Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai In The Early Twentieth Century

Description

How did ordinary people live through the extraordinary changes that have swept across modern China? How did peasants transform themselves into urbanites? How did the citizens of Shanghai cope with the epic upheavals―revolution, war, and again revolution―that shook their lives? Even after decades of scholarship devoted to modern Chinese history, our understanding of the daily lives of the common people of China remains sketchy and incomplete. In this carefully researched study, Hanchao Lu weaves rich documentary data with ethnographic surveys and interviews to reconstruct the fabric of everyday life in China's largest and most complex city in the first half of this century. ** Beyond the Neon Lights......Page 2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data......Page 5 To the memory of my parents......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 List of Tables......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Notes on Chinese Currency and Romanization......Page 18 Introduction......Page 20 Urban-Rural Relations: A Continuum or a Gulf?......Page 22 The City and Modernity: The Making of a Commercial Culture......Page 27 How "China-Centered" Are We?......Page 36 PART 1 IN SEARCH OF AN URBAN IDENTITY......Page 42 THE BIRTH OF A CITY......Page 44 THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS......Page 47 Map 1. The growth of Shanghai, 1846-1914.......Page 49 THE END OF RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION......Page 51 From the "Five Lakes and Four Seas"......Page 55 FOREIGN ADVENTURERS......Page 56 CHINESE IMMIGRANTS......Page 59 Map 2. Shanghai in the Republican era.......Page 60 A DUAL IDENTITY......Page 67 Table 1. The Overlap of Native Place and Trade in Republican Shanghai......Page 70 THE ELITES......Page 74 THE PETTY URBANITES......Page 80 Table 2. Zhiyuan (White-Collar Employees) in Republican Shanghai......Page 83 THE URBAN POOR......Page 84 CHAPTER 2 The World of Rickshaws......Page 86 Rickshaws......Page 87 Table 4. Public Rickshaws in Shanghai, 1934......Page 90 Rickshaw Pullers......Page 94 The Other Side of the Coin......Page 100 Table 5. Insurance Report of the Pullers' Mutual Aid Association of Shanghai, May 1, 1936, to September 30, 1936......Page 101 "PHEASANT RICKSHAWS"......Page 102 EDUCATION: A RAY OF HOPE......Page 107 "BEASTS OF BURDEN"......Page 109 FLEECING THE CUSTOMER......Page 117 PART 2 A PLACE TO STICK AN AWL......Page 126 CHAPTER 3 Escaping the Shantytown......Page 128 A Museum of Global Architecture......Page 129 Shantytowns......Page 135 YAOSHUILONG: THE EMERGENCE OF SHANTYTOWNS......Page 137 FANGUALONG AND ZHAOJIABANG: SHANTYTOWNS CREATED BY WAR......Page 140 Shantytown Dwellers......Page 145 Factory Employment: A Shantytown Dream......Page 150 CHAPTER 4 The Homes of the Little Urbanites......Page 157 The Rise of the Modern Real Estate Market......Page 158 NAMING THE ALLEYWAY HOUSES......Page 162 FROM MULTI-BAY TO SINGLE-BAY HOUSES......Page 165 COMPARTMENTALIZING THE SHIKUMEN......Page 175 Second Landlords......Page 179 Table 6. Subletting in Republican Shanghai (Samples from an Early-1950s Survey)......Page 182 A MIXTURE OF RESIDENTS......Page 186 MIXING RESIDENCE WITH COMMERCE......Page 192 PART 3 UNDER THE EAVES OF SHANGHAI......Page 206 The Men Who Woke Up a City......Page 208 EATING WELL IN SHANGHAI......Page 217 SERVICES TO THE DOOR......Page 228 "HEAVEN IS HIGH AND THE EMPEROR IS FAR AWAY"......Page 237 A "MOTLEY CROWD"......Page 241 Table 7. Residents in Zhengming Li, Shanghai, 1933-51......Page 242 EVENING CHATS......Page 248 INTIMACY AND ROMANCE......Page 252 ALLEYWAY ROWS: SQUABBLING OVER TRIFLES......Page 258 Commerce in a Living Room......Page 262 RICE STORES......Page 265 Table 8. Neighborhood Stores on Hart Road, 1940s......Page 266 COAL STORES......Page 268 TOBACCO AND PAPER STORES......Page 269 TAILOR SHOPS......Page 271 PROLETARIAN RESTAURANTS......Page 278 TIGER STOVES AND SESAME CAKE STORES......Page 282 The "Little Food" Markets......Page 287 Shopping on the Block......Page 295 The Politics of Intervention......Page 305 GUILDS......Page 306 GOVERNMENT......Page 308 LOCAL TOUGHS......Page 311 Conclusion......Page 313 The Past......Page 315 FESTIVALS AND THE LUNAR CALENDAR......Page 316 SEDAN CHAIRS AND WHEELBARROWS......Page 321 The West......Page 326 The Communists......Page 334 APPENDIX 1 A Survey of the Origins of Shanghai Residents......Page 342 APPENDIX 2 List of Informants......Page 348 INTRODUCTION......Page 352 CHAPTER 1. GOING TO SHANGHAI......Page 356 CHAPTER 2. THE WORLD OF RICKSHAWS......Page 366 CHAPTER 3. ESCAPING THE SHANTYTOWN......Page 377 CHAPTER 4. THE HOMES OF THE LITTLE URBANITES......Page 383 CHAPTER 5. BEHIND STONE PORTALS......Page 390 CHAPTER 6. BEYOND STONE PORTALS......Page 398 CONCLUSION......Page 406 References Cited......Page 412 Glossary and Index......Page 446