The J G Ballard Walk

If you have ever seen the film The Empire of the Sun, or read the books of J G Ballard you will have some idea of the early life of James Graham Ballard in Shanghai, but in the case of the film, at least, you will have had a Stephen Spielberg version of his early life in Shanghai. The film showed a fictional interior of what was then known as the Cathay Hotel on the Bund (now The Peace Hotel ) and the Pagoda at the Longhua Temple, two well-known sights of Shanghai. But this walk organised by Brits Abroad took us to that part of town that was outside the International Settlement – known at the time as “The Bad Lands” – on its western edges, where according to Ballard the people “lived an American style of life” during his childhood in 1930s Shanghai.

This area was popular with wealthy foreigners who were looking for larger homes with space around them on what was then on the very fringes of the city. Ballard reports looking out and seeing paddy fields from his 3rd floor bedroom window. Now the city extends for miles and miles over those fields.

I’ve done the walk a couple of times – once as part of the Brits Abroad Walks Team who for a nominal gift to charity take members on 2 hour long walks around various areas of the city and once with Richard, one morning when we were short of time – needing to get back in time to let in the washing machine repair man. Richard loves the Former French Concession Area of town and found that this area, too, holds his fascination and has expressed a desire to go back again, saying that he could spend all day there wandering about.

The walk starts at the Shanghai Film Art Center, where once a year it acts as the focus for the Shanghai International Film Festival. Across the road from here on the other side of the street is an interesting set of panels set into a

garden wall. Just around the corner is Ballard’s mock-Tudor childhood home, built in 1925. It’s currently undergoing one of its many refits and has indeed been rebuilt in concrete although the original carved banisters from the staircase are reported to still exist. Until recently it housed a members club called the Xin Yue Club. Quite what its next incumbents will be I do not know. All of the road names from the days of the the foreign settlement have been changed since the revolution and this area is no exception. This is a view of the back of the Ballard house, taken from what was once called Columbia Road, now known as Panyu Road. The front of the house is on a lane off what was once Amherst Avenue and is now Xinhua Road. The lane itself is pretty enough, but as Richard pointed out, what was the point in washing the lane whilst piles of rubbish are left to fester under the trees?

Efforts are now being taken in Shanghai to rescue some of the remaining architectural features of the old buildings. As my quilting group will testify there is a tendency for each new occupant to completely rip out the interior of any space they take over. The apartment on the floor below us and on the next staircase here in Gubei Lu has been undergoing the renovation treatment for the past month at least. The sound travels up the concrete walls. They have been using pneumatic drills and sanders and hammers to remove marble tiles, and all fixtures and fittings (there is banging going on as I write this). Last quilt group meeting I had here I had to fit nine quilters in my small guest bedroom to get away from the noise. I have been known to sit in my laundry space on the balcony with ear plugs in……..About every other month someone, somewhere, in our block prepares their flat to move in. Meanwhile I get more and more discombobulated (insane).

Anyway back to The Bad Lands. The wealthy bankers, merchants, consuls and mill operators (Ballard’s father ran a cotton mill) that lived here employed western architects to build their mansions. The Ballards’ was designed by a British Architect. The next house we stopped to look at was designed by an Hungarian Architect who made his name in Shanghai, Laslo Hudec. He designed a number of houses in this area as well as more Gotham-style buildings such as the flat-iron Normandie Mansions on Huaihai Road, and The Park Hotel which overlooks People’s Square.

In particular he designed many of the houses for the Asia Realty Company on the next road we visited The Columbia Circle, a crescent that starts and ends on the old Amherst Avenue, (now Panyu Road) known now as the Foreign Lanes. Here some 40 of the garden houses are now architecturally protected, as well as many others in the area, where you can find (alien to China) bay windows and glass panelled railings for example.

On a garden wall that sits on the open end of the U between the two ends of The Columbia Circle is this long plaque which is difficult to read and impossible to photograph in one go:

It reads:

Xihua Road starts from West Huaihai Road on the east and ends at West Zhongshan Road. The total length of the road in 227 metres. [sic] The road was constructed in the year of 1925. It was named Amherst Road, and then renamed Chaher Road in 1943 and renamed Fahd Road in 1947. It’s been called Xinhua Road since 1965. After International Settlement Authorities crossed the border to build Amherst Road in 1925, local and foreign merchant princes and riches built numbers of villas along the line. All the garden residences in foreign-style lanes (now alley 211 and alley 329 on Xinhua Road) were designed by Wood deck [Hudeck]. There have presented many unique, wonderful but diversified styles of Britain, America, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and others. The Ares [area] is known as the best zone in the western suburb of Shanghai “Columbia Circle”. In 2004 Xinhua Road was listed as one of historical and cultural areas in Shanghai.

This should give you a flavour of Columbia Circle:

and the number of letter boxes outside this villa should give you an idea of the increase in the level of occupancy that has been achieved since the revolution:

Back on Xinhua Road one of the Garden Villas has been turned into a fancy French Restaurant & Bistro, Villa Le Bec:

Alongside is a 1930s English country-style garden residence and next to that an Italian Villa, built in 1932 for the Rong family – wealthy Chinese business tycoons with political connections (no photo).

whilst on the other side of the road there is the former residence of the American Military Lieutenant General and his Chinese wife, now home to two Shanghai Orchestras.

and in a mixture of Western and Eastern Chinese styles the former home of the Chinese political chief Chen Guofu, who belonged to one of the four important families of 1920s Shanghai.

From here the Brits Walk went on to visit the Hudec Memorial Hall (more of that another time), a brief stroll through the local Huashan Park and finally lunch for those who stayed on afterwards at The Gathering Clouds Yunnan (far South-West Province of China) Restaurant: