Shanghai-style culture center opens in revival of historic Zhangyuan
A haipai, or Shanghaistyle, culture center has been unveiled at historic Zhangyuan as a highlight of a series of events to celebrate the first anniversary of its rebirth.
Zhangyuan, or Zhang's Garden, earned its name after Wuxi business tycoon Zhang Shuhe, also known as Chang Su-ho, bought the property and opened it to the public in 1885 as China's first modern pleasure garden.
With a copious supply of novelties on offer, including a roller coaster, bike racing and movie screenings, it soon rose to become a popular rendezvous. With the completion of the city's tallest Western-style building — Arcadia Hall — in 1893, the garden ushered in its heyday which lasted to the early 1900s.
After Zhang died in 1919, his dream park died with him. The garden area was subdivided and sold to 28 developers.
Though Arcadia Hall, the garden's signature building, was pulled down, most of the buildings survived the wrecking ball, making Zhangyuan one of Shanghai's best-preserved and most diverse shikumen, or stone-gate, compounds.
Over the years, the stately residences were partitioned into smaller units occupied by multiple families, which led to squalid living conditions, with shared kitchens and toilets, and cracked walls and leaky ceilings.
Jing'an launched an urban renewal plan for Zhangyuan in 2018, and started relocations and renovations the following year.
In November 2022, Zhangyuan opened its western section as a site of fashion, culture and commerce, with historic buildings converted to boutique stores and pop-up displays of well-established luxury brands including Dior, Louis Vuitton and Vacheron Constantin as well as Instagrammable stores such as Blue Bottle Coffee, By Far and RE Bike Museum.
Currently, it has 14 renowned international brands. Three of the world's biggest fashion conglomerates — LVMH, Richemont and Kering — have stolen a march on their rivals in securing vantage storefronts in the redevelopment. They are promising displays of luxury goods never before seen on domestic Chinese shelves.
As a highlight of an array of its first anniversary celebrations, the “Arcadia Lab” Haipai Culture Exchange Center officially opened early this month.
Arcadia Hall represented the culmination of Zhangyuan, and its name was adopted to recreate the earlier glamour, according to the Jing'an Real Estate Group, which operates Zhangyuan.
The center, in the No. 8 Building, showcases Zhangyuan's past and future blueprint, and displays works of Shanghai celebrities such as painter Tang Yun, educator Huang Yanpei and actor Zhao Dan. A series of creative products embedded with Zhangyuan elements was also unveiled, and cultural activities such as exhibitions, salons and performances will be staged at the center regularly.
At the center's launch ceremony, the Jing'an Real Estate Group signed a strategic cooperation with the Shanghai Museum and Shanghai Dongfang Newspaper Co, naming them as the first “culture partners” of Zhangyuan. More partners are welcome.
Meanwhile, a roundtable discussion on Zhangyuan's renovation and a seminar on the repair of historic buildings was held.
Xiang Yihai, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Cultural Heritage; Zheng Shiling, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Tongji University; Shen Xiaoming, an architect who was responsible for Zhangyuan's renovation; and other experts took part in the discussions.
Xiang hailed Zhangyuan's renovation as an exemplary model of urban renewal.
Zheng said the best way to protect a city's cultural roots is to seek innovation in inheritance, and Zhangyuan presents an example of how to give a new lease of life to heritage.
Another highlight during the anniversary was the “Root and Leaves Fashion and Culture Week,” co-held with WWD.
A fashion show by Chinese young designers was presented on Maoming Road N., a narrow alleyway in the middle of Zhangyuan and Fengshengli — both shikumen-style commercial and cultural landmarks.
Themed “She Power,” the show reproduced the grand occasion of the women's conference held in Zhangyuan in 1897 for women's rights.
The week also featured an exhibition which explored the roots of global fashion culture.
Currently, the highly-anticipated eastern section is still under renovation.
It is set to be completed in 2026, featuring an art museum designed by renown Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, and a boutique hotel renovated from a masterpiece by famed architect Laszlo Hudec — the former site of Gonghui Hospital — in addition to residences, offices and commercial complexes.
Chinese teams dominate eSports Shanghai Masters at Jing'an
The Jing'an Sports Center hosted the 2023 eSports Shanghai Masters earlier this month.
Over five days, around 100 players from 16 elite teams from across the world competed in four competition games: League of Legends, Honor of Kings, DOTA2 and Identity V, as well as an exhibition game, Street Fighter 6.
This year's Asian Games featured four competition games for the first time.
Chinese teams won four events, with EDG (EDward Gaming) winning League of Legends, iG (Invictus Gaming) winning DOTA2, DYGwinning Honor of Kings, and Gr(Glory) winning Identity V. Zeng Zhuojun, also known as Kid, defeated Ding Yuhan, or DCQ, in the Street Fighter 6 final to win the tournament's first trophy. They are known in China as the best Street Fighter 6 players.
The Guangdong Province native was competing in the eSports Shanghai Masters for the first time. He considers Shanghai to be his second home. “It's a great honor to compete at such a high level,” Zeng said.
Many players praised the eSports Shanghai Masters for providing a pleasant gaming experience. The GEN.G squad from South Korea, which competed in League of Legends, recorded moments from the competition on social media, which drew a lot of attention. CEO Arnold Hur said that he couldn't think of any reason not to participate in the eSports Shanghai Masters.
According to Xu Bin, director of the Shanghai Sports Bureau, influential games are an essential aspect of Shanghai's development as a global eSports hub.
Appeal to industrial players
Jing'an is known as the cradle of Shangha's eSports industry. eSports Shanghai Masters was launched in the district in 2019. The billiondollar sector is concentrated in the Daning neighborhood, specifically on Lingshi Road, a small road that connects to the traffic artery of Gonghexin Road.
When the neighborhood began to transition from smokestack industries to a modern metropolis about 20 years ago, young eSports players discovered abandoned factories ideal for pursuing their goals. Gradually, an industrial network de- veloped throughout the region.
The year 2019 is critical to the district's eSports strategy. Aside from the establishment of eSports Shanghai Masters, the district also launched the development of the Lingshi Road as the core of China's eSports, followed by the release of a series of favorable policies and programs.
Jing'an currently houses almost 100 eSports businesses, including game developers, operators and broadcasters. Many of them are leading players, including China's premier eSports club, EDG, Shanghai-based VSPO, Asia's biggest eSports event operator, and Activision Blizzard, the developer of “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft”.
Notably, the China eSports Industry Research Institute, co-built by Jing'an and the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, was inaugurated in the district in April.
“Jing'an has earned the advantage of being the first to market, but it must expand its services to retain its appeal to industrial players,” said Zhu Qinqin, secretary-general of Shanghai eSports Association.
“Jing'an is an unusual example of a comprehensive industrial chain. Only a few places in the world have such a comprehensive eSports industrial chain.”
The district owns more than 10 eSports venues, including Jing'an Sports Center and M-HUB. This year, about 210,000 square meters of space surrounding Lingshi Road will be made available to eSports enterprises.
Jing'an also offers 24-hour customized services to better serve eSports companies, as well as salons and other events on a regular basis to foster closer collaboration.
Photo-taking Site
A fountain in front of Wheelock square at the intersection of huashan road and nanjing road W. in Jing'an District has become a popular photo-taking site. Place your mobile phone at the edge of the fountain and you can get a photo of the beautiful Jing'an temple and its reflection.
Unveiling city's tea trading heritage
An exhibition exploring shanghai’s lesser-known title as a tea trading center has wrapped up at the haishang culture center.
Shanghai is well known as the global coffee capital with the most coffee shops, while its active role in China’s tea industry is relatively obscure. Shanghai has become the most
important port for exporting symbolic products representing china, such as porcelain, silk and tea, to the West, after it opened as a treaty port in 1843.
The city grew to become China’s largest tea trading center after 1860 because of its proximity to China’s major tea producing regions such as Zhejiang and Anhui provinces.
The exhibition is designed to showcase the city’s tea trading history over the past century, with more than 200 exhibits from shanghai collectors on display.
Highlights include a wall of old tins from well-established brands such as Wang Yi Ji, Huang Long Tai and Wang Yu tai, and an array of century-old in-voices printed with Chinese and English characters, demonstrating the city’s role as an international trade hub.
The exhibition is part of the 28th Shanghai International Tea Culture Tourism Festival.
Duo Exhibitions
Two new exhibitions were unveiled at the Meet You Museum in Shanghai this month.
“Meet Ancient Egypt: Mummy, Life and Death in Ancient Egypt,” which will run through march 3, 2024, presents 123 cultural relics, including mummies, coffins and amulets with a history over more than 4,000 years.
“Meet Titian and Renaissance: Masterpieces of European Art in 500 Years” features 59 works of 47 masters such as Titian, Raphael, Peter Paul Rubens and Sandro Botticelli.
It will run through march 10, 2024.
编辑：徐悦琳
资料：区新闻办、上海日报
转载请注明来自上海静安官方微信
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