Shanghai Chunqiu: Cao Juren Works Series

Author: Cao Juren
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not Available
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 examined the city from the dual perspectives of an outsider and a native. Moved by the misconceptions and misunderstandings of Shanghai abroad, Cao Juren started a column under the pen name "Tulaor" in Hong Kong's "Xunliu Daily" in the early 1960s. Using his personal experiences and detailed historical records, he introduced the historical evolution of Shanghai to overseas readers, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary Shanghai. His reflections on the old and new Shanghai are deeply moving. These manuscripts and clippings, collected, organized by the author's family, and revised by scholars, have been published as this "Shanghai Chronicles." The book is divided into fourteen sections, including "Shanghai as a Treaty Port," "The Suburbs," "Random Talks on Shanghai's Foreign Settlement," "Figures," "Old Stories of Newspapers and Magazines," "Temples," "Famous Gardens," "Shanghai's Theater World," and "Amusement Parks." It covers the past and present, the vicissitudes, the prominent figures, the customs and traditions, the unique sights, and the anecdotes of Shanghai, making it an "excellent collection of local history essays on Shanghai." The author wanders through vast historical records and documents, as well as between history and reality, earning praise as "highly beneficial to Shanghai's historical records while also being highly engaging prose."