Comments on: Shanghai web materials

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:31:50 +0000

oops.. I just checked and saw that Lao She was a man, not a woman. But since I’m doing another post, let me recommend Lin Yutang. At one point in my life, I worked my way through many of his books. Also, is it heretical to say that I love the works of Pearl Buck? I even liked her novel about the last empress of China which was completely inaccurate but well written – or at least, I thought so at the time.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:27:46 +0000

I know that this novel is not set in Shanghai but Rickshaw Boy is, (for me), one of the classics of 20th Century Chinese literature. Lao She wrote beautifully about the decadent atmosphere, poverty. Her hero’s intense striving for a better life in the face of continual bad luck and financial precariousness is powerful. I read the novel as a teenager and have never forgotten it. When I started researching Shanghai, I was forcefully reminded of how difficult life was for the majority of the Chinese.

By: nico

nico — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:36:29 +0000

shhhhh, that’s the focus of another posting! but yes, it’s in the store, and yes, it is that good. you’ll know learn more than you ever expected to know about rickshaw culture.

By: Gary Soup

Gary Soup — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:54:53 +0000

I highly recommend the book “Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century” by Lu Hanchao. I didn’t see it on Nico’s list, but did see it in your gift shop today. It’s a wonderfully evocative portrait of the lives of the ordinary people of Shanghai, and also provides great detail on lilong housing and how it served Shanghai’s great middle class.