Jai alai (in China at the time spelled Hai-Alai) is a sport involving bouncing a ball off a walled-in space, a so-called fronton, by accelerating it to high speeds with a hand-held wicker cesta. It is a variation of Basque pelota and shares similarities to Squash, although instead of a racket, the game is played with what is known as a chistera. This long, basket-like racket that straps onto the player’s wrist allows to catch the ball and hurl it with such tremendous force that it can reach an astonishing speed of up to 302 km/h. 

The game was invented in the 1800s and, after it was featured as a demonstration sport at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, became immensely popular around the world and a sign of modernity. 

A Spanish Basque player named Teodoro Jáuregui conceived the idea to bring the fast-paced game from his native country to Shanghai in 1928. He approached the French banker and entrepreneur Félix Bouvier who helped secure a location in Shanghai’s French Concession and financed the construction of the Shanghai Auditorium - China’s first Hai-Alai court (in Chinese 回力球场 huílìqiúchǎng). The inaugural tournament was held in February 1930 and the game became an instant hit among both the foreign and Chinese population of Shanghai. 

The game was fast and it was dangerous. But interest in the spectacle was significantly enhanced by two factors. Firstly, sports betting provided an avenue for the public to gauge the chances of their favorite players and back them accordingly, akin to the horse races at the popular Shanghai race course. Secondly, the city witnessed an influx of handsome, young Basque players from Spain and the heartthrobs soon became the talk of the town for the Western ladies of Shanghai. But it wasn’t only about looks: It is said that at that time, the city had the best Jai alai roster in the world, with some of the most famous players internationally such as legends like José Garate, a Jai alai gold medalist in the 1924 Olympics, who played in Shanghai until 1939. 

In 1934, the Auditorium, located on Joffre Avenue and Avenue du Roi Albert, was expanded to a capacity of a staggering 3,000 seats and installed air-conditioning, heating and a circular bar. It was subsequently also used for boxing and other sports.

In the same year a fronton was also opened in the Italian concession of Tianjin and a first “Interport Series” was soon held between the two cities.

After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 the sport sadly started to decline and the Shanghai Auditorium was closed for good in 1944. Intriguingly, the iconic building still stands to this day, nestled on the corner of Huaihai Rd. and Shaanxi South Rd., but you will be hard-pressed to find someone in Shanghai who will know what its former purpose was, let alone what Hai-Alai is.