How did ordinary people live through the extraordinary changes that have swept across modern China? How did peasants transform themselves into urbanites? How did the citizens of Shanghai cope with the epic upheavals―revolution, war, and again revolution―that shook their lives? Even after decades of scholarship devoted to modern Chinese history, our understanding of the daily lives of the common people of China remains sketchy and incomplete. In this carefully researched study, Hanchao Lu weaves rich documentary data with ethnographic surveys and interviews to reconstruct the fabric of everyday life in China's largest and most complex city in the first half of this century. **
Author(s): Hanchao Lu
Edition: First
Publisher: University of California Press
Year: 1999
Language: English
Commentary: Reupped. Edited. Bookmarked. Watermark free. Clearscan. Smaller file size
Pages: 475
Tags: Shanghai, History, China
Beyond the Neon Lights......Page 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data......Page 5
To the memory of my parents......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
List of Illustrations......Page 10
List of Tables......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 14
Notes on Chinese Currency and Romanization......Page 18
Introduction......Page 20
Urban-Rural Relations: A Continuum or a Gulf?......Page 22
The City and Modernity: The Making of a Commercial Culture......Page 27
How "China-Centered" Are We?......Page 36
PART 1 IN SEARCH OF AN URBAN IDENTITY......Page 42
THE BIRTH OF A CITY......Page 44
THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS......Page 47
Map 1. The growth of Shanghai, 1846-1914.......Page 49
THE END OF RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION......Page 51
From the "Five Lakes and Four Seas"......Page 55
FOREIGN ADVENTURERS......Page 56
CHINESE IMMIGRANTS......Page 59
Map 2. Shanghai in the Republican era.......Page 60
A DUAL IDENTITY......Page 67
Table 1. The Overlap of Native Place and Trade in Republican Shanghai......Page 70
THE ELITES......Page 74
THE PETTY URBANITES......Page 80
Table 2. Zhiyuan (White-Collar Employees) in Republican Shanghai......Page 83
THE URBAN POOR......Page 84
CHAPTER 2 The World of Rickshaws......Page 86
Rickshaws......Page 87
Table 4. Public Rickshaws in Shanghai, 1934......Page 90
Rickshaw Pullers......Page 94
The Other Side of the Coin......Page 100
Table 5. Insurance Report of the Pullers' Mutual Aid Association of Shanghai, May 1, 1936, to September 30, 1936......Page 101
"PHEASANT RICKSHAWS"......Page 102
EDUCATION: A RAY OF HOPE......Page 107
"BEASTS OF BURDEN"......Page 109
FLEECING THE CUSTOMER......Page 117
PART 2 A PLACE TO STICK AN AWL......Page 126
CHAPTER 3 Escaping the Shantytown......Page 128
A Museum of Global Architecture......Page 129
Shantytowns......Page 135
YAOSHUILONG: THE EMERGENCE OF SHANTYTOWNS......Page 137
FANGUALONG AND ZHAOJIABANG: SHANTYTOWNS CREATED BY WAR......Page 140
Shantytown Dwellers......Page 145
Factory Employment: A Shantytown Dream......Page 150
CHAPTER 4 The Homes of the Little Urbanites......Page 157
The Rise of the Modern Real Estate Market......Page 158
NAMING THE ALLEYWAY HOUSES......Page 162
FROM MULTI-BAY TO SINGLE-BAY HOUSES......Page 165
COMPARTMENTALIZING THE SHIKUMEN......Page 175
Second Landlords......Page 179
Table 6. Subletting in Republican Shanghai (Samples from an Early-1950s Survey)......Page 182
A MIXTURE OF RESIDENTS......Page 186
MIXING RESIDENCE WITH COMMERCE......Page 192
PART 3 UNDER THE EAVES OF SHANGHAI......Page 206
The Men Who Woke Up a City......Page 208
EATING WELL IN SHANGHAI......Page 217
SERVICES TO THE DOOR......Page 228
"HEAVEN IS HIGH AND THE EMPEROR IS FAR AWAY"......Page 237
A "MOTLEY CROWD"......Page 241
Table 7. Residents in Zhengming Li, Shanghai, 1933-51......Page 242
EVENING CHATS......Page 248
INTIMACY AND ROMANCE......Page 252
ALLEYWAY ROWS: SQUABBLING OVER TRIFLES......Page 258
Commerce in a Living Room......Page 262
RICE STORES......Page 265
Table 8. Neighborhood Stores on Hart Road, 1940s......Page 266
COAL STORES......Page 268
TOBACCO AND PAPER STORES......Page 269
TAILOR SHOPS......Page 271
PROLETARIAN RESTAURANTS......Page 278
TIGER STOVES AND SESAME CAKE STORES......Page 282
The "Little Food" Markets......Page 287
Shopping on the Block......Page 295
The Politics of Intervention......Page 305
GUILDS......Page 306
GOVERNMENT......Page 308
LOCAL TOUGHS......Page 311
Conclusion......Page 313
The Past......Page 315
FESTIVALS AND THE LUNAR CALENDAR......Page 316
SEDAN CHAIRS AND WHEELBARROWS......Page 321
The West......Page 326
The Communists......Page 334
APPENDIX 1 A Survey of the Origins of Shanghai Residents......Page 342
APPENDIX 2 List of Informants......Page 348
INTRODUCTION......Page 352
CHAPTER 1. GOING TO SHANGHAI......Page 356
CHAPTER 2. THE WORLD OF RICKSHAWS......Page 366
CHAPTER 3. ESCAPING THE SHANTYTOWN......Page 377
CHAPTER 4. THE HOMES OF THE LITTLE URBANITES......Page 383
CHAPTER 5. BEHIND STONE PORTALS......Page 390
CHAPTER 6. BEYOND STONE PORTALS......Page 398
CONCLUSION......Page 406
References Cited......Page 412
Glossary and Index......Page 446
