Shanghai and Beijing are arguably the most important cities in China, but the histories of these two enormous urban centres are very different. One was for hundreds of years the capital of Imperial China; the other only became a metropol as a consequence of the development that led to the collapse of the empire. 

Using two 1930s maps, we will discover leads and patterns that will help us to understand what the cities were like in the early Republican period and how they became what they are today. We will find their differences, but also see how they have significantly influenced each other. We will use the maps to answer questions like: When did Shanghai get its first public park? And when did Beijing? When were the city walls of the cities torn down? What city had the highest building in 1932? We will also touch upon topics including the Japanese occupation, horse racing, rickshaws, prostitution and Beijing opera as we seek to uncover the two cities’ road to modernity. 

The discussion will be led by Patrick Cranley from Historic Shanghai and Lars Ulrik Thom from Beijing Postcards.

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Where: Online Talk via Zoom

Cost: 100RMB per person