On this road
There are red revolutionary memories
There are also historical memories of influential people
And the memories of ordinary residents living on this road
The documentary "Jiangning Road" is pieced together from the legendary stories related to Jiangning Road: from the earliest screening of Western film dramas in China in Xuyuan, to the figure of the left-wing filmmaker in the Meilong Town Wine Family, from ruan Lingyu's residence in the last two years of her life, to Maggie, one of the most luxurious theaters in the Far East... The legend of video and art on Jiangning Road continues to this day.
Guandu Lu has witnessed a century of vicissitudes
Life is the oxide layer left by the years on the building, and the dust, luster, and texture on it are all traces of time and people. The scenery inside and outside the old building has changed several times, but the memories of the exchange are still whispering and singing.
At the intersection of Jiangning Road and Beijing West Road, there is a unique style building hidden behind a high-rise building. More than a hundred years ago, its owner named it "GuanduLu". In the documentary, the photographer walks through this century-old building with a beloved camera. On its west side is a triangular hanging tile steep-sloped herringbone roof, on the east side is a hexagonal tower shaped like a medieval castle, and the central façade protrudes into a triangular archway with decorative stone carvings, and the free mix-and-match combination is typical of Queen Anne's style. During the Xinhai Revolution, as a representative of the Southern Revolutionary Army, Wu Tingfang held peace talks with Tang Shaoyi, a representative of Yuan Shikai's side, in Shanghai. The official place of the North-South Peace Conference was on Nanjing Road, but Guandulu on Gordon Road (formerly known as Jiangning Road) witnessed a more secret confrontation, containment, and maneuver between the master and the parties.
The first thirty years of the twentieth century were a period when the Jiangning Road houses gradually formed a scale. Mainly in the unique style of single-family bungalows, most of the remaining are quite artistic value, and even glimpse the architectural trends of the time. Nos. 722 to No. 726 are two well-preserved Siamese Western-style bungalows. It was once the residence of tea merchant Li Naichang and his family. The words "Huaiyin Xiaozhu" can be faintly seen above the hall, which shows the owner's love for the house at that time.
Mr. Gao, a resident of Jiangning Road, has a deep affection for this road. When Mo was about eight or nine years old, he stayed in the old house in Lane 401, Jiangning Road, until now. In his eyes, the grass and trees of this road, brick by brick, make up many fragments of his life. In the documentary, he takes the audience into Delufang, built in 1912 at No. 54, Lane 363, Jiangning Road. Delufang consisted of five conjoined buildings, reflecting the living conditions of the residents at that time.
No. 511 Jiangning Road is a large, unique qingshui red brick building, which is a representative of the old Shanghai public building, which is the location of the former Gordon Road patrol house, and there is also a Sikh church inside.
Tickets for the Majestic Theater of that year were hard to come by
The Majestic Theater on Jiangning Road, after a renovation in 2016, has returned from the appearance to the way it was built. On the first day of the opening of the Majestic Theater in 1941, the multicolored song and dance film "Maggie Flowers" of the 20th Century Fox Film Company in the United States was screened, echoing the opening of Maggie. Maggie Maggie, taking the meaning of beautiful and flawless jade, this name is collected from society. At that time, Maggie was the first round of theater screenings, and the public was lucky to get a ticket to Maggie's movie and watch a movie here. In the light and shadow, it seems that you can glimpse the prosperous cultural and entertainment scenery along the southern end of Jiangning Road.
On this road, there was once the 1920s Shanghai's top luxury hotel, the Majestic Hotel. On December 1, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling chose to hold a wedding ceremony at this hotel.
Wang Qiyao, the heroine of Wang Anyi's "Long Hate Song", was the winner of the 1946 Miss Shanghai beauty pageant. In August 1946, the unprecedented Miss Shanghai Contest Garden Tour was held at the Xinxianlin Ballroom on Nanjing West Road on Jiangning Road, which was then Jing'an Temple Road on Gordon Road, attracting more than 3,000 spectators.
In the middle of Jiangning Road, there is an exquisite traditional Chinese garden, which is owned by the Xu family and is known as Xu Garden, which once had the reputation of "one of the ten scenic spots in northern Shanghai". Although it is a private garden, Xu Garden is also open to the public, and often holds lantern festivals such as tea tasting and flower viewing. When the Lumière brothers of France had just screened the world's first movie "The Train Enters the Station" in Paris for half a year, the Xu family ordered a projector from France to screen "shadow dramas" in Xu Garden, becoming the first place in China to show movies. It was also a popular place for the literati and scholars to hold exhibitions and gatherings at that time. One day in 1929, Mei Lanfang stepped onto the stage of Xu Garden, and Xu Lingyun used a self-purchased 16mm camera to record Mei Lanfang's early stage performance.
The Meron Restaurant is hidden on the northwest side of a three-story manor house with towers, verandas and large pillars, which was built in 1938. Xiao Langtang walked out of the hotel and had a close relationship with its later leader, Wu Mei. After studying at Jinan University, she met Mr. Tian Han and embarked on the road of patriotic salvation under the influence of the other party. At that time, the famous literary and artistic circles who often went in and out of Meilong Town included Tian Han, Xia Yan, Sha Qianli, Huang Zongying, Bai Yang, and later some people in the Yue opera circle, and the ten sisters of Yue opera headed by Teacher Yuan Xuefen were all regular visitors to Meilong Town. Many patriotic, many left-wing literary and artistic circles also often come and go here.
The 2,594-meter-long road has gone through vicissitudes
There are still many secrets hidden in the old houses
The past is always light and zero
The appearance of Jiangning Road is always changing with each passing day