Hongkou plans haipai literature museum
A literature museum will come up in Hongkou District along with renovated or expanded historic sites.
The Shanghai Literature Museum, a joint effort of the Hongkou government and Shanghai Writers’ Association, will take up an area of 12,500 square meters on Sichuan Road N., the district government said yesterday.
The museum will collect, research and promote haipai literature, or modern literature works created in the city, the government said.
The district yesterday released a three-year action plan to become the “heritage and promotion hub” by 2021 for haipai, or Shanghai-style culture that combines traditional Chinese with Western culture.
Part of the three-year plan involves expanding the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum and building new museums, art galleries, exhibition halls and bookstores over three years. Most of them will come up at the North Bund area, or the Huangpu River waterfront.
Historic venues, mainly along the Sichuan Road N., will be renovated to showcase China’s revolutionary and cultural history of the 1930s.
The area near the commercial road has 57 historic sites over 2 square kilometers. They include the Memorial Site of the 4th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the League of Leftist Writers Museum, and homes of renowned writers and intellectuals from last century.
The League of Leftist Writers Museum will undergo renovation this year and is expected to be completed by next year.
The building is hidden on what used to be Darroch Road, today’s Duolun Road. During the 1920s and 1930s, famous writers and artists such as Lu Xun (1881-1936), Ding Ling (1904-1986) and Mao Dun (1896-1981) were part of the league. Many of their works were representatives of haipai literature.
The historic road will also undergo a facelift to host operas, musical performances and cultural bazaars.
A series of cultural performances, including stage shows and dances on the “Red Culture” of Shanghai — the birthplace of the Communist Party of China — will be held in schools in Hongkou.
A research board will be established to study and promote the “Red Culture.”
Six walking routes will be created for tourists and residents to visit the former residences of celebrities in Hongkou. More such historic sites will be preserved and opened to the public within three years.
The city’s historic Astor House Hotel near the Bund is being developed into an exhibition and education site highlighting China’s capital market. Many outdoor museums will be created along the riverside to display the nation’s early shipping industry.
The city’s earliest cinema houses — the Shengli (victory), Qunzhong (public) and Jiefang (liberation) — will be revamped and become part of a cluster of theaters and cultural venues along the Suzhou Creek.
To highlight the legacy of Lu Xun, the “father of modern Chinese literature,” and renowned Chinese writer Mao Dun, the district will name two paths after the men of letters who once lived in Hongkou along with many commemorative and cultural activities.