“What happened to the wine cellars of Shanghai?”– perhaps a question you never thought to ask yourself, but having thought on the subject for a few moments you may well want to know the answer…
The Shanghai of the 1920’s and 1930’s, then
the world’s fifth-largest city, was one
of the world’s most prosperous and bustling commercial entrepots – it was
observed in 1935 Fortune magazine,
“If, at any time during the Coolidge prosperity, you had taken your money out of American stocks and transferred it to Shanghai in the form of real estate investments, you would have trebled it in seven years.”
It is well to remember that not long before
the Great Depression was playing itself out across a large part of the world.
Shanghai seemed impervious…
Simply put Shanghai in its first ‘Golden Age’ was
more or less awash with disposable incomes and there quickly developed multiple
avenues for disposing of said income. Dancing at private clubs, gambling at the
races, lavish dinners, night time entertainments of all descriptions (from
magic acts and performing animals at the Great World Entertainment Centre, to
prostitution and opium dens… and beyond) were all available, day and night to
the private individual. But what of the disposable income of larger bodies?
Private clubs, hotels, restaurants, banks, insurance firms, import-export
groups? It should surprise no one that the large edifices of stone and marble
that were built on the Bund as temples to capital were mostly built during this
period (the 1920’s and 1930s).
Sassoon House under construction |
In many ways the Shanghai of the collective
imagination is a symbol and exemplar of conspicuous consumption and it is fair
to suppose that a fair amount of this consumption took the form of alcohol. So
while a large part of the world was sunk in a depression of both finance and
spirits, Shanghai partied on.
And when America tried the ‘noble experiment’ of Prohibition, Shanghai barely paused – if anything it probably took advantage of a surplus of liquor intended for the American market and bought up big at discount prices – like it’s sister ports of Hong Kong and Singapore, Shanghai’s status as a ‘freeport’ meant that large quantities of goods and materials passed through daily – it’s docks never silent, and it’s warehouses (or ‘go-downs’ in the local parlance) always bustling. Much of Shanghai’s character of free-living and decadence is the result of these twin forces – excess wealth in a time of Depression and global belt-tightening, and a glut of cheap alcohol intended for the American market.
And when America tried the ‘noble experiment’ of Prohibition, Shanghai barely paused – if anything it probably took advantage of a surplus of liquor intended for the American market and bought up big at discount prices – like it’s sister ports of Hong Kong and Singapore, Shanghai’s status as a ‘freeport’ meant that large quantities of goods and materials passed through daily – it’s docks never silent, and it’s warehouses (or ‘go-downs’ in the local parlance) always bustling. Much of Shanghai’s character of free-living and decadence is the result of these twin forces – excess wealth in a time of Depression and global belt-tightening, and a glut of cheap alcohol intended for the American market.
Alcohol was available everywhere, and of
all varieties (Shanghai often promoted its own myth that anything could be
sourced and delivered for the right price) – in All About Shanghai:
A Standard Guidebook (1934-35) it is noted,
“Good food can be found everywhere, at any hour; good liquor is the pride and boast of the first class resorts – at the others stick to bottled beer, and open the bottles yourself.”Yes, all types of alcohol were available, even bad beer… some things never change.
27 The Bund - former Hdqtrs of Jardine, Matheson & Co. |
For the finer quality end of the market you
could apply to large import-export companies like Jardine, Matheson & Co. –
their headquarters at 27 The Bund was backed by a warehouse that extended the
depth of a city block. Here, along with quantities of silks, tea, Tung oil, frozen
eggs, and machinery, they also dealt in wine and whisky. Or you could apply to
smaller independent wine merchants such as H. L. Menken, a Jewish trader who
moved from St. Petersburg in 1933 to a small premise in the French Concession
where he both lived and traded.
[Interestingly the former white stone
building at 27 The Bund has been remade into House of Roosevelt, containing a
private club, offices, bedrooms, restaurants and what is said to be the largest
wine cellar in Shanghai – meanwhile the home of H.L. Menken is now a beauty
parlour, spa, and chocolate shop with the former brick-lined wine cellar being
used as a reception space.]
From all of this we can conclude that
within Shanghai’s more lavish spaces could be found well-stocked wine cellars. In private clubs, restaurants, bars, hotels, wine merchants, and in the homes
of private individuals would be bottles of fine wine, slumbering in the dark.
I can perhaps almost sense your interest
building at this juncture as I ask again: "where are these bottles now?"
The answer to that is mostly based on
supposition, inference and a measure of imaginative deduction.
One key factor to remember is the unsettled
times in which Shanghai existed and thrived. After the uncertainties felt by
the foreign interests during the Boxer Uprising at the beginning of the 20th
Century – certain concessions had been won from the Imperial Court of China,
literally. With new treaties guaranteeing the future of the Foreign Concessions
along the coast of China, Shanghai grew rapidly, confident in its destiny. By
the inter-war period this confidence had become shaky.
As civil war moved back and forth across
China, washing up at the outskirts of Shanghai on a number of occasions, the
foreign powers began to increase their military strength in the city – a sign
of their nervousness. After the Japanese attack on parts of the city in 1932,
damaging many factories in the Chinese sectors of the city and with bombs
landing on the Bund itself, many foreign businesses closed up shop and left. Others
stayed on, putting their faith in the warships floating on the river and the
increasing size of the city’s garrisons (as well as a certain belief in their
own entitlement and sense of destiny common at a time when The British Empire
seemed set to endure forever, and American financial and military might knew
few reverses).
Damaged shops, Nanjing Road, Battle of Shanghai, 1932 |
Those businesses that stayed on through the
troubled years that were to follow also put their faith in certain practical
measures, taking security into their own hands – windows and entrances were
sand-bagged against bullets or shrapnel, and going about well-armed (either
obviously or secretly) became the norm. Entrances to many venues (banks, private
clubs, financial institutions, hotels) now came with a well-built doorman as standard
- not of course to defend against the aggressions of nation-states, but as a deterrent
to the criminal gangs that had begun to proliferate – most notably the Green
Gang which had direct links to the Chinese Nationalists now fighting a brutal
civil war by fits and starts in the interior of China.
Sixth floor windows sand-bagged for staff protection at the North China Daily News |
Balanced against those people and
businesses leaving the unsettled city was the arrival of a group who would have
felt more at ease with the new business conditions. These were people impelled
to leave America by the enactment of Prohibition and the wholesale closing of
liquor-related premises – liquor traders, bartenders, entertainers… a Chicago
bartender used to working in a bar protected by peep-holes, steel doors, and
emergency escape routes would have been well-prepared for his new job in
Shanghai where at least the city law enforcement weren’t the ones pursuing you.
These bar-professionals were well-versed in
how to protect one’s own life, the venue in which they worked and the
merchandise they carried.
As an example one can recount the 21 Club in
New York which still exists to this day:
The concealed entrance to the cellar of the 21 Club, New York |
In 1932, during Prohibition, the club
was raided by the ten federal agents on the search for a store of liquor –
after fruitless searching including tapping walls for hidden niches the
authorities were forced to admit defeat and left. What they didn’t find was
over 2,000 cases of wine hidden in the basement. This secret cache was
concealed behind several smoked hams that hung from the basement ceiling and a
shelved wall filled with canned goods.
This backed onto a false wall of 2.5 tonnes of cement and metal that
could be made to revolve by inserting an 18” metal skewer into a crack in the
cement, thereby releasing the catch. One can still visit this secret cellar
today.
Another example of this method of business
insurance comes from Paris, which experienced its own ‘unsettled times’ in the
first half of the 20th Century. The famous George V restaurant had
constructed a secret cellar some 14 metres below the level of the street in
which to keep its choicest vintages safe from the depredations and vicissitudes
of history. This foresight protected the bottles from confiscation by the
forces of the Occupation throughout the course of the Second World War. Other
restaurants in Paris did similar things (most famously the Tour d’Argent), part
of a series of concealments detailed in the book Wine & War: The Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure, by Don
& Petie Kladstrup.
From examples such as these we can deduce
that secret cellars were a common device used during turbulent times such as
war. So what of Shanghai’s secret cellars? Did they exist? Do they still exist?
It is quite probable that much personal property and business assets were
concealed in this fashion prior to and during the occupation of Shanghai by the
Japanese. Following the end of the war in 1945 a number of Shanghailanders
returned to the city in the hope of picking up where they had been forced to
leave off – the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co., for instance, whom we mentioned earlier.
This hoped return to 'business as usual' proved to be short-lived. Once the
Communist authorities of China realised that this outpost of Capitalism was not
going to wither as anticipated they required all foreign businesses to cease
trading and sell off all assets before vacating the city (a task that took
large firms like Jardine-Matheson almost four years). The decade after 1949 was
a long, slow withdrawal of foreign businesses, giving ample time to remove any
assets that had survived the preceding decades of conflict – this would have
probably included any ‘assets’ concealed behind false walls…
But what of those
caches owned by businesses and people who did not return? Those who died in
Japanese internment camps or elsewhere during the period? Did the secreted liquor remain
undisturbed in its sleep? Are those secret rooms still there?
Consider the following: as Shanghai enters
a second age of dramatic growth and financial prosperity, many of the buildings
that remain from the Foreign Concessions are gaining a new lease of life.
Renovation, restoration and retro-fitting are the current fashions – and as this
work progresses it is being discovered that many architectural and decorative
features of these once grand temples to capital have survived the intervening
decades – including the wholesale destruction of the Cultural Revolution.
Features like wood-panelling, gold-leaf, mosaics, tracery, frescoes have been
discovered more or less unscathed, hidden behind plywood and cheap paint –
often concealed by the former employees of these institutions before their handing
over to the people of China during that long, slow withdrawal of foreign
businesses after the war - [a fine example of this architectural archaeology is the interior features of the Cathay hotel, now the Peace Hotel. In the lobby a false ceiling was removed to reveal a
breathtaking 15 metre atrium with a copper and yellow-tinted-glass skylight.]
Early restoration work at the Peace Hotel, Shanghai |
The restored atrium |
Perhaps, somewhere, in a 1920’s building,
soon to be renovated, will be discovered a false wall that will lead to a
cellar in which will be found the concealed wine stock of some long gone wine
merchant or hotel owner… perhaps.