The foreign couple who became experts on old-Shanghai
When Historic Shanghai held its first event in 1998, the heritage society’s founders were surprised to welcome a full house of guests. At the time, there were fewer expats in the city and information was dispersed by fax.
Today the society still holds regular talks and tours. Shanghai’s heritage never stops unfolding.
“Shanghai doesn’t stay still. It keeps changing and it continues to be interesting,” said Tina Kanagaratnam, one of the society’s founders. “I can walk down the street and find something new. There are not a lot of places where you can do that.”
The Singapore native grew up in Washington and studied international relations in New York before returning to Singapore to work. There she met her husband Patrick Cranley, who had studied Chinese politics and economics in the US and spent a year in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, in 1986.
The couple had read about Shanghai and its history, but many questions filled their minds when they moved to the city in 1997.
“Even though I had been studying China for many years before moving here, I didn’t know that much about the city and its very colorful and complicated history,” Cranley said.
The couple made the acquaintance of Tess Johnston, a former US diplomat and author of “Western Architecture in Old Shanghai,” who came to the city in 1981.
They shared their interest in the city’s heritage and the stories behind old buildings. That led to the founding of Historic Shanghai, with the goal of trying to “preserve Shanghai’s unique history by raising awareness and appreciation of the city’s remarkable heritage and social and cultural history.”
At the time, the expat community had few connections with local ones. That’s no longer the case. Today cultural clubs in different languages proliferate, and interaction is increasing between the clubs and research experts in the heritage field.
“When people arrived in the mid-1990s, their interest was on what other foreigners were doing in Shanghai,” Kanagaratnam said. “Over time, as they learned more, there was an increasing interest in what Chinese were doing in Shanghai.”
The same held true for local residents.
“In a Chinese group parallel to ours, they focused for a long time on some of the big-name foreign architects in Shanghai,” said Cranley. “Now they are focusing more on wonderful Chinese architects.”
The couple are fascinated with old photos, maps, books and anything else that can shed light on how the city looked and how residents lived in the past.
The couple started historic tours from the very beginning of Historic Shanghai, exploring buildings and neighborhoods in Xuhui District and subsequently expanding outward.
Laoximen, or “old west gate,” a part of the Old Town area, is one of the most popular recent tours. It is one of the city’s oldest communities — an area the couple had been visiting for 20 years. They organized a pop-up tour in 2017 upon hearing that the area would be redeveloped and continued to return there with those who wanted to see the neighborhood before it disappears.
Urban redevelopment has resulted in the demolition of many old neighborhoods. Those that remain take on new dimensions every time a tour group visits.
Many Chinese, the young in particular, are devoted to the cause of preserving the city’s heritage.
“In the mid-1990s, there were maybe bigger things to worry about,” Kanagaratnam said. “Local people weren’t that interested in their history, but now they have really come to appreciate their heritage.”
When Historic Shanghai first started, the city was undergoing dynamic changes. Old buildings were being bulldozed and new ones were popping up everywhere. Residents relocated to make way for urban renewal projects often dumped old heirloom items in antique markets.
“The mid-1990s was a good time to start studying Shanghai history,” Cranley said. “Many of the objects that were easy to find back then are almost impossible to find today, and even when they are available, they are very expensive.”
He held up a rectangular purse bearing the logo of the old Paramount dance hall.
“You know what this is?” he asked.
He opened the purse to reveal the many small pockets inside, then put it under his arm and assumed a dance pose with his wife. He said such purses were used by hostesses to hold the tickets guests bought to dance with them. Later, they exchanged the tickets for cash.
The couple are fascinated with old photos, maps, books and anything else that can shed light on how the city looked and how residents lived in the past.
“Something about Shanghai made me feel at home,” Kanagaratnam said. “I’d like to say that it’s because this city is both East and West, and I’m also both East and West. It really felt comfortable here.”
