Summer project of organizing the bookshelves came up with all these duplicates … so far! (Which is why we need to organize the bookshelves!)

Saturday’s #ArtDeco delights!

#PortholeMonday from the Hillier Apartments, Maoming Lu/Rue Cardinal Mercier. Because some portholes deserve video. Hear the cicadas in the plane trees? So very #Shanghai. #artdeco

Murals and moving vans tell the story of the end of what was once one of Shanghai’s liveliest food streets, Yunnan Road. The retro images, unintentionally ironic, celebrate the buildings and way of life that once lived within these walls. #shanghai

Paul French literally wrote the book on Bloody Saturday, the hot August day in 1937 when downtown Shanghai was bombed. Join us on August 12, 8 pm when he tells the story of Shanghai’s darkest day. To book: jinshuju.com/f/UCk0Ef Or email [email protected]

The first fully air-conditioned shopping center in China! "Don't put off buying because of warm weather - we don't have any" 1937 print ad for The Sun department store in Shanghai.

Four Art Deco enclaves. One morning. “Metro Art Deco” takes us to 4 different parts of the city, by metro, to see the legends and landmarks of Shanghai’s Art Deco age. Saturday August 16, 10am RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers Register here: mp.weixin.qq.com/s/n-IVMcTJRQAM…

Shanghai heritage watercolors and prints, now available! Order here: jinshuju.com/f/ehilCG

Metro Art Deco-ing this morning!

Riddle me this: why don’t China’s brilliant first generation architects get the recognition of their foreign peers, like say Hudec or Léonard? No answers, but we do have a walk through their stories & buildings this Saturday (Aug 23, 10am). Register: jinshuju.com/f/UCk0Ef

A grocery store on Mowming Road (today: Maoming South Rd.) in Shanghai's former French Concession, photographed in the late 1940s with bilingual signs in Chinese and Russian and of course several Coca-Cola advertisements.

Never seen this one before - very cool!

Of course there’s beer on Saturday’s Beer&Buildings walk, but there are also some great buildings—including some never before featured on a walk! Come for the beer, come for the buildings! Saturday August 30, 4pm RMB 350 members, 450 nonmembers Register: jinshuju.com/f/UCk0Ef

There is a new review of my Ma Suzhen book (in Spanish) in Estudios de Asia y África vol.60 no.2 Sept–Dec 2025. Thank you to Francisco Javier Haro Navejas. 'Bevan’s labours regale us with whimsical tales interwoven around the figure of Ma Suzhen.' P.S. Don't forget Ma Yongzhen!

Changshu Lu, between Huashan and Julu. A tiny historic stretch, soon to be memory. (Don’t get us started on the fake bricks…)#shanghai

Reorganized the bookshelves and a slew of duplicates appeared! Selling them off at this Saturday’s welcome back drinks, so join us!) Saturday September 6, 4-6pm RMB 100 members, 200 nonmembers, includes 2 drinks Register: jinshuju.com/f/FUOiea [email protected]

Beer & buildings, last weekend！

Great review of “Nanjing Photo Studio” by Phil Cunningham, who includes his perspective of having worked on “Empire of the Sun” in Shanghai with Spielberg.

We’re on Substack, peeps! We’ve been working on this for a few months, but now we’re ready for the ta-dah! Free & paid subscriptions - scan the QR or click the link in our bio.

As China commemorates the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, we look back 80 years at a Shanghai celebrating the end of the long war and occupation with Greg Lacks’ photos. #vjday