|
|
After a half century of neglect, Shanghai is starting to live up to its reputation for decadence and delight
By Hannah Beech
MAP: Shanghai
During the 1930s, shanghai—a.k.a. the Paris of the Orient—was both swank apex and sin sinkhole. At the Great World entertainment complex, the vices became more outlandish as you climbed up six floors, past acrobats, dwarves, singsong girls and stripteasers. This was the city immortalized in the movie Shanghai Express when Marlene Dietrich purred: "It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily."
But after 1949, the communists brought their monochromatic palette to China and Shanghai was straitjacketed as punishment for its formerly outré ways. Only now, after years of repression, Shanghai has finally erupted into technicolor. The city is embracing its sequined past with decadent bars, eateries and nightclubs. Ecstasy is the new opium, and the required accessory is a top-end Nokia instead of a polished walking stick. The excesses that stoked Shanghai's legendary past are fueling its future as well. After-dinner conversations are filled with, "So I was in Paris over the weekend," or "We bought the apartment because it was so cheap—only one-point-six." Yes, that's million. In U.S. dollars.
Although many of Shanghai's historic tree-lined neighborhoods were torn down in the go-go Nineties, many graceful mansions remain, especially in the old French Concession. The city's funkiest bars and restaurants crowd this area, some in renovated colonial villas. True, there's been plenty of recent buzz about Xintiandi, a Disneyfied version of Ye Olde Shanghai that houses the city's poshest restaurants and bars in gutted old buildings. But Xintiandi feels like a sleight-of-hand: an insta-version of Shanghai that betrays little of the city's real history.
Avoid it. Instead experience real colonial splendor at Face, located on the verdant grounds of the Ruijin Guesthouse. Face combines two restaurants and a sumptuous bar in an ornate mansion built in 1936. The two eateries offer northern Thai and Indian food, the latter in a romantic tent complete with wooden pillars and fountains. Never mind that you're in China and not eating, you know, Chinese food: Shanghai prides itself on offering up the best of whatever global nosh you're craving. After all, this is the city where the favorite soup is not wonton but borscht—brought by the city's Eastern European immigrants in the early 1900s and now proudly made by countless Shanghai grandmas.
After you finish your phad thai or tikka masala, head to Face's bar, which opens out to a sweeping lawn. Sit in the Ming-style chairs for a quiet drink on the veranda. House drinks include the Chinese Whisper (Cointreau, Midori and lemonade) or a frozen vodka-cassis cocktail called the Shanghai Blues. The real action, though, is in the cushioned front salon, where the jeunesse dorée of the naughty Noughties gather each night to discuss red lipstick and red chips—even the prettiest, poutiest Shanghai vixen dabbles in the market. If nothing else, a conversation might elicit a decent stock tip. Hints and hustle are what the new Shanghai is all about—just like the Shanghai of yesteryear.
Click here for more TIME travel stories, city guides and info
|
|
|
