Shanghai Chunqiu

Author: Cao Juren
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Cao Juren began his career as a teacher, writer, magazine editor, and journalist in Shanghai in the early 1920s and lived in the city for over two decades. He not only had a special connection to Shanghai but also viewed the city through the dual lenses of an outsider and a native. Deeply troubled by the barriers and misunderstandings surrounding Shanghai in the overseas world, Cao Juren started a column in Hong Kong's Cyclical Daily in the early 1960s, penning it under the pseudonym "Tulaor," introducing the history and evolution of Shanghai to international readers with his personal experiences and detailed historical records, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary Shanghai. His reflections on the old and new Shanghai are extensively covered, evoking deep emotions. These manuscripts and clippings, collected, organized by the author's family, and edited by scholars, have been published as this Shanghai Chronicles. The book is divided into fourteen sections, including Shanghai as a Treaty Port, Suburban Areas, Wharfside Tales, Figures, Old Stories of Newspapers, Temples, Famous Gardens, Shanghai Theater Talk, and Amusement Parks, covering everything from the city's ancient and modern history, dramatic changes, prominent figures, folk customs, extraordinary sights, and anecdotes. It is undoubtedly a "masterful collection of local historical essays on Shanghai." Cao Juren wanders through vast historical records and documents, oscillating between the past and the present, earning praise from critics as "extremely beneficial to Shanghai's historical records while also being highly engaging prose."