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Culture Exposed to Western influences as well as unparalleled economic development, pre-war Shanghai was the nursery of many modern developments in Chinese culture. Lu Xun led the development of modern Chinese literature during his time here and literature by Shanghainese writers followed his lead. The prints and graphic arts of the period are rightly renowned as important cultural manifestos for new artistic styles and fashions. Shanghai cinema likewise was an important catalyst for China’s cultural evolution. All this ended with the war and the Communist government has since kept a tight lid on cultural and other forms of activity. Cultural experimentation that has happened since has been more or less controlled. Well supported ensembles, such as the Shanghai Ballet Company, the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Municipal Performance Company, keep Shanghai at the forefront of official culture. Common prejudice has it that Beijing has the intellectuals and artists, while Shanghai has the down-to-earth wealth creators – but such easy categories fly in the face of Shanghai’s modern cultural importance. Shanghai is also smart and sophisticated and that implies a cultural gloss. There is no central ticketing agency in Shanghai, however, since so many events take place at the Shanghai Grand Theatre (see below), this venue serves, in some respects, as a de facto agency for high-culture events. Details on cultural and artistic events can be found in That’s Shanghai (website: www.thatsshanghai.com) and City Walker (website: www.shanghai-ed.com) listings magazines. Music: The Shanghai Concert Hall, 523 Yan’an Dong Lu (tel: (21) 6386 9153), inevitably is the leading vehicle for classical concerts. The Shanghai Municipal Performance Company is associated with both it and the Majestic Theatre, 1700 Beijing Xi Lu (tel: (21) 6217 4409). The Shanghai Grand Theatre, 1376 Nanjing Xi Lu (tel: (21) 6372 8701; website: http://shimg.163.com/djy/eng), is a major venue for music concerts, as well as for theatrical performances. The Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra (website: www.sbsorchestra.com) plays here. The Jing An Hotel, 370 Huashan Lu (tel: (21) 6437 1888), has a well-regarded series of chamber music concerts performed by a variety of local and touring ensembles. Opera is naturally a Shanghainese favourite, particularly the Chinese variety. The Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Majestic Theatre frequently host traditional and modern Chinese operas but the purist’s venue is Yifu Theatre, 701 Fuzhou Lu (tel: (21) 6351 4668). Theatre: Notwithstanding official censorship and propaganda productions, theatre buffs are splendidly served in Shanghai, with a large number of high-class venues. Shanghai Grand Theatre (see above) offers official prestige productions by visiting ensembles, including some Chinese opera. The Dramatic Arts Centre Theatre, 201 Anfu Lu (tel: (21) 6473 4567), is more purely dramatic, eschewing musical and operatic productions. The Experimental Theatre of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, 670 Huashan Lu (tel: (21) 6248 2920 ext. 3040), stages more experimental student productions. Dance: The Shanghai Grand Theatre (see above) plays host to both the National Ballet of China and the Shanghai Ballet Company, as well as visiting ensembles. For traditional acrobatic dance, the Shanghai Acrobatics Troupe (website: www.acrobatsofchina.com/intro.html) performs regularly at the Shanghai Centre Theatre, 1376 Nanjing Xi Lu (tel: (21) 6279 8663; fax: (21) 6279 8610). Film: Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and its like may have convinced the outside world that China has a vibrant film culture but the government maintains a cap of ten foreign films per year – to rise to 20, following China’s accession to the WTO in 2001. For locals, the huge number of pirated VCDs and DVDs in circulation make a mockery of these limits, although cinema-going in China is inevitably poorer for them. Hollywood classics like Josef von Sternberg’s The Shanghai Gesture (1941) or Orson Welles’ The Lady From Shanghai (1948) may have played heavily to the Western conception of Shanghai as the ultimate Oriental flesh pot of vice but native film culture of the time was far more diverse and sophisticated, the latest global hits debuting almost as soon as they hit American screens. Post-war, Shanghainese film has been as drab and sparse as general cultural activity in the PRC. Shanghai Triad (1995) by Zhang Yimou, the wunderkind of modern Chinese cinema, only touches on the glamour of 1930s Shanghai at its beginning, despite its title. Cinema venues are the Golden Cinema Haixing, in the Haixing Plaza in Ruijin Nan Lu (tel: (21) 6418 7034), and Studio City at the Westgate Mall, 1038 Nanjing Xi Lu (tel: (21) 6218 2173). The Shanghai Film Art Centre, 106 Xin Hua Lu (tel: (21) 6280 4088), is the city’s closest approximation to an arts cinema. The Shanghai International Film Festival (website: www.siff.com) is the city’s regular prestige film event. Cultural events: The Chinese New Year, which takes place either in late January or early February, is the most important annual festival in the city. The build-up to the festival is as frenzied as Christmas is in the West, with parties, the exchanging of gifts and streets and houses decorated with lights. Most Chinese celebrate the start of the New Year with their families. The Mid-Autumn Festival, in September or early October, is celebrated by displaying lanterns in various shapes, such as animals, and by eating moon cakes made of ground lotus, sesame and egg. Literary Notes The creator of modern Chinese literature, Lu Xun (1881-1936), is a pervasive presence in Shanghai. The house at Shangying Lu, where he spent the last four years of his life, is a museum to the writer, while Hongkou Park contains his tomb. However, his writings offer little in the way of a key to the city itself. For a fictional guide to Shanghai in its worst crisis, there is Shanghai ’37 (1939) by Vicky Baum, which deals with the run-up to the catastrophic bombing of the city by the Chinese Nationalist air force in 1937. J G Ballard brought a surrealist sensibility to the depiction of wartime Shanghai, which had been nurtured by his own childhood there. His Empire of the Sun (1987) is one of the few works to do it justice. Man’s Fate (1933), by André Malraux, is the French novelist and politician’s account of Communist revolutionaries in Shanghai in the 1920s, based on his own experiences. Shanghai Baby (2001) by Wei Hui is a far more up-to-date guide to modern Shanghainese mores and sensibilities. |
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