Tilanqiao, a quaint northeastern Shanghai neighborhood that was home to thousands of Jewish refugees during World War II, has not only been rescued from the clutches of the city’s overactive developers, but is about to be restored. Does this mean that Shanghai’s notoriously inflexible urban planners were hit by wave of nostalgia?
Not a chance. As explains Dvir Bar-Gal, an Israeli photojournalist who gives tours of Tilanqiao, the major restoration of the old neighborhood is allowed by the government to take place because “The mayor realized its value, that it could bring in tourists, and [he] figures that Jewish people are rich.”
Living Bridge, the Canadian restoration company that signed a contract with Shanghai’s Hongkou district government on Jan. 20 to bring back much of Tilanqiao, has certainly succeeded where others have failed. Pan Guang, dean of the Center for Jewish Studies Shanghai and author of several books on Jews in China, said that many foundations, individuals and businesses had approached the Shanghai government with proposals for redeveloping old Jewish areas like Tilanqiao. The 60th anniversary of World War II this year, he added, had increased international interest in Tilanqiao. But until now, none of the proposals made any progress.
Trying to restore historic sites in Shanghai is indeed an uphill battle. Shanghai used to be full of living time capsules like Tilanqiao, a neighborhood where the streets still overflow with people clad in Mao suits and you can get a haircut for 50 cents in a barbershop with 1920s décor. But such relics are quickly disappearing in the face of government ambitions to reduce the downtown population and erect shiny new skyscrapers before hosting the World Expo in 2010.
Pleading for the neighborhood’s religious significance is also likely to fall on deaf ears--Shanghai has been fairly indifferent to its Jewish heritage sites. Tilanqiao was included three years ago in the government’s massive North Bund Project, which plans to transform Shanghai’s waterfront into a shipping, business and entertainment district, complete with a massive Ferris wheel. The old Ohel Moishe synagogue and a few other landmarks were to be preserved, but little else.
That was all before Toronto artist Ian Leventhal came to Shanghai as a tourist in 2001, and was charmed by the old neighborhood. Teaming with interior designer Thomas Rado, Mr. Leventhal established Living Bridge, which organized an art project called “Gift of Friendship” with Holocaust-themed works by Jewish- and Chinese-Canadians, which is now installed in a former factory behind the synagogue.
“Immediately after the opening, Tom and myself were approached by the Vice Mayor of the Hongkou district, Madame Yao Zhongqiang, to assist the government in further promoting Jewish Culture in the area,” Mr. Leventhal recalls. “We enthusiastically accepted.”
According to Christopher Choa, managing director of architectural firm HLW, development projects in Shanghai usually start with the district or city planners soliciting ideas from a couple of urban design firms. The land is then made available by auction, and, unless authorized to act as a wholly owned enterprise, the winner enters into a joint-venture agreement, usually partnered with the district-owned development company. Then a master plan is drafted, outlining specific uses, densities and functions, for official approval.
Mr. Leventhal declined to comment on whether Living Bridge competitively bid for the Tilanqiao project or went directly through district officials, but confirmed that the Jan. 20 contract marked the official approval of their master plan, drafted by Tongji architectural professor Ruan Yisan. The plan covers only the central part of Tilanqiao and the 16 blocks of the wartime-designated area.
Tilanqiao is an important reminder of Shanghai’s colorful Jewish history. Sephardic Jewish business families like the Kadoories, Sassoons and Hardoons were major forces in building Shanghai back when foreign concessions abounded. After 1917, the White Russians who streamed into the city included many Jews. In the late 1930s, Shanghai’s status as an open port, not requiring any passport or visa, turned it into a last resort for European Jews fleeing Nazism. After 1937, Shanghai was controlled by Japan, and in 1941 Japan rounded up the city’s foreign population, with the Allied nationalities sent to prison camps.
Stateless Jews were required to live in the so-called “Jewish Ghetto” in Tilanqiao, though the area was not exactly a ghetto or Jewish. It was technically a “Designated Area for Stateless Persons.” Refugees were required to reside there, but they were allowed to move freely otherwise. According to Mr. Pan, about 80% of Shanghai’s Jewish population at the time lived in Tilanqiao. The buildings were constructed by Chinese, American and Japanese developers. Shanghai’s Hongkou district had previously been the never-formalized American Settlement, later taken over by the Japanese. The 20,000-25,000 Jewish residents of Tilanqiao coexisted with some 100,000 Chinese.
A thriving “Little Vienna” emerged, centered around the Ohel Moishe Synagogue and Broadway Theater. Those buildings have survived, along with many residential buildings, some still with English or Yiddish signs above their doors. Famous former residents include former U.S. treasury secretary Michael Blumenthal, movie mogul Michael Medavoy and “Far Eastern Economic Review” founder Eric Halpern; many others have penned memoirs. Various documentaries have been filmed, and according to Mr. Pan a number of Chinese movies and a TV series--“all bad”--about the refugee community are in the works, including a musical by movie star Zhou Xiaoli.
Mr. Leventhal says he will keep the traditional style of the existing buildings, about fifty of which will be preserved. “The zoning overall is of mixed use, reflective of earlier times. Again this concept was foreign to the local planners who originally wanted us to abide by preset zones for commerce, retail and residential. In order to have a lively and vibrant community it was essential we explained, to have cafes, bars and stores on the ground level with boutique offices and residential units above.” The Living Bridge also has plans for a museum to showcase the Jewish experience in Shanghai, restore the Broadway Theatre, reconstruct the Vienna Cafe, and plaque and mark all the significant sites of interest.
While Shanghai’s current 500 expatriate Jews are free to worship, Judaism still isn’t one of China’s five “official” religions, and the city doesn’t have a synagogue. Tilanquiao’s former synagogue of Ohel Moishe was closed as a place of worship after the Communist takeover, and is now used as a museum. The restoration of Ohel Moishe is at the heart of the project of the Living Bridge project, but the plan is to keep it as a museum for now.
Development projects in Shanghai are always fraught with obstacles, and some observers expressed particular skepticism at Living Bridge’s lack of experience in urban planning or doing business in China. “The program has no money, and I don’t know if or how they will raise it,” said Mr. Pan. “Agreements, contracts mean nothing without the money to back it up.”
Living Bridge now has a “two-year exclusive period as sole developer for the Tilanqiao area,” Mr. Leventhal explained, during which they must raise funds to acquire the property rights, part of a total price tag of $700 million. It has yet to be determined how many of the area’s 16,000 Chinese residents, many of who still remember and bought their houses from the refugees, will be relocated.
Yet despite all these difficulties to come, the efforts by Living Bridge and others have already accomplished a major feat. By making the district government aware of Tilanqiao’s importance they have helped guarantee the neighborhood’s survival, an outcome that should please officials and historians alike. Preserving this unique neighborhood will not only attract tourists and profits, but also has the happy side-effect of preserving a slice of the past.
Ms. Movius is a Shanghai-based writer.