Flowers of Shanghai: Research of Shanghai's Urban Culture from 1920s to 1930s

"Under a sunset mottled sky, the towering framework of Garden Bridge was mantled in a gathering mist. Whenever a tram passed over the bridge, the overhead cable suspended below the top of the steel frame threw off bright, greenish sparks. "(Mao Dun, 1957, p.9) This is a  paragraph of description from Mao Dun in his book "Midnight." It is a great chance to take a glance at the city Shanghai during the 1930s. Just like flowers blooming on the sea, Shanghai is famous for its unique urban culture in the historical and modernism parts. Especially for the time period during 1920s and 1930s, Shanghai became the most shining pearl of the eastern Asia. I guess this is the reason that when talking about Chinese cities, most of foreigner people may think of Shanghai. So in this paper, I will explore the spot lights and problems of Shanghai urban culture by analyzing the literature and urban daily life during the period from 1920s to 1930s. 

 Panorama of Shanghai Bund in 1930

http://www.fourthmarinesband.com/additional.htm

First of all, we need to understand why Shanghai urban culture is different from other cities in China. As the meaning of the name of Shanghai, it is the estuary of  the sea and it is also the window towards the outside countries. From the late Qing Dynasty, Shanghai was one of the  trading ports. The advanced technology were bought into the city. "As a result of Western presence, many of the modern facilities of Shanghai's urban life were introduced to the concessions starting in the mid-nineteenth century: These included banks (first introduced in 1848), Western-style streets (1856), gaslight (1865), electricity (1882), telephones (1881), running water (1884), automobiles (1901), and streetcars (1908)."(Fredet, 1993, p.240)  At the same time, the traditional Chinese culture was also an important part of the city. This special mixture made it possible to see the elegant ladies wearing in cheongsam walking on the Nankin Road while foreigners wearing suits driving in "shili yangchang" ("ten-mile-long foreign zone").

Shanghai is also the best place for entertaining during that period in China, or maybe the only one in the mainland. "By the 1930s, dance halls had become another famous or infamous hallmark of Shanghai's urban milieu" (Tu, p.56) The dance halls grew up rapidly and more and more citizens began to choose the dance hall after work. Another entertaining place is the cafe. In different from the popularization of tea house in Beijing, Shanghai looks more modern by its cafes.  A large amount of literature works indicated this cultural icon. For example, Tianhan's short play, "One night in a cafe," told a story happened in a small cafe. Also, the film industry made up the other part of the entertainment. "The city with the largest concentration of cinemas was Shanghai.(i.e., 25 percent of the national total) in 1927" (Zhang, p.48) And the profits from different cinemas, for example, "Peking Theater" "Central Movie Company," were more than 50,000 yuan in 1927.(Zhang, p.48)  The statistics showed that Shanghai people did really enjoy the big screen in the city.

"SHANGHAI IN THE 1930S" PARIS OF THE ORIENT

http://www.vantageshanghai.com/perspectives/2013/07/shanghai-in-the-1930s-paris-of-the-orient.html

During these golden ten years, the developing speed of this city is unbelievable. As Lee indicated in the paper, "By 1930, Shanghai had become a bustling cosmopolitan metropolis, the fifth largest city in the world, and China's largest harbor and treaty-porta city that was already an international legend ("the Paris of Asia") and a world of splendored modernity set apart from the still tradition-bound countryside that was China. "(Lee, 1999. P.75)  The unique historic issues and the location made up the Shanghai developing speed. 

However, when the whole city was developing rapidly, there were also a bunch of problems. First of all, it is hard to keep the urban traditional culture . As Bao claimed, "globalization is no longer a pure problem of economics, politics, or sociology,but a problem of cultural identity. This problem of cultural identity is closely related to the dramatic transformation of the time–space concept that globalization has produced."(Bao, 2008, p.558) Even though Bao concerned about the contemporary globalization issues, it still works in the past century. So it is hard to define the Shanghai urban cultural identity because that Shanghai has went through a lot of  culture forms.  It cannot be able to described in only one or two words. In the second places, within the development of the industry, the gap between upper and lower class was widen. Numerous of  workers were suffering in the low salary, high price of commodities and the sacrifice or discrimination from the upper class.  

In conclusion, during the years between 1920 to 1930, Shanghai became one of the most famous cities in the world by its unique culture, high developing speed and the advanced entertainment methods. The flowers came out outstandingly in Eastern Asia. However, within the conflicts between social classes, the scarification from the foreign countries, Shanghai did not kept its occupation in the world afterwards during the War-time. It is a pity for myself. But I believe that flowers of Shanghai will come out again more beautifully than the golden ten-year one day.

References

Bao, Y. (2008). Shanghai Weekly: globalization, consumerism, and Shanghai popular culture. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 9(4), 557-567. doi:10.1080/14649370802386461

Fredet.(1993), Histoire de la concession française, Jindai Shanghai fanhua lu [The splendor of moderTu Shimin, Shanghai shi daguan [Panorama of Shanghai], 56–57.n Shanghai] (Hong Kong: Shangwu Yinshu Guan), 240. 

Lee Ou-fan, L. (1999). Shanghai Modern: Reflections on Urban Culture in China in the 1930s. Public Culture, 11(1), 75.

Mao Dun, (1957). Midnight. People's Literature Publishing House.

Tu Shimin, Shanghai shi daguan [Panorama of Shanghai], 56–57.

Tian.H, (1920). Kafeidian zhi yiye ("A Night in a Café"). People's Literature Publishing House.

Zhang (2004). Chinese National Cinema, Routledge, ISBN.0203645839, 9780203645833, 344 pages

Do We Need "A Perfect Match" In Marriage

            There is an ancient Chinese principle for marriage talking about the family match, which is translated in Chinese as “门当户对.”

(men dang hu dui) It represented the basic of the arranged marriage in ancient Chinese history. However, as the time flowed, during the May Forth Movement, more and more youth are calling for free love. So there is a debate for thousands of years, that is, do wee need a "perfect match family" in marriage?

As far as I am concerned, it depends sometimes and need to be considered into different situations.

To start with, we need to go back to the ancient history thousands years ago. As Gardner said, the thing to make boy and girl together is not chemistry or hormone, it was the local matchmaker. This matchmaker knew that "marriage wasn't principally for the purpose of bringing these two individuals together–it was an alliance between their two families." That means, the family made the decision for their child, but for the boy and girl, they know none about each other until the marriage day. (Gardner, 2011, p.1) It sounds ridiculous but really happened. Yes, there might be some couples who got happiness at the end. But there are still some people who are suffering within the arranged marriage. A good case in point is that "the Butterfly Lovers," a story is always be compared with Romeo and Juliet. A couple of youth fell in love in the school, but the girl's family wants her to marry a rich family. At last, the boy died with depressing and on the way for the girl's marriage ceremony, she just stopped by the tomb, fly away as butterflies with the boy. This is a tragedy by the pressure of family and society. Actually, most of the love stories talking about passion is beginning with the free love but ending with separating, as the love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber." Only a few of them got the happy ending within the arranged marriage.  

When the time went through the late Qing Dynasty, the reforms of new thinking; the advanced technology and the western thoughts came into China and some of the people started to wake up. As the progress of May Forth Movement, the advanced youth author began to express their free love spirits in their articles. Like what we did in class, "The Night a Tiger was Captured" told a story about the love tragedy between daughter of a rich hunter and a "homeless" man. It is true that boys and girls are free to persue their love, but when it comes to the issue of choosing love or bread, the freedom seems to be limited. Once I read the only short novel about love from Lu Xun, I was such impressed by the ending. The story's name is "Grieves for the dead"(Shang shi). The male character, Juansheng fell in love with Zijun when he gave her lessons about new thinking. They eloped together and lived in the Jizhao Alley, however, the love only lasts for one year. Juansheng found that they still have differences in spirit and told her to break up. In the end, Zijun died in the depressing. Zijun is brave, but her also paid for her brave. The boy loves her when she is cared by her family, like a new born baby to see the outside world. But when she came out from family, she have to grow up, turns to be the women as the others in the alley, care about money, gossip. When the love is surrounded by the detailed life, the passion run away and the worst is that she cannot be able to work, they cannot even enjoy the small chicken. So in this case, the match should be cared about. When a couple do not have a matched thought, the passion just can be hold for a little while. Infer that in the "The Night a Tiger was Captured," Liangu just eloped with Dasha, but what can they do next? Liangu came from a rich hunter family, she never thought about what to eat tomorrow; the winter is cold or not; there will be no house. Dasha cannot provide anything Liangu has. So how can they keep in love? And Dasha could have a chance to get a job, but he refused. It seems ridiculous. If you cannot provide a basic life instrument for your wife, how can you build a family and even bear a baby? Yes, when talking about money, the love is not pure any more. But when there is no money and food, how can people talk about love? It's not their own faults, but the period's. The wars, opiums, diseases separated everything.

In modern times, the arranged marriage also occurred somewhere. Sometimes it could be the marriage bridge for two companies, or just as arranged from family. But for today, more and more Chinese people care about the family background in marriage. Every girl may dream about one day the fairy tale Cinderella could happened in her own life. It is interesting to point out that Cinderella is not born as a maidservant, she was a upper class. For my own, I also agree with that basically the couple do need to have the same personal value, that could also be considered as a matched marriage. 

 For the life, the argument might be a little bit realism. But the time is under changing, the values also changed a lot, so as traditions. The sleeping beauty woke up by the kiss of the prince, and they lived happy ever after. But after 100 year, how can they get along well with each other? The author never told us. The fairy tale is only a story. In conclusion, the arranged marriage might not be the right way to build a family, but we do need matching to some extent for the long term consideration. 

References,

Gardner,D.K.(2011),  Arranged Marriage in China: Matchmaker Li vs. Match.com, China Musings. Com, retrieved from 

http://chinamusings.com/2011/05/13/arranged-marriage-in-china-matchmaker-li-vs-match-com/