Editor’s note:

Jing’an sits at the heart of Shanghai. It represents the essence of the history and culture of the city, home to century-old buildings, big-name attractions, glitzy retail malls and charming art galleries. Annual music and art events give the district a distinctive ambience. In this series, we showcase the highlights of Jing’an.

Once Upon A Time in Fudeli

Photo by Zhu Zhaohui

Actors rehearse for drama “Once Upon A Time in Fudeli.”

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Forgotten yet prominent figures, solemn yet heart-stirring stories in China’s revolutionary history were reawakened in Jing’an’s first original “red” drama “Once Upon A Time in Fudeli.”

On April 23, the play made its debut at the Daning Theatre and opened this year’s Modern Drama Valley.

It shows the persistence and sacrifice of patriots, revolutionaries and early members of the Communist Party of China a century ago, telling stories of the Party’s early days and China’s winding journey toward national rejuvenation.

It is set against the backdrop of Shanghai’s Fudeli neighborhood where the Party’s Second National Congress was held. Legendary figures such as Mao Zedong and his wife Yang Kaihui are brought back to life on stage.

In July 1922, 12 Party delegates gathered in secret at the residence of Li Da in the shikumen (stone-gate housing) neighborhood Fudeli in Jing’an, one of few remaining clandestine Party sites in the city following a series of police raids.

They include major Party co-founders Chen Duxiu, Zhou Enlai’s classmate Li Zhenying and early Party leader Cai Hesen, who was betrayed and executed for revolutionary activities at the age of 36.

In a footnote to history, Mao was supposed to attend the meeting but he didn’t make it. In a conversation with American journalist Edgar Snow in 1936, he said he just forgot the exact address and couldn’t find any comrades to enlighten him.

Over eight days, the 12 delegates shaped the first Party Constitution, which consisted of six chapters and 4,000 words.

In the early 1920s, members of the ruling Kuomintang greatly outnumbered the newly-founded Chinese Communist Party which only had about 200 members across the nation in 1922. It forced the Party to engage mostly in underground activities.

So, the Party secretly handed out copies of important documents to its early members, including Zhang Renya, for better protection.

In the winter of 1927, Zhang spirited them to safety in his hometown in Ningbo in Zhejiang Province. Five years later, he died of illness.

The precious documents saw the light of day after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. They include the first edition of the Party Constitution.

Fudeli also witnessed the establishment of the People’s Publishing House, which has survived to this day as one of the most reputable publishers in China.

Li and his wife Wang Huiwu established it as a one-man workshop in a narrow space underneath the staircase of the house, near the kitchen.

It is said that Li was so smart that he disguised Party propaganda leaflets as New Year’s cards, and he hid the leaflets in the firewood pile in the kitchen ahead of police raids.

After the premiere in Shanghai, the play is scheduled to tour cities in East China, including Nanjing, Hefei, Wuxi and Yantai, and will return to Shanghai in June.

Ask The Crew

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Q: What is the drama about?

A: It is the first theater play focusing on the Party’s Second National Congress and the first Party Constitution.

Set in Shanghai’s Fudeli neighborhood in Jing’an, it tells the stories of major figures in Party history including Chen Duxiu, Li Da, Wang Huiwu, Mao Zedong, Yang Kaihui, Cai Hesen, Xiang Jingyu and Zhang Renya.

Q: How do you make red drama attractive to today’s young audiences?

A: All of our performers are post-90s, the generation born after 1990, and it’s such a coincidence that most of the 12 delegates to the Party’s Second National Congress were also post-90s, the generation born after 1890. It’s a conversation between two post-90s generations over a century. Also, music plays a big part in our play because it can easily touch hearts. Musician Li Jingjian composed sonatas especially for our play.

Q: Did you dig out anecdotes and stories in the process of playwriting?

A: Of course. Zhang Renya’s story has greatly impressed us. In the winter of 1927, he spirited the Party’s founding documents, including the first edition of Party Constitution, safety in Ningbo.

When he returned to Shanghai, his father built a cenotaph in Zhang’s name and buried the documents inside, falsely claiming that his son was dead. His family never heard from him again. They had looked for him for over a half century. In 2005, they found news of his death in an old newspaper. Until then, they knew that he had passed away in 1932 due to serious illness. After learning that story, we visited his former residence and grave in Ningbo.

Q: How historically accurate is the play?

A: The play was written based on true stories and historical documents. For example, it mentions Yang Kaihui’s love letters to Mao Zedong. They are among a collection of her manuscripts found in her former residence in Bancang in Hunan Province, where she was arrested in October 1930.

Party history in miniature

A miniature exhibition showing the 16 important historical moments around the Party’s Second National Congress was held this month at 63 Anyi Road, where Mao Zedong lived from May to July in 1920.

The exhibition features miniature models of Shanghai’s shikumen stone-gate buildings and replicas of scenes such as the Party’s first and second National Congress.

It’s in the city’s shikumen where pioneering revolutionaries struggled for the nation’s rejuvenation in the early days.

Twenty young artists from the China Academy of Art made the miniature creations to pay tribute to their peers back in the 1920s. Let’s have a look:

Digital hub was once a major heavy industry site

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A DIGITAL and smart industrial park is taking shape in the Shibei area in north Jing’an District.

The area was a heavy industry zone in the early 1990s, but years of modernization drive has turned it into one of the city’s major modern services and information technology hubs. Now, it is embracing the digital revolution to become a “digital and smart” Shibei.

Efforts have been recognized. During the Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference held this month, Shibei was highly praised for its digital transformation.

The Shibei High-Tech Park, dotted with companies engaging in big data, blockchain and 5G technologies, supports the district to become an international innovation hub and digital capital.

It introduces headquarters of China’s leading technology companies and offers application scenarios in smart technologies in fields such as tourism, healthcare and crossborder trade.

The High-Tech Private Enterprise Headquarters Cluster in Shibei covers 3.3 square kilometers, among the few large-scale headquarters clusters in Shanghai. In the future, it will use Shibei’s digital transformation to empower industrial upgrading in the finance, culture and health sectors.

A self-service machine enabling people to deal with tax affairs opened in the Shibei High-Tech Park this month. It benefits over 3,500 enterprises within 4 square kilometers. It allows people to handle over 300 tax affairs, and every day two tax officials are on site.

“Although I’m here in the industrial park, I enjoy the same service in the tax service hall,” said Song Guoxian, a financial worker at the Shanghai Shibei High-Tech Group. “I can submit the required documents to tax authorities for real time, and there are professionals by my side to answer my questions. It really saves time.”

Jing’an leads vaccination rollout

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Mass COVID-19 vaccinations are rolling out in Jing’an as the district has taken every effort to provide safe inoculation easily accessible to everyone.

Nearly 4,000 square meters at the Jing’an Sports Center has been zoned as a makeshift vaccination site. It is divided into 32 pre-check desks and more than 100 separate units for giving vaccinations.

There is a green channel for the elderly and cover against rain or sun for all those lining up to wait.

Since many people are still unclear on some issues, Yu Yajun, nurse from the Fourth Rehabilitation Hospital of Shanghai, has drawn colorful graphics and illustrations to clearly tell some dos and don’ts.

“I’ve vaccinated countless people,” she said. “But this time it’s obviously different.

It’s such a mass inoculation facing people in various ages and jobs.”

Her drawings answer some of the key FAQs, such as where the injection is given in the deltoid, mandatory observation at the site for 30 minutes, and important tips such as drink more water, but no alcohol, seafood and spicy food after the injection.

They have been posted on everywhere on the site.

“It’s easy to be seen. And it’s cute. It relieved my stress,” said one patient.

Jing’an has also worked to make vaccination accessible to people from all walks of life.

A vaccine van drives around commercial zones and residential neighborhoods to give shots to locals at their doorstep.

The mobile unit is equipped with refrigerators and vaccination desks. People can easily jump in to get a shot. It is also fitted with equipment to deal with the potential adverse reactions after the injection.

Nanjing Road W. Subdistrict, home to a cluster of office buildings, opened a green channel for local companies that organized their workers, at least 20 people, to get vaccinations.

This saves time for busy workers.Some workers from KPMG China took a bus, arranged by the subdistrict, to the subdistrict’s health center on March 31. It took just 10 minutes to finish registration.

Zhu Hansen was the first to receive vaccination.“I took the bus at 1:55pm and received the shot at 2:25pm. It’s so fast. I felt fine after the vaccination,” Zhu said.

Caojiadu Subdistrict spent 36 hours putting on a temporary vaccination site.

Initially, local residents received vaccinations at the subdistrict’s health center, but there was little room as the center has to receive a large number of patients every day. So, the subdistrict decided to move the service to its cultural activities center.

“It’s so convenient. I don’t need to go to the health center where there are so many people. I can receive the vaccination at my doorstep,” said a resident surnamed Shen.

“The whole process, from entering to the site to receiving the vaccination, only took me 9 minutes.”

Linfen Road Subdistrict arranged for workers from over 750 retailers, including supermarkets, restaurants, hair salons and wet markets, to get their shot.

Retailers where all staff were vaccinated have a green paper to be posted on the wall to inform customers.

“I had thought I would have to line up for long time. But in fact it didn’t take much time. And I didn’t need to close my store,” said Zhang Werong who has an air conditioner shop.

“Linfen Road has become a ‘green’ street with every retailer having our green sticker. We hope to create a safe environment for retailers and residents,” said subdistrict official Li Lei.

Moments in April

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Light up for ‘children of the stars’

The district’s iconic Ferris Wheel atop the Joy City shopping mall has turned blue for autistic children, called by Chinese “children of the stars.”

The 56-meter-in-diameter, 98-meter-high Sky Ring Ferris Wheel was illuminated in blue from March 31 to April 2, the day marking the World Autism Awareness Day.

Besides, an exhibition promoting facts of autism and displaying the children’s art works, such as paintings on paper cups, were held in a glass house which was decorated as if it was under starry night in the shopping mall.

Also, the Shanghai Charity Foundation’s Jing’an Representative Office and essential oil company doTERRA, whose regional headquarters is in Jing’an, joined hands to launch a project to help autistic children. They aim to offer 2.5 million yuan (US$384,750) to needy families this year.

Han clothing dancing

Dancers wearing traditional Han clothing presented a performance on April 10 in Beizhan Subdistrict to pay tribute to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. The performers — local residents and workers — staged 13 dances based on ancient Chinese paintings and stories, showing the beauty and charm of Chinese traditional art.

Standardized community canteens

Pengpu Xincun Subdistrict has made a set of standards for community canteens, becoming the first in the city. A typical old community, its aging population accounts more than 42 percent of the total. Now, it has five community canteens, providing three meals to local elderly people. To better serve them and respond to emergencies in case, the subdistrict has made many specifications, such as healthful diets and staff’s first-aid training.

‘New’ Zhangyuan peeps out

A new vision of century-old Zhangyuan has peeped out from behind roadside art installations although it remains closed to the public during a large-scale renovation.

Zhangyuan, a 46,000-square-meter residential compound, is dotted with historical buildings in a variety of styles, from shikumen stone-gate houses to garden villas. In an overhaul starting in 2019, almost 170 historic buildings are being retained and repaired based on original drawings.

Recently, scaffolds on Maoming Road N., on the west of Zhangyuan, were removed. Grey wall bricks are inlaid with wooden window frames, showcasing how real Shanghai lane housing looks like, while window displays of old items and art installations show local people live.

According to Jing’an Real Estate Group, which is in charge of the project, urban renewal is not just a matter of construction. It also brings out the human spirit in the concrete jungle.

Center to serve the public

Jiangning Road Subdistrict has opened a new community service center for grassroots organizations of the Communist Party of China to better serve the public, as well as to further promote the study of the Party’s history and spirit.

It is the first of its kind being set up in a subdistrict in Jing’an. Other subdistricts will have their own later this year.

Jiangning Road Subdistrict has launched a campaign on Party history learning and education. It invites renowned television anchor to give class about Party’s footprint in the subdistrict.

It also discovers five “red” sites including the former site of the Secretariat of the Party’s Central Committee, the former site of the Special Branch of the Party’s Central Committee, the former residence of Nie Er, the former site of the National Jinan University and the former site of the factory of Shanghai Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Co.

TCM for bone problems

The community clinic of Zhijiang Road W. Subdistrict has become popular among local residents with bone problems as it offers an alternative to surgery.

Through traditional Chinese medical treatment such as massages and acupuncture, local doctors are good at treating osteoarthritis.

A local resident surnamed Yan, 74, had been bedridden due to a knee joint lesion.

She had visited so many doctors and the only advice was to receive surgery. So, she turned to the community clinic.

“Surprisingly, I could stand up the second day after I received acupuncture. I have received treatment for over 20 days. Now I can go downstairs by myself,” she said.

Eileen Chang’s home reopens

The former residence of celebrated author Eileen Chang (1920-1995) has reopened after the latest round of renovations.

The historic villa at 85 Kangding Road E. witnessed Chang’s birth and youth. The family moved to Tianjin when she was 2 years old. Seven years later, they moved back, and she lived there until 18. The four-floored garden villa, including the basement, takes an area of more than 1,000 square meters. It is a typical veranda-style colonial building. It was given protected status by the city government in 2015.

Local Shimen No. 2 Road Subdistrict bought the house from its owner in 2008 and renovated it into a community cultural center. Over the years, it has been renovated several times. The latest began in December 2019.

The site reopened to the public on March 28 with more aspects of the house restored to original look. An Eileen Chang study was built on the first floor, based on her articles.

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Source | Information Office of Jing'an And Shanghai Daily

Editor | Vivian