28. March 2023

Like no other, this vibrant ad for the trifecta of Victor Sassoon’s hospitality empire, symbolizes the unprecedented real-estate boom and architectural splendor of Shanghai in the early 1930s. Join us on a journey through the history of the three edifices, all of which still house hotels today.

22. July 2022

Probably our favorite panorama of Old Shanghai from our collection: an illustration from Harpers Weekly, September 12, 1900. Also an amazing reminder on how developed both the Bund on the Puxi side, as well as the Pudong side were already at that time. From a viewpoint most likely on top of the American Cigarette Company Co factory, on the Pudong side, we can see the building of the British Cigarette Company Ltd to the left (BAT was only established in 1902), on the right the Pootung Hotel, the...

04. June 2021

Bank of Communications on the Bund No. 14. The modern Art-Deco style building, combined with Chinese elements, was designed by Austro-Hungarian architect C. H. Gonda. Construction was interrupted in 1937 because of the Second Sino-Japanese War and it was only completed by 1948 making if the last classic building to be erected on the Shanghai Bund. The Bank of Communications was founded in 1908 and emerged as one of the first few major national and note-issuing banks in the early days of the...

12. May 2021

Originally erected in 1907 as godown but then totally transformed and modernized between March 1924 & August 1925. B.A.T. (英美烟公司 or Yee Tsoong Tobacco Co. in Chinese) was the largest foreign cigarette company & at the zenith of its activities in 1937, manufactured and distributed around 55 billion machine-made cigarettes to Chinese consumers. Famous brands owned or distributed included Ruby Queen, Chienmen, Hatamen, Pirate, Capstan, Kingfisher, Three Castles as well as London...

29. April 2021

Jardine Matheson aka "EWO" Building completed on the Bund in 1922. As one of the first foreign businesses to set up branches in Shanghai in early 1843 it established The EWO Brewery Ltd. in 1935. Jardine was not only the oldest but also the largest "Hong" or Yanghang (洋行) - foreign owned trading houses concerned with trade with China, which later became huge diversified conglomerates. The name EWO stems from the Cantonese pronunciation of Jardines Chinese "Hong name" 怡和洋行, meaning...