Books written or edited by experts of Shanghai Flaneur `walking think-tank´:
Field, Andrew
Shanghai's Dancing World: Cabaret Culture and Urban Politics, 1919-1954 (2010)
Language: English
Drawing upon a unique and untapped reservoir of newspapers, magazines, novels, government documents, photographs and illustrations, this book traces the origin, pinnacle, and ultimate demise of a commercial dance industry in Shanghai between the end of the First World War and the early years of the People's Republic of China. Delving deep into the world of cabarets, nightclubs, and elite ballrooms that arose in the city in the 1920s and peaked in the 1930s, the book assesses how and why Chinese society incorporated and transformed this westernized world of leisure and entertainment to suit its own tastes and interests. Focusing on the jazz-age nightlife of the city in its "golden age," the book examines issues of colonialism and modernity, urban space, sociability and sexuality, and modern Chinese national identity formation in a tumultuous era of war and revolution.
The Chinese University Press; 1st edition / ISBN-10: 9629963736.
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Hellkoetter, Katja
(Ed) Europe China Cultural Compass (2011)
Language: English, Chinese
A handbook for cultural managers and stakeholders involved in cultural cooperation between Europe and China, containing context knowledge….
Free e-book download is available here:
ISBN 978-3-939670-59-9
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Hewitt, Duncan
Getting Rich First – Life in a changing China (2008)
Language: English
The peasant revolutionary turned lifestyle guru, the former Shaolin monk working on a Shanghai building site, the once-conservative father running a gay hotline - and the teenagers who just want to dress up as their favourite Japanese cartoon characters. Welcome to the new China, a nation in motion, where whole streets are rebuilt in a week, car ownership is soaring, education goes private and rural workers migrate to the cities in search of a better life. It is a transformation that has swept through the country since the first economic reforms of the 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping announced that China would have to 'let some of the people get rich first'. But while many have benefited under the new 'aspiration nation,' others are struggling to keep up in what is now one of the most divided societies on earth. Former BBC correspondent Duncan Hewitt lives and works in China and has witnessed firsthand the impact and speed of these vast social and economic upheavals. His timely book speaks with the voices of everyday people as they learn to adapt to one of the most rapid transformations in human history.
Vintage / ISBN: 9780099488798
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Hibbard, Peter
The Bund Shanghai – China Faces West
(2007)
Language: English
This book tells the story of the making of the Bund: from its beginnings as a muddy foreshore and its conversion into a fine esplanade in the latter half of the 19th century, when its infamous 'Public Gardens' barred entry to most Chinese, to its massive reconstruction in the early 20th century and its cosmopolitan reinvention with the dawning of the millennium. The main focus is on the vibrant years of the 1920s and 1930s when the 'Paris of the Orient' came of age and when most of the Bund's monumental edifices were built as lasting testament to the city's commercial success and its passage to sophistication and modernity. The Bund Shanghai goes far beyond the facades of the buildings, examining the fascinating historical and social context of this area and profiling the many key figures and organizations that made the Bund in years gone by and that are remodeling it today. Intending to correct some historical myths and reported inaccuracies surrounding the Bund, the book concludes with a view of how the Bund may appear some years hence when its present phase of redevelopment draws to a close.
Odyssey, Hong Kong / ISBN: 978-9622177727
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Schmitt, Steffi
Shanghai Promenade (2011)
Language: English, German
A solid 600 pages guide on Shanghai containing also a number of walks, that Steffi had written during her stay as an economic correspondent in Shanghai from 2000 till 2008. Steffi discovered ALL of the hundreds of trips on the search for locations and first-hand information on Shanghai by bicycle!
vvb Laufersweiler/Giessen / ISBN:
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Warr, Anne
Shanghai Architecture Guide (2007)
Language: English
Shanghai Architecture Guide by Anne Warr, features 270 of Shanghai's finest buildings, old and new. The Guide is packed full of information including maps, walking tours, history and snippets of Shanghai's extraordinary stories. If you've enjoyed Anne's walks and talks, you'll enjoy her book even more.
Watermark Press Sydney / ISBN: 9780949284761
www.walkshanghai.com/guidebook/index.html
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Wilhelm, Roman
has been the designer and illustrator of ‘Urban Public Space’ (2010)
edited by Anke Haarmann.
Language: English, Chinese, German
Shanghai has grown at a breathtaking pace since the 1990s. Housing developments are constantly multiplying, entire districts are demolished, residents are relocated, multilevel roads are built into the cityscape, and more and more areas are pinpointed for renewal. But how does this dramatic growth alter public space and people’s living environment, and what impact does it have on the inhabitants? Curated by Anke Haarmann this book presents answers by artists, scientists, and philosophers from China and Germany with practical as well as theoretical perspectives.
Jovis, two volumes, Softcover with slipcase / ISBN 978-3-86859-026-5
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Further selected books on Shanghai recommended by Shanghai Flaneurs:
Girard, Greg
Phantom Shanghai (2007)
Language: English, French
As Shanghai modernizes and seeks acceptance as an international city, buildings and neighborhoods that were once preserved simply by lack of intervention are now being purposefully demolished. Phantom Shanghai is a spectacular look at a Shanghai that won’t survive the vision the country has for itself. For the past five years, Greg Girard has been photographing the city’s buildings, shops, homes, and neighborhoods. This stunning photographic journey is a look at present-day Shanghai, where politically inspired neglect meets politically inspired development.
The Magenta Foundation, Canada / ISBN: 9780973973914
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Johnston, Tess and Deke, Erh
Shanghai Art Deco (2007)
Language: English, Chinese
covers in 320 pages and nearly a thousand photos the wide range of Shanghai’s Art Deco offerings. Its five chapters (Public Buildings, Apartments, Villas, Furniture, and Objects) are lavishly illustrated and offer historical background information in both English and Chinese.
Old China Hand Press / ISBN:9627872415
A Last Look - Western Architecture in Old Shanghai - Revisited (1993)
Language: English
provides an updated, expanded and evocative overview of Western architecture and expatriate lifestyles in one of the world's legendary cities. It also includes 1939 listings of Shanghai's old apartment houses, banks and clubs.
Old China Hand Press / ISBN:9627872016
Frenchtown Shanghai - Western architecture in Shanghai´s old French Concession (2000)
Language: English
is the most comprehensive of our books, covering the best buildings – plus a look into the lifestyle of the residents – of the most cosmopolitan of Shanghai’s
old foreign concessions.
Old China Hand Pres / ISBN: 9627872156
Tess Johnston, Barbara Green, Ruth Lear, Carolyn Robertson, Jos Snoodjik
Six Shanghai Walks - Lanes of changing fortunes (2nd edition) (2007)
and Six more Shanghai Walks - Patterns of the Past (2008)
Language: English
This second walks guidebook augments last year’s popular first volume with still more histories and anecdotes on the old Western buildings that grace the city's major boulevards and lesser lanes. Detailed walking itineraries, with coffee (and comfort) stops, are supplemented by both Deke’s and the authors’ photos from their favorite walks. These books also offer great reads for out-of-towners who cannot experience Shanghai for themselves.
Old China Hand Press / ISBN-10: 9627872350 / ISBN-10: 9627872369
www.tessinshanghai.com/books.html
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Novelli, Luigi
Shanghai Architecture Guide (2008)
Language: English, Chinese
This book is a short guide of architecture in Shanghai. The guide illustrates the architectural and urban landscape solely as an instant photograph. The guide is divided into six itineraries and each itinerary is divided into several sections, one for each building. Each section contains photographs, an exterior view as well as others to illustrate particular details or the interior view, a brief explanation, often a drawing and always the address in both English and Chinese. Each itinerary has a city map showing the location of the buildings illustrated.
Shanghai Educational Publishing House / ISBN-10: 1602201153
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Pan, Lynn
Shanghai Style: Art and Design Between the Wars (2007)
Language: English
From the 1920s to the 1940s, no place was more modern than Shanghai: a veritable playground amid a sea of Asian and European influences; an urban population clamoring for all that was new and Western, but whose aesthetic sensibilities remained profoundly Chinese. In this rich social and cultural history of Shanghai's art and culture, Lynn Pan guides the reader through the myriad world inhabited by commercial and underground artists and designers, performers, architects, decorators, patrons, as well as politicians, generals, and crime bosses. What emerges is a singular portrait of a city and its art-its life blood, in an era that continues to capture the imagination of art lovers and cultural critics today.
Joint Publishing, Hongkong / ISBN: 978-962-04-2719
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