This Weekend: History of ‘La Concession’; Nighttime Suzhou Creek

we’re celebrating national days (the U.S., France), keeping cool with an evening river walk, a cool museum day trip, and a refreshing beer & buildings walk.

Suzhou Creek by Night

Saturday July 11, 7pm

RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

Hot summer nights, cool Suzhou Creek.

Rivers are where great cities are born, and Shanghai’s no exception. Summer is the perfect time for an evening walk along Suzhou Creek.

With the neon of the city glowing, the story of Shanghai unfolds: from the factories and warehouses of the industrial engine that fueled her growth, to the site of a landmark World War II battle, sprawling apartment houses and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the stately post office, churches, and the historic bridges, prettily lit up against the evening sky.

La Concession

The Bastille Day Walk: La Concession

Sunday July 12, 2pm

RMB 200 members, 300 nonmembers

A walk through the history of the former French Concession—La Concession, as they used to call it--is the way to celebrate French national day in Shanghai.

We start where the story began, at the oldest part of the former French Concession by the waterfront, where very few venture. Then we’ll head westward, following the path of the Concession as it grew, tracing the story of Shanghai’s French pedigree in its institutions and the lives of those who lived there, of the historic schools, churches, residences, police stations, the prettily landscaped parks, and hear all about the spirited characters of Frenchtown.

Ancient Chinese Folk Arts

Ancient Chinese Folk Arts at Six Arts Museum

Saturday July 18, 9am

departing Shanghai 9am – departing Six Arts 7pm (approx.)

RMB 1000 members, 1100 nonmembers

includes museum entry & all tickets, curator-led museum tour, Lili town visit, lunch and dinner, private bus (round-trip)

A day trip to the wonder that is the Six Arts Museum, China’s largest folk arts museum, for a deep dive into thousands of years of Chinese culture through its world class collection of ancient hand-crafted works. Sixty galleries, over 40,000 works, spread over four floors in a former factory building in a water town.

Founder Mitch Dudek began collecting pieces in the countryside in 1981, and as China transformed, these objects became the last remaining repositories of now-vanished traditions and lifestyles. He collected the pieces, and the stories that went them—Mitch didn’t know it then, but he was rescuing them from demolition and oblivion. A whole way of life, preserved.

We’ll explore neighboring Lili town, an utterly charming watertown where local residents still live, the kind of place that the museum artifacts came from.

Six Arts best-kept secret is its excellent Chinese restaurant, and we’ll sample its specialties and then, for those who wish, stay the night in Six Arts stunning onsite hotel, surrounded by museum pieces, and head up to the roof for a round of mini-golf surrounded by classic pailous, or gateways.

The Summer Beer & Buildings Walk

Saturday July 25, 4pm

RMB 350 members, 450 nonmembers

includes 2 beers

Come hear about Shanghai’s beer-drinking history while enjoying a stroll through historic architecture and some refreshing brews!

On this walk, we’ll explore a part of Jing’an that’s just not explored enough, one that is rich with history and also beer. A grand domed neoclassical mansion, home of the scion of a newspaper fortune and a tobacco fortune; a modernist lane and a hidden temple; a Fujian retreat and lane neighborhoods, and full of colorful stories and Shanghai’s usual extraordinary range of architecture, from Art Deco to neoclassical to shikumen.

Along the way, we’ll answer some burning questions: who first brought beer to China? What was the beer lovers drink of choice in Old Shanghai? Where did they drink it? What happened to the beer business after 1949? All this, and suds too!