APRIL 2024
April is World Art Deco Month!
TO BOOK: Email shanghaiartdeco@gmail.com or scan the QR code below this post
Saturday April 20, 2pm /SHANGHAI’S LOST CITY: The Greater Shanghai Plan A World Art Deco Month Event /RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers
Hidden in northern Shanghai is a Chinese Art Deco city that never was. This group of 1930s buildings in the ‘Chinese Renaissance” architectural style makes up the Greater Shanghai Plan, conceived by Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists in 1927 as a new, proudly Chinese administrative city center surrounded by the foreign settlements.
U.S-trained Chinese architect Dong Dayou designed the buildings: grand, modern, and Chinese. But history intervened, and most of his buildings were never used for their intended purpose–but they are magnificent, and still stand. They’re now being given a new life: the library has been newly renovated according to the original blueprints and City Hall has been refreshed. There’s an Art Deco stadium, the Natatorium—swimming pool—and gymnasium, a museum, hospital, and a whimsical Civil Aviation building. We will infiltrate as many as possible of these jewels!
Sunday April 21, 4pm /FILM: Queen of Sports 體育皇后 (1934, starring Li Lili, directed by Sun Yu), 89 minutes /A World Art Deco Month Event /RMB 150 members, 250 nonmembers, includes coffee/tea or a glass of wine
A naturally-gifted runner from the countryside enrolls in a women’s sports academy in Shanghai, inspired by the conviction that China will be stronger if its citizens strengthen their bodies. But success spoils her, and she neglects her studies and starts partying with westernized college boys (the horror!), but eventually, after crises befall her, she learns about what true athletic spirit means.
The film was made in response to a national sports craze and the government’s New Life Movement, which called for physical and moral self-strengthening. A star vehicle for the mischievous Li Lili, the film’s comic sequences and physical comedy are delightful—as are the Art Deco interiors, which make it the perfect film for World Art Deco month!
Saturday April 27, 6.30pm BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY: Deco After Dark /A World Art Deco Month event /RMB 300 members, 400 nonmembers, includes a cocktail
Everything looks different at night, and Shanghai’s glorious Art Deco is no exception. Join us for a dazzling look at the city’s Art Deco buildings by night, all dramatically lit up. From the Bund to Broadway Mansions and the wild neon of Nanjing Road, we’ll admire Shanghai’s Deco heritage, share stories of the city’s nightlife in the good old, bad old days, and finish up with a cocktail.
Scan the April Events QR code, or email shanghaiartdeco@gmail.com to book
RECORDINGS: Scan the “Recorded Events” QR code to book and receive event recordings. (For the full list of available recordings, click here
RECORDED ART DECO EVENTS
The Shanghai Art Deco Story
Shanghai’s glamorous Art Deco style was unique, born of a unique time and place: the energy of cosmopolitan Old Shanghai. In this lavishly illustrated talk, we’ll trace the origins of the Shanghai Art Deco style, explore how it could have only come into being at this particular moment in Shanghai, and take a look at its expressions in architecture, fashion, furniture, graphic and industrial design, movies, and more. We’ll take a look at how it influenced the city’s aesthetic and became its signature style, even today. And we’ll share some of our own Art Deco collection!
Members of Historic Shanghai, our parent organization, enjoy discounted prices and other benefits. Interested in joining? Click here.
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