Foochow Road,Shanghai (1930-40's)

One of these days you might just chance upon this book. Buy it by all means. It will entertain you for days I believe!!








Several Foochow youths (both male and female) from Sibu had the opportunity to study in China and especially Shanghai. And they brought back tales worth listening to.

Some of the tales of course were repeated. Others were whispered amongst the men.

In bits and pieces I heard of the red light districts, the beautiful singers of the night clubs and well several of the guys from Sibu were particularly good in dancing. Most probably picked up from their student days in Shanghai. The ladies were shy and an aunt was a student nurse in one of the hospitals in China. It was quite an eye opener for her when she visited Shanghai .

One of the most well documented roads in China is the Foochow Road of Shanghai which runs west from the Bund (which is now very different from the olden days). Foochow Road was famous for brothels and bookshops.

The first photo depicts Hui Le Li (The Lane of Lingering Happiness). The lane was located at 726 Fuzhou Lu, and was famous for having 151 singsong houses (the polite name for brothels).


In the future I hope I can take photos of Shanghai to add to this posting.

Source : Tales of Old Shanghai http://www.earnshaw.com