The oldest jazz orchestra to fall in love with old Shanghai

BarcelonaWhen you see them enter, you may wonder if the concert will last long. The jazz orchestra at the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai is made up of musicians over 80 years old. Nostalgic for the rhythms that sounded when it was a city where Western fashions coexisted in a fragile balance with Chinese tradition. Fortunately, the concerts last quite a while, accompanied by the voices of younger singers singing hits from the 1940s in beautiful period costumes. qipao with elegant button-down collars that made actresses like Ruan Lingyu and Hu Die fashionable.

These are dresses that she also brought Eileen Chang (Shanghai, 1920 - Los Angeles, 1995), the writer who best explained that Shanghai that still fascinates many people with works such as The love that brings down citiesIt's the old Shanghai of spies, riots, and opium, controlled by the West for decades. Walking along the Bund promenade, where the Fairmont Peace and its orchestra are located, you see centuries-old buildings built by the English and French on one side of the river. On the other hand, some of the tallest buildings in the world, built in the 21st century. It's all a matter of perspective: before, people looked south to see European buildings; now, young people are fascinated by turning their backs on them to look at the new skyscrapers that symbolize a China looking toward the future. Chang never saw these buildings again, because in 1949 she fled the communists for the United States.

But her figure has not been entirely forgotten in Shanghai. In the building where she was born, at 85 Kangding Dong Lu, there is a small room that commemorates her. Eileen Chang lived in different places in a city that never stands still. Some of these buildings have been fortunately preserved, such as the Eddington House at 195 Changde Road, in the style of art deco. The author of The love that makes cities fall, Among other works, she locked herself in these buildings when the Japanese occupied Shanghai, bringing down hell from heaven in the form of bombs. But in her books, war was a supporting actor; she preferred to talk about love.

Eileen Chang's works, initially published as short stories in the press, are ideal for reading with an old jazz record in the background, like those of that endearing orchestra that you can see live every day by paying for a drink at the hotel bar. Eileen also got to know this bar at a time when people bought newspapers to read in the middle of bombings. Stories of people who wanted to escape, like the divorced protagonist of The love that brings down cities. Fleeing like Eileen herself, who always yearned for a city that was disappearing. But luckily, it's still here. Walking there, you can still find traces of that old Shanghai.

Recommendation for traveling to Shanghai

Book: The love that brings down cities

Author: Eileen Chang

Editorial: Editor Club