Luggage Labels, Lost in Time - part II of VI

The other hotel mentioned on the label with The Cathay (from part I) is the nearby Metropole. Opened three years later in 1932, this hotel is two blocks east, and three blocks south, at what is now Fuzhou Road and Jiangxi Middle Road (formerly Foochow and Kiangshe). If you have ever been told your hotel is overbooked, so they put you up in the "south tower," I wonder if that happened here.

The location is one block from gorgeous the Holy Trinity Church (coincidentally obscured by a park celebrating Communism). This was the actual "Cathedral" that the boy Jim of Empire of the Sun attended for school (the movie filmed at another church location in Shanghai).

The Metropole was also designed by Palmer and Turner for Victor Sassoon. This time a Baroque style was employed according to some sources. It all looks art deco to me, and in fact is referenced as such in other sources. In any case it is fourteen stories and together with Sassoon's Hamilton House (across the street) formed a circular intersection. It was the second of what would become a portfolio of real estate owned by V.S. This hotel catered to executives more than rich and famous visitors. Remember the wealthy taipans (foreign business owners) or their mistresses often lived in hotels.

Skyscrapers were new to Asia, and the muddy banks of the Whangpoo River (now Huangpu) were particularly problematic. Now, the worlds' tallest buildings rise in clusters from the Pudong side. But at the time you could not build large structures in the mud. Even today a couple of the buildings on The Bund lean uncomfortably. Sassoon collaborated with George Leopold Wilson of London to build concrete rafts that the structures could float on. Sassoon even created the Aerocrete Company to sell this invention.

Why didn't Mao have these wonderful edifices of colonialism in China demolished during the Cultural Revolution? Was he more focused on erasing Chinese culture? Were they simply too big and solid and too useful as imposing Communist offices? Even today a temple will be demolished in a heartbeat for another metro station or another skyscraper. In any case, we are all thankful (including today's modern party comrades) to have these and so many other great examples of architecture and history in Shanghai's Puxi streets.

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Addendum:  I recently found pictures (left) that show a striking difference between the 1930's and 1970. The view is down Fuzhou Road looking east with The Metropole several blocks away. Today the People's Park would be behind the photographer. In the 1930's the horsetrack of the Public Recreation Grounds would be behind the photographer. If this picture were taken today, the street would again be bustling with modern shops and skyscrapers.

1970 was two years before Nixon visited Mao. This was near the height of Chinese desperation under Mao-style communist rule. In 1976, Mao would die and a little known man named Hua Guofeng would take over, arresting the Gang of Four that formed the main power in China at the time. In 1981, Deng Xiaopeng came to power and accelerated economic reforms, including inviting Reagan (perhaps the most famous anti-communist) to Beijing in 1984. This time coincides with a remarking building spree that took place in Shanghai, especially in the Pudong area.

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Addendum #2: A friend in Shanghai sent this modern (2020) picture over! It is mostly residential now above the ground level. Note the Seven-Eleven on the left. No more rickshaws.