countless generations. Each workman is apparently required to utter a definite cry, denoting to what craft of carriers he belongs. Then he must amend that cry for every variation in the load he carries. If he is of the craft of stone carriers, his call will signify the fact, but, if he carries marble on one trip and limestone his next, he must give a different call for each load. These variations are difficult for an untrained ear to detect. After listening to many calls I was able to note a differentiation somewhat as follows:

"Heh"hoh! Heh-hoh!" and "Hehheh-hoh! Heh-heh-hoh!"

The translation of a few of the calls show them to be abrupt, as: "Look out, you! Look out!" The great per cent of them, however, when translated, will read something like this:

"Make way, honorable gentleman, a poor unworthy coolie now passes you, bearing a dirty load of goods, and he fears that you will soil your wondrous silk vestments!”

I remember once inadvertentlv blocking the passage of two coolies bearing a sedan chair. It was a murky night in Suchow and the unlighted excuse for a street was only wide enough for my donkey to pass the chair by dint of considerable manipulation. As I showed no haste to open the passage, the coolies suddenly grew very wroth and began to shout a phrase at me, glowering the while. Being in a teasing mood, I obdurately held my ground. They raised the pitch of their voices and began to shake their fists at me, still repeating the phrase.

I turned to my companion, also perched on a donkey behind me, and remarked that I thought the coolies were swearing at me, or, at least, they were calling me one of their favorite expressions-"Foreign Devil!" My friend knew Chinese; he grinned and gave me the translation of their vicious-sounding phrase:

"Will the highly exalted gentlemen deign to step aside for the smallest fraction of a moment and permit the poorest and most humble of persons to pass with their esteemed Lord's magnificent chair?"

I had delayed too much time on the Bund to permit of my walking home, so I signaled to a ricksha. That night was fated to be a night of noises, for my ricksha boy, while we were returning to the Consulate, broke into song. Only once since has it been my misfortune to hear a ricksha boy sing, for they are one of the few silent classes of coolies. This outburst, I soon discovered, was caused by too frequent imbibition of hot Chinese wine. He swung an erratic course up the street, narrowly escaping collisions but singing gleefully the while.

At last, his fare, fearing for the fate of his "most honorable neck," poked the coolie briskly in the ribs with a walking stick. This acted as a temporary soberer, the song ceased, and I was glad to note that my progress was considerably improved.

Late that night, as I turned in, I could still hear from my windows the singing of the coolies loading steamers for Seattle at the Japanese dock, less than a block away.

Again, as was the case of the New Year revelers, the singing came from a distance; it was muffled bv the closed windows and the discords seemed to have been filtered away.

As I listened to the coolie cries I wondered idly of what were those yellow men thinking. Was it of the buying of a wife from Ningpo, the ultimate fate of a father's soul, the tale of a fellow coolie about the great white fox spirit, or, more probably, was it of the heaping bowls of rice, garnished with bits of stewed meat that they would consume in the morning?

I would never know the answer. Instead, I heard only the echoing calls, sounding bell-like in the frosty air, repeating phrases centuries old, phrases requesting that:

".... The most highly respected Sir should avoid danger to himself by removing his corporeal body from the path of the poor unworthy person bearing this precious load of salt!"

 

← Nude Shows Springing up in Shanghai Badlands District (1939)Musical Awakening: The Rise of Oriental Bands and Chinese Singers in Wartime Shanghai (1943) →
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    • Jan 7, 2018 Catching Up with the Rock and Jazz Scenes in Shanghai: WHAI at Yuyintang and the JZ Big Band Jan 7, 2018
    • Jan 1, 2018 新年快乐, 上海!Welcoming 2018 in Shanghai with a Walk On the Sunny Side of the Street Jan 1, 2018
  • December 2017
    • Dec 30, 2017 The Cafe to End All Cafes: The New Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Shanghai Dec 30, 2017
    • Dec 28, 2017 So Long, Old West Gate! The Demise of an Old Shanghai Neighborhood Dec 28, 2017
    • Dec 27, 2017 Six Important Points About China Worth Remembering * Dec 27, 2017
    • Dec 27, 2017 Oh, That Magic Kingdom in the Middle Kingdom! Some Comparisons Between Shanghai Disneyland and LA Disneyland Dec 27, 2017
    • Dec 22, 2017 One Last Night Tour of the Bund (for now) and Saying Farewell to Astor House Dec 22, 2017
    • Dec 14, 2017 The Uncertain Future of the Astor House Hotel: A Historical Landmark Hotel in Shanghai Dec 14, 2017
    • Dec 8, 2017 Jazzing the Bund: Joshua Redman and the Aaron Goldberg Trio at Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai Dec 8, 2017
  • November 2017
    • Nov 16, 2017 Morphology, Longevity, Incept Dates: Random Musings, Memories, and Reflections Inspired by Blade Runner and the Sequel, Blade Runner 2049 Nov 16, 2017
    • Nov 2, 2017 Keeping your EARCOS to the Ground: Notes and Reflections on the 49th EARCOS Leadership Conference in Bangkok Nov 2, 2017
  • October 2017
    • Oct 22, 2017 Ten Reasons Why Cities are Grand (Especially Shanghai) Oct 22, 2017
    • Oct 15, 2017 逆流上水 Paddling Against the Current: On Rethinking Asian Language and Culture Studies and on Re-Orienting the Study Abroad Experience Oct 15, 2017
    • Oct 13, 2017 Bustin’ Beijing: Subways, Schwarzman Scholars, and a Whole Lotta Breakdown in Sanlitun Oct 13, 2017
    • Oct 3, 2017 Still Taiwan After All These Years Oct 3, 2017
  • September 2017
    • Sep 17, 2017 Bombay or Bust: My First Journey to India, and the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship Sep 17, 2017
    • Sep 16, 2017 Bangkok Redux: Exploring the Golden City Sep 16, 2017
    • Sep 15, 2017 Ancient City of Infinite Charms: Hanoi, Vietnam Sep 15, 2017
    • Sep 5, 2017 Why Asia Needs More Liberal Arts (and Sciences) Sep 5, 2017
    • Sep 3, 2017 Night Train to Singapore Sep 3, 2017
  • July 2017
    • Jul 28, 2017 Quick Asian Impressions from a Whirlwind Recruiting Tour (Part 1 of 2) Jul 28, 2017
    • Jul 27, 2017 My Chinese Alter Ego, or What's In a Name? Jul 27, 2017
    • Jul 22, 2017 I'm a zhongguo tong, dammit (and proud of it!) Jul 22, 2017
    • Jul 10, 2017 On the Value of Liberal Arts Education Part 2: Classical vs. Jazz Jul 10, 2017
  • June 2017
    • Jun 25, 2017 On the value of a liberal arts education, or how I went from a math and science nerd to a China/Asian studies nerd Jun 25, 2017
  • May 2017
    • May 19, 2017 Jazz Bandleader Whitey Smith, “The Man Who Taught China to Dance” in Shanghai, 1920s-1930s May 19, 2017
    • May 7, 2017 Rocking Kunshan: A Night with The Eagle Bar Band May 7, 2017
  • April 2017
    • Apr 25, 2017 昆山的酒吧 The Bars and Clubs of Kunshan (Part One) Apr 25, 2017
    • Apr 20, 2017 Getting Green Again: Remembering our Class of 1991 25th Reunion at Dartmouth College Apr 20, 2017
    • Apr 16, 2017 Gathering the Worthies: The Association of Asian Studies (AAS) Conference in Toronto, March 2017 Apr 16, 2017
  • February 2017
    • Feb 19, 2017 Spring 2017 GLS Orientation and Faculty Tour of Shanghai Feb 19, 2017
    • Feb 4, 2017 Vinyl School Years: Musical Memories from the 1980s and my Top 20 Albums (Part 2) Feb 4, 2017
  • January 2017
    • Jan 30, 2017 Vinyl School Years: My Favorite Albums from the 1980s (Part 1) Jan 30, 2017
    • Jan 17, 2017 The Year 2016 in 10 Favorite Books Jan 17, 2017
  • May 2016
    • May 24, 2016 Remembering James Freedman, President of Dartmouth College May 24, 2016
  • April 2016
    • Apr 17, 2016 An educational weekend in Shanghai with SAS Alumni and Duke Kunshan GLS faculty Apr 17, 2016
  • February 2016
    • Feb 21, 2016 Music and Memory: Remembering the Dartmouth College Chamber Singers Feb 21, 2016
  • January 2016
    • Jan 2, 2016 Live from Tokyo, its...A podcast interview on Shanghai Nightscapes with "New Books in East Asian Studies" presenter Carla Nappi Jan 2, 2016
  • November 2015
    • Nov 7, 2015 More talks for Shanghai Nightscapes Nov 7, 2015
  • September 2015
    • Sep 1, 2015 Shanghai Nightscapes book talk for Royal Asiatic Society, Sept 12 Sep 1, 2015
  • August 2015
    • Aug 3, 2015 Shanghai Nightscapes Goes Live Aug 3, 2015
  • July 2015
    • Jul 7, 2015 That's a Fine Cuppa Cha: Another Rave Review of Mu Shiying Jul 7, 2015
    • Jul 4, 2015 What Makes a City Habitable? Workshopping with Toby Lincoln and SASS, and a Night of Cow's Heads and Craft Brews Jul 4, 2015
  • June 2015
    • Jun 18, 2015 Catching Coco and the Possicobilities at JZ Club Jun 18, 2015
    • Jun 6, 2015 Project Dementia Revisited: Getting Reacquainted with the Beijing Rock Scene Jun 6, 2015
  • December 2014
    • Dec 24, 2014 Walter Benjamin: A Critical Life Dec 24, 2014
    • Dec 24, 2014 A Great List of Books and Films on Old Shanghai Dec 24, 2014
  • November 2014
    • Nov 21, 2014 "The Beautiful and Damned:" Including a Review of Mu Shiying: China's Lost Modernist Nov 21, 2014
    • Nov 10, 2014 Shanghai Art Deco Weekend: A Talk on the Paramount Ballroom of the 1930s Nov 10, 2014
  • August 2014
    • Aug 28, 2014 Another review of Mu Shiying Aug 28, 2014
    • Aug 20, 2014 The recordings of Whitey Smith, the Jazz-Man who Taught China to Dance Aug 20, 2014
  • May 2014
    • May 26, 2014 A review of Mu Shiying: China's Lost Modernist in Asian Review of Books May 26, 2014
  • April 2014
    • Apr 19, 2014 Announcing our New Book: Shanghai Nightscapes (to be published within the next year or so) Apr 19, 2014
    • Apr 18, 2014 Book Talk at Italian Chamber of Commerce in China Apr 18, 2014
  • March 2014
    • Mar 24, 2014 Mu Shiying Book Talk at Wooden Box, Shanghai April 3 Mar 24, 2014
    • Mar 24, 2014 Film Screening of "Down" for RAS Shanghai, Wed Mar 26, 7 pm Mar 24, 2014
    • Mar 24, 2014 Mu Shiying Book Talk at FCC HK Mar 24, 2014
    • Mar 16, 2014 A Whirlwind of Talks and Tours in March 2014 Mar 16, 2014
    • Mar 16, 2014 City of Darkness Revisited, by Greg Girard and Ian Lambot Mar 16, 2014
    • Mar 7, 2014 The 2014 Shanghai Literary Festival Begins Mar 7, 2014
    • Mar 6, 2014 Local media support for my new book on Mu Shiying Mar 6, 2014
    • Mar 6, 2014 Mu Shiying: China's Lost Modernist now available on Amazon Mar 6, 2014
    • Mar 4, 2014 My New Book has Arrived! Mar 4, 2014
    • Mar 4, 2014 A Review of our Film, Down: Indie Rock in the PRC Mar 4, 2014
  • February 2014
    • Feb 20, 2014 The Poseidon Project: A Review of a Locally Produced Indie Doc Feb 20, 2014
    • Feb 11, 2014 Some podcasts on my rotation list Feb 11, 2014
    • Feb 5, 2014 Two new BBC radio shows: on Chinese Pop Music and Shanghai History Feb 5, 2014
  • November 2011
    • Nov 27, 2011 子曰--王燮达个人作品展 Sages' Sayings: Wang Xieda Solo Exhibition @ James Cohan Gallery Nov 27, 2011
    • Nov 16, 2011 The Poetry of Chen Gongbo, and the Perils of Translation Nov 16, 2011
    • Nov 16, 2011 Video Art in China @ The Minsheng Art Museum Nov 16, 2011
  • September 2011
    • Sep 29, 2011 Congratulations to Peter Hessler, on Being Awarded a MacArthur Fellow Sep 29, 2011
    • Sep 27, 2011 Some Random Notes on Filmmaking, Art, Music, and Identity Sep 27, 2011
    • Sep 17, 2011 Excavating China's Collective Unconscious: Some Good Contemporary Chinese Art Shows at Shanghai's Moganshan Art District Sep 17, 2011
    • Sep 12, 2011 Old Shanghai Revisited: Touring the Bund and the Shanghai History Museum with my NYU Shanghai History Class Sep 12, 2011
    • Sep 4, 2011 Jazzing Chinese Folk: The Solitary Bird CD Release Party @ TwoCities Gallery Sep 4, 2011
  • August 2011
    • Aug 31, 2011 A Visit with Shanghai's Red Collector, Liu Debao Aug 31, 2011
    • Aug 26, 2011 Strolling Through China's Revolutionary History: A Walk in Shanghai's French Concession Aug 26, 2011
    • Aug 23, 2011 China's Basketball Brawls: Aggression vs. Etiquette on the Courts and on the Road Aug 23, 2011
    • Aug 15, 2011 One More Night of Blues and Funk with Tony Hall's Blues Mission Aug 15, 2011
    • Aug 14, 2011 Shanghai Nights of Blues and Jazz Aug 14, 2011
    • Aug 13, 2011 The Many Faces of Shanghai: Life in the Apocatropolis Aug 13, 2011
    • Aug 9, 2011 A Fond Farewell to Yonsei University Aug 9, 2011
    • Aug 7, 2011 A Visit to Songdo: Yonsei's Eco-Campus of the Future Aug 7, 2011
    • Aug 7, 2011 Artful Construction Sites: Seoul's Digital Media City Aug 7, 2011
    • Aug 6, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul VI: So Long Seoul (for now) Aug 6, 2011
  • July 2011
    • Jul 31, 2011 Another review of my book Shanghai's Dancing World Jul 31, 2011
    • Jul 29, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul V: Beating the Rainy Day Blues Jul 29, 2011
    • Jul 22, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul IV: A "Field Trip" to the Ehwa Museum Jul 22, 2011
    • Jul 16, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul III: Getting Squared with Seoul Circles, Jul 16, 2011
    • Jul 3, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul II: Climbing Seoul Mountains Jul 3, 2011
  • June 2011
    • Jun 25, 2011 A Shanghailander in Seoul Part 1: Touched Down and Settling In Jun 25, 2011
    • Jun 18, 2011 Two Plays Now Showing in Shanghai: God of Carnage and Deer Cauldron Tale Jun 18, 2011
    • Jun 5, 2011 Land of Rice Wine and Stinky Tofu: A Weekend in Shaoxing Jun 5, 2011
  • May 2011
    • May 15, 2011 Resurrecting the Ghosts of Old Shanghai: The Execution of Mayor Chen May 15, 2011
    • May 11, 2011 Mao on Maoming Road: A Tour of the Chairman's Old Shanghai Haunts May 11, 2011
    • May 9, 2011 Here are some Wordle Word Clouds from my Research and Writing May 9, 2011
    • May 1, 2011 Playing with Noise: A Weekend of Art and Rock in Beijing May 1, 2011
  • April 2011
    • Apr 15, 2011 Glitz and Glamour, Desire, and Danger: A Field Trip to Xintiandi Apr 15, 2011
    • Apr 13, 2011 Shanghai has Sprung: Walking through Historic Parks, Remembering Lu Xun and Waltzing with Mao Apr 13, 2011
    • Apr 10, 2011 Touring the French Concession and Screening Down: Indie Rock in the PRC Apr 10, 2011
    • Apr 9, 2011 Bob Dylan Rocked Shanghai, But Did He Roll? Apr 9, 2011
    • Apr 4, 2011 Interview with the filmmakers on the making of Down: Indie Rock in the PRC Apr 4, 2011
    • Apr 1, 2011 A Week of Musical Magic in Shanghai Apr 1, 2011
  • March 2011
    • Mar 29, 2011 春日游走老上海法租界 A stroll through the Heart of Old Shanghai's French Concession with NYU Shanghai Mar 29, 2011
    • Mar 28, 2011 上海纽约大学奠基仪式 NYU Shanghai Campus Groundbreaking Ceremony Mar 28, 2011
    • Mar 23, 2011 Shanghai's Dancing World favorably reviewed in the American Historical Review Mar 23, 2011
    • Mar 21, 2011 有朋自遠方來 不亦樂乎: Receiving honored guests from Tokyo and Harvard, resurrecting the ghost of Zhang Ailing, and exploring rooftops on the Shanghai Bund Mar 21, 2011
    • Mar 20, 2011 穆時英 上海的狐步舞, “Shanghai Fox-trot” Mar 20, 2011
    • Mar 19, 2011 Shanghai’s Nighttime Phantasmagoria: Haunting Nightlife Spaces Old and New Mar 19, 2011
    • Mar 4, 2011 Canned Fun: An Evening at the Phebe 3D Dance Club in Shanghai Mar 4, 2011
  • February 2011
    • Feb 10, 2011 Dancing at the Majestic Hotel to "Nightime in Old Shanghai" by Whitey Smith Feb 10, 2011
    • Feb 7, 2011 An A-Muse-ing Weekend in Shanghai or Sexing the Foreigner in the Nightlife Scene Feb 7, 2011
  • January 2011
    • Jan 14, 2011 On Chua, Chinese Mothers, and Educating Our Daughter in Shanghai Jan 14, 2011
    • Jan 13, 2011 The Rock Doc is Nearing Completion Jan 13, 2011
  • August 2010
    • Aug 25, 2010 Shanghai's Dancing World voted a "page turner" at HK Book Fest Aug 25, 2010
    • Aug 4, 2010 A review of _Shanghai's Dancing World_ in _China Quarterly_ Aug 4, 2010
  • July 2010
    • Jul 30, 2010 On Reading Peter Hessler’s latest book, Country Driving Jul 30, 2010
    • Jul 27, 2010 Some Late Night Thoughts on Reading Paul Theroux’s _My Secret History_ Jul 27, 2010
    • Jul 1, 2010 Xu Jilin on Arts and Culture in Shanghai Jul 1, 2010
  • June 2010
    • Jun 3, 2010 Shanghai Journal back online Jun 3, 2010
  • October 2008
    • Oct 5, 2008 A Fun-Filled Vacation Week in Shanghai Oct 5, 2008
  • September 2008
    • Sep 30, 2008 Singin' the Digestive Blues in Good Ol' Shanghai Sep 30, 2008
    • Sep 13, 2008 Life in Shanghai Continues Apace, and my New Job with CIEE Ramps Up Sep 13, 2008
  • August 2008
    • Aug 31, 2008 Post-Olympic Rambles Aug 31, 2008
  • July 2008
    • Jul 26, 2008 Ah, Those Wonderful Olympics (II) Jul 26, 2008
    • Jul 26, 2008 Tempests in Teapots: The Beijing Olympics and the World Press Jul 26, 2008
    • Jul 22, 2008 Back on Track in Muggy Shanghai Jul 22, 2008
    • Jul 14, 2008 Garden Memories of an Illustrious Past: A Weekend Visit to Suzhou Jul 14, 2008
    • Jul 8, 2008 Beaches and Buddhas: A Weekend Trip to the Zhoushan Islands of Shenjiamen, Zhujiajian, and Putuoshan Jul 8, 2008
    • Jul 1, 2008 Another Sign of Old Shanghai Vanishing Jul 1, 2008
  • June 2008
    • Jun 29, 2008 Shanghai Gloaming: A Videographic Portrayal of the City in Flux Jun 29, 2008
    • Jun 29, 2008 (mis)Representing Beijing: A Review of _Beijing Time_ by Dutton et al Jun 29, 2008
    • Jun 23, 2008 Sex and Politics in the Orient: An Interview with James Farrer Jun 23, 2008
    • Jun 16, 2008 Punks on Stage in Shanghai: Re-TROS at Moganshan Lu STD Party Jun 16, 2008
    • Jun 7, 2008 Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: The Rogue Transmission, Boys Climbing Ropes, and Joyside at Windows Underground Jun 7, 2008
    • Jun 1, 2008 Windows Underground: A New Bastion for the Rock Scene in Shanghai Jun 1, 2008
    • Jun 1, 2008 Happy Children’s Day, Shanghai Jun 1, 2008
  • May 2008
    • May 21, 2008 A Message to China: Stop Eating Shark Fin Soup! 鱼翅汤背后的成本:鲨鱼可能消失 May 21, 2008
    • May 19, 2008 Nightlife in China: A Special Issue of _China An International Journal_ May 19, 2008
    • May 18, 2008 Earthquake Rocks Sichuan, but Shanghai Parties On May 18, 2008
    • May 17, 2008 Six Shanghai Walks: One Down, Five to Go May 17, 2008
    • May 13, 2008 Shanghai in May: A Renewed Love Affair with the City May 13, 2008
    • May 3, 2008 A Virtual Tour of the Paramount Ballroom, 1930s Shanghai's Finest Dance Palace May 3, 2008
  • April 2008
    • Apr 28, 2008 Holy Hollywood! Welcoming John Cusack to Shanghai Apr 28, 2008
    • Apr 28, 2008 Tintin in the Land of Snow: Tibet, China, and the West Apr 28, 2008
    • Apr 21, 2008 Dartmouth in Beijing Presents: Preserving the Hutongs of Beijing Apr 21, 2008
    • Apr 20, 2008 CIEE Workshop On Improving Teaching, Learning, and Intercultural Understanding Apr 20, 2008
    • Apr 11, 2008 SUBS in Shanghai : Great band but the venue needs work Apr 11, 2008
    • Apr 10, 2008 Sparrow Village: A Film about China's Miao Minority People Apr 10, 2008
    • Apr 6, 2008 Tianzifang: A Close Look at Shanghai’s “Creative Art Park” Apr 6, 2008
    • Apr 4, 2008 China's Jimi Hendrix? The Guitar Work of Zhou Chao 周朝 Apr 4, 2008
    • Apr 2, 2008 Shanghai Spring has Finally Arrived Apr 2, 2008
  • March 2008
    • Mar 29, 2008 A Week in Shanghai with Dr. Nightlife and Dr. Sex Life Mar 29, 2008
  • February 2008
    • Feb 19, 2008 Goodbye Sydney, Farewell UNSW Feb 19, 2008
    • Feb 10, 2008 Chinese New Year Resolutions Feb 10, 2008
  • January 2008
    • Jan 30, 2008 Chasing the Shanghai Winter Blues Jan 30, 2008
  • December 2007
    • Dec 20, 2007 Nile Perch and Blue Jeans: Videographing inequalities in globalized labor in China and Africa Dec 20, 2007
  • November 2007
    • Nov 11, 2007 Another Week of Rock, Art, and Beauty in Beijing Nov 11, 2007
    • Nov 6, 2007 Beautiful Ugliness: The Aesthetics of Jia Zhangke's Film _Still Life_ Nov 6, 2007
    • Nov 3, 2007 The Ullens Center and Chinese New Wave Art from the 1980s Nov 3, 2007
  • October 2007
    • Oct 6, 2007 Beijing Punk Band Snapline Oct 6, 2007
    • Oct 5, 2007 The Best of Old and New Beijing: Historical Sites and Live Music Oct 5, 2007
  • September 2007
    • Sep 18, 2007 Kaiser Kuo Gives a Smoking Talk to Dartmouth FSPers Sep 18, 2007
    • Sep 18, 2007 Dartmouth Does the Great Wall: Simatai to Jinshanling Sep 18, 2007
    • Sep 11, 2007 Hang the Police, We're Here to Rock! The Beijing Pop Festival, Sept 10 and 11 2007 Sep 11, 2007
  • August 2007
    • Aug 15, 2007 An Interview with Greg Girard, Shanghai-based Photographer and Author of Phantom Shanghai Aug 15, 2007
    • Aug 14, 2007 Nightlife in Beijing vs. Shanghai: A Student's Perspective Aug 14, 2007
    • Aug 13, 2007 Another Rockin’ Week in Beijing Aug 13, 2007
    • Aug 8, 2007 Water Ripple: A Bluesy Chinese Rock Band Aug 8, 2007
    • Aug 6, 2007 PUNK VS METAL: A Showdown @ D22 and 13 Club Aug 6, 2007
    • Aug 4, 2007 Chinese Punks and The Ramones Tribute Concert @ Mao Livehouse in Beijing Aug 4, 2007
  • July 2007
    • Jul 31, 2007 A Chinese Rock Odyssey: On tour in Hunan and Wuhan with Beijing punk band SUBS and Veteran Rocker Cui Jian Jul 31, 2007
    • Jul 24, 2007 Courtesans, Hostesses, and Dancers in Old and New Shanghai Jul 24, 2007
    • Jul 24, 2007 Republican Beijing: The City and Its Histories Jul 24, 2007
    • Jul 23, 2007 Project Dementia Goes to Shanghai: An Interview with Wu Jun and a Night @ 4Live Jul 23, 2007
    • Jul 23, 2007 A Mad Whirlwind Weekend in Shanghai: The CET summer field trip July 21-22 Jul 23, 2007
    • Jul 23, 2007 Full Tilt: An Online Journal of East Asian Literature and Poetry in Translation Jul 23, 2007
    • Jul 21, 2007 Shanghai Baby Redux Jul 21, 2007
    • Jul 20, 2007 Project Dementia Week 3: A Tsunami@2K, Jamming@Sugar Jar, Acoustic Glam@D22, and the usual Excess@PPG Jul 20, 2007
    • Jul 15, 2007 Welcome to Project Dementia: Week 3 in Beijing Jul 15, 2007
    • Jul 10, 2007 BEIJING ROCKS!!! The CH-INDIE Fest at Dos Kolegas Jul 10, 2007
    • Jul 6, 2007 A Rocking Week in Beijing: 13 Club and Kaiser Jul 6, 2007
    • Jul 2, 2007 Rock It! A Crash Course in the Chinese Indie Music Scene Jul 2, 2007
    • Jul 2, 2007 Sex in China: The Times They Are a Changin' Jul 2, 2007
  • June 2007
    • Jun 27, 2007 人在中国现在能读我的博客!People in China can now read my blog! Jun 27, 2007
    • Jun 27, 2007 Beijing or Bust: Documenting China's "Returnees" Jun 27, 2007
    • Jun 25, 2007 Trippin’ at the Hip-Hoppinest Club in Beijing: Propaganda Jun 25, 2007
    • Jun 25, 2007 Freedom, Beijing Style Jun 25, 2007
    • Jun 25, 2007 Muse: Shanghai's Toniest Nightclub? Jun 25, 2007
    • Jun 22, 2007 A Stroll through the Shanghai Night Jun 22, 2007
    • Jun 21, 2007 All of Shanghai Under one Roof Jun 21, 2007
    • Jun 17, 2007 Shanghai: A Day in the Life Jun 17, 2007
    • Jun 7, 2007 Battle of the Sexes: Shanghai Baby vs. Foreign Babes in Beijing Jun 7, 2007
    • Jun 6, 2007 A Dialogue on Fairer Globalization with Devin Stewart Jun 6, 2007
    • Jun 2, 2007 Public Manners in China and the Case of a Korean Blogger Jun 2, 2007
  • May 2007
    • May 28, 2007 China and Genocide in Darfur vs. America in Iraq May 28, 2007
    • May 27, 2007 Sustainable Development and the "Eco-City" of Dongtan near Shanghai May 27, 2007
    • May 27, 2007 Responsible Globalization in Asia and the World May 27, 2007
    • May 27, 2007 Strange Cities: A Multimedia Site on Old Shanghai May 27, 2007
    • May 18, 2007 An Interview with Peter Hessler May 18, 2007
    • May 16, 2007 David Spindler and the Great Wall May 16, 2007
    • May 15, 2007 The Great Wall of China: Article and Film May 15, 2007
  • April 2007
    • Apr 27, 2007 Final Remarks on the Usage and Abusage of "Laowai" Apr 27, 2007
    • Apr 22, 2007 Thinking About Ethnicity and Race in China Apr 22, 2007
    • Apr 20, 2007 Frederic Wakeman, _Policing Shanghai_/ A Review Apr 20, 2007
    • Apr 18, 2007 Resurrecting Old Shanghai: The Peace Hotel Apr 18, 2007
    • Apr 15, 2007 What Wm. T. de Bary Has Taught Me Apr 15, 2007
    • Apr 15, 2007 On the True Meaning of Laowai Apr 15, 2007
    • Apr 12, 2007 Mainland Chinese Historians, US Academia, and Cold War Politics Apr 12, 2007
    • Apr 8, 2007 Unblocking Blocked Blogs in China (or India, Pakistan, Nepal..) Apr 8, 2007
    • Apr 7, 2007 A Short Walk on a Great Wall: David Spindler Strikes Again Apr 7, 2007
    • Apr 4, 2007 Are Chinese underrepresented in Western academia? Apr 4, 2007
    • Apr 2, 2007 On Translations of Popular Chinese Literature Apr 2, 2007
  • March 2007
    • Mar 22, 2007 Chinese Doublethink: The New Media Rules Mar 22, 2007
    • Mar 19, 2007 Democracy in China? Mar 19, 2007
    • Mar 17, 2007 Great Wall Exhibit in Sydney/Melbourne Mar 17, 2007
    • Mar 12, 2007 More Thoughts on Sex and Shanghai Mar 12, 2007
    • Mar 9, 2007 Sex and Shanghai Mar 9, 2007
    • Mar 6, 2007 On Chinglish Mar 6, 2007
  • February 2007
    • Feb 22, 2007 Shanghai's Art Deco Riches Revealed Feb 22, 2007
    • Feb 11, 2007 Shanghai: digital map to provide 3D view of downtown Feb 11, 2007
  • January 2007
    • Jan 20, 2007 Comet McNaught--Another Great Siting Jan 20, 2007
    • Jan 19, 2007 Gentrification worries Shanghai preservationists Jan 19, 2007
    • Jan 19, 2007 First Siting of Comet McNaught Jan 19, 2007
    • Jan 16, 2007 Shanghai's mad dash: University Admission Jan 16, 2007
    • Jan 16, 2007 Education key to Shanghai life Jan 16, 2007
    • Jan 15, 2007 Three Days at Uluru Jan 15, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 China's problems multiply with its population Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Genghis Khan -- A Chinese Hero??? Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Shanghai Scandal Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Monument to all that jazz: Shanghai's Peace Hotel, a piece of Old Europe in new China Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Shanghai Risen, Shanghai Falling Down Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 14, 2007 Resurgence And Spread Of Syphilis In China Is A Rapidly Increasing Epidemic Jan 14, 2007
    • Jan 5, 2007 Beijing’s Olympic-sized traffic problem Jan 5, 2007
    • Jan 2, 2007 Shanghai to have 400 km urban rail lines in 2010 Jan 2, 2007
  • December 2006
    • Dec 27, 2006 Global warming likely to wreck havoc in China Dec 27, 2006
    • Dec 5, 2006 Beijing vs. Shanghai Dec 5, 2006

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