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Thread: Shanghai during the 1920s and 1930s: what was it *really* like?

  1. #1
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Default Shanghai during the 1920s and 1930s: what was it *really* like?

    Many of us grew up watching Chinese-language dramas depicting the world of 1920s and 1930s Shanghai. In television series such as THE BUND (TVB 1980) and its remakes and imitators, Shanghai is presented as a curious mixture of Chinese and European culture...of the ancient and the modern. It was colorful, violent, decadent, and romantic at the same time.

    But what was the real Shanghai of that era actually like? Most history books dealing with this period of Chinese history discuss the major struggles among the various warlord groups, the Kuomintang, the Chinese Communist Party, and the foreign imperialists. What was the reality of daily life in Shanghai like seventy or eighty years ago? Do the gangster dramas come even close to depicting what it might have been like?

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    Registered User JamesG's Avatar
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    For a starter, the Chinese Chief of Police was one of the biggest crooks in town.

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    Senior Member mich's Avatar
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    Could read novels by authors born in that era...would have glimpses of how life is then. Eg Eileen Chang
    MooMoo Cows Can Fly.

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    Basically it sucked. I have yet to read a single book that dealt with the era to indicate that it was anything but a urban hell hole with thousands starving to death on the street every year. You had the few rich and powerful who had the connections, money, and power. Life for them was great. Then the quality of life drops precipitously. You pulled rickshaws, went to *****s, gambled. All the 'good' stuff.
    This account is retired.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JamesG View Post
    For a starter, the Chinese Chief of Police was one of the biggest crooks in town.
    Does it has anything to do with this topic?

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    en,maybe read old novels can help you

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