The Shanghai Saga Continues (FINALLY)

Okay - it's really time to bring home the China trip so that we can report on home life! On Sunday February 22nd, we started our day by going to the Jewish ghetto area of Shanghai and visiting the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum. The site comprises the former site of the Ohel Moshe Synagogue and two exhibition halls. Isaac was mostly interested in the construction vehicles on the building site across the way - as you can see from the photo.


For those interested, the history of Jews in Shanghai is interesting, and was not something that we previously knew anything about. There were essentially three different waves of Jews coming to Shanghai.
The first wave was around 1843 to 1920 and comprised of Sephardic Jews from Baghdad and Bombay. The most successful and well known, were the Sassoons and the Hardoons. They are known for many of the city's landmark buildings including Sassoon House, the Metropole Hotel, Grosvenor House, the Embankment building, Hamilton House and Cathay mansions. The Bund (rhymes with "fund" for pronunciation) means embankment. In the case of Shanghai, this is the mile long stretch of embanked riverfront - the western bank of the Huangpu River. The term "Bund" was brought to Shanghai by the family of Victor Sassoon. We saw a lot of the Bund on our river cruise but because of construction, the area was not really suitable for walking at the time we were there.
The second wave was around the 1920s-1937. Thousands of Russian Jews, fleeing pogroms and revolutions in Russia, first settled in Northeast China and then came to Shanghai, where the population peaked at around 4,500 in the 1930s.
The third wave was from 1938 - 1952. Shanghai was a haven for Jews fleeing Nazi terror. Some 20,000 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria escaped to Shanghai. It was the only place in the world where no visa was required to enter. During 1939-1940, about 1,000 Polish Jews also escaped to Shanghai. From December 1941-1945, the Japanese interned the Shanghai Jews from the Allied countries of Germany, Austria and Poland and relocated them to the Jewish Ghetto in Hong Kou (Hong Kew). By the end of the war, Shanghai was home to 24,000 Jews. After the war and the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the community dwindled as Jews emigrated to other countries.
Unfortunately, the museum buildings were freezing cold and so we did not spend as much time as we may have liked. As you can see, Granddad enjoyed some time in a sunny spot with his grandchildren. The photos are not the best quality but too sweet a moment not to include.


From this area we went to the French Concessions area and saw some very elegant Lilongs - the Shanghai answer to the Hutongs of Beijing. When you're in Shanghai, you hear a lot of talk about different "concessions". After China lost the first Opium War, the British established the first concession in Shanghai in 1842, by a forced treaty with the Qing Dynasty. The French concession area, where we visited, was established in 1849. Concessions were also established by the Americans and the Japanese. During the 1920s, the French Concession area was the premier residential area of Shanghai. The concessions were governed by the occupying country and were untouchable by Chinese Law. The concessions ended in 1943 and by 1949, most foreigners had left Shanghai.
Back to the Lilongs - the ones we saw examples of were very posh - not necessarily reflective of a typical Lilong neighborhood. The Lilongs have been in existence in Shanghai for over 140 years, from 1840s-1949. Lilong means "small lanes". The houses are very narrow and about 3 stories high, attached side by side, having one side lane at the front and a service lane in the back. The Lilongs are the most distinctive facet of Shanghai's architectural heritage - a fusion of Chinese courtyards (like those in the Hutongs of Beijing) and western row houses. They are in a dense, grid-like pattern with East-West and North-South lanes. Sadly, the land that the buildings are on is under intense commercial pressure due to the fast development of Shanghai. The examples we saw were very fancy and in a lovely shopping area with coffee shops etc. However, most residents of Lilongs are not well off and rents are subsidized by the communist party. In these situations, each unit may be housing three families per floor (creating very intimate conditions). Had we seen these Lilong, we likely would have seen laundry everywhere, some games of Mahjong going on etc. Neighbors spend much time outside and everyone knows everyone's business. It's sad that this way of life will be lost. A recent National Geographic magazine had a great story and photos on Shanghai, its development and preparations for the Expo and the direction the Lilongs are taking. As happens so often, I digress...
Anyway, from there we went to the "white house". The actual place has some historic value I suppose, but basically it was another government run place displaying crafts, carvings, jade, paper cuts etc. A place to buy stuff. There was some beautiful wood carving as you can see of the dragon being held in the dragon dance, but really, we would much rather have stayed longer in the French concession area. Granddad spent most of the time outside in the sun on the lawn and we joined him there while Grandma made some purchases (she was excited to be there :-). The photo of the squatty potty is from there (from the public toilet). Seems appropriate that Shanghai showed us the fanciest toilet and then also a regular old squatty potty such as we have used all over China.
After that, we headed back to the hotel, but stopped at the store so that Jimmy could take Grandma in to buy... a new suitcase! We needed the kids to have a rest before having to go back into the city to meet with people at our firm offices. It's so horrible when you have to wake your kids up just as they have fallen into a nice sleep. We were meeting on a Sunday at 4 p.m. at the office - and I had been asked to do some training! We got the kids up and took a taxi ot the office. Granddad stayed at the hotel, as he was still feeling under the weather. We put the children in a conference room with snacks and Grandma and David and I met the few people at our Shanghai office. Then David and Grandma entertained the children while I spent more than an hour with the IP folks. It was very useful so I felt good about it. The folks from the office had ordered a driver and so we all went together in a very posh vehicle to dinner. Dinner was at a fantastic Thai restaurant, back on the side of the river as our hotel. Dinner was delicious although some items "sworn" to not be spicy, were definitely too spicy for some. Given that we were at dinner for a while, and the kids were exhausted, they did super well. Isaac really liked Yan and Indigo took the photo of Yan that you see. It was a lovely evening. The driver took us back to our hotel and we staggered in for some rest. Then, the bizarre phone calls begin...
So, I think the night before, Saturday night, we're fast asleep in our room, and the phone rings - it's about midnight. I answer but I am really out of it. Someone is asking for David - a woman, and she sounds Chinese. I give the phone to him, but he is so out of it that he hangs up. Fast forward to Sunday night. I am still up and am on the computer catching up the blog. The kids and David are asleep after our busy day and night out. I don't remember what time, but after 11 at night, the phone rings, and it's this same crazy lady. She kept asking for David and even knew our last name - it was freaking me out. We're staying at the Crowne Plaza in Shanghai, China, and someone is calling our room and has our name. This woman said she wanted to practice her English. I am very irate (not me) and saying that it's late and I have sleeping children and how did she get our name etc. I hang up and she calls again. I hang up and call the front desk and ask if they can find out who has been put through - language barriers, not much success but I did ask that they block all calls to our room and not put anybody through. David thinks that perhaps it was someone from the wait staff at the restaurant where we had our buffet breakfasts - they would have our name, but I find it hard to believe someone there would risk their job harassing the visitors - mystery unsolved. This was our last night. I'll have a much shorter (promise) post next about our last day in Shanghai and the trip home.
Link to all photos for this day here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7322989@N05/sets/72157623952087712/