<That's Shanghai>, Feb.2007

For all the justifiable laments about Shanghai's rapidly-vanishing architectural heritage, it remains a paradise for retro junkies, particularly those with an affection for the streamlined stylistics of Art Deco. "Shanghai actually still has one of the largest concentrations of Art Deco architecture in the world," explains Deke Erh, photographer and co-author of Art Deco Shanghai. "The last time Shanghai had a building boom, it was this style and a lot remains. After 1949, Chinese society was closed off and new things did not come in, so the newest thing to the Shanghainese were from the 1930s and 40s."
That said, Erh adds that today Shanghai is once again erecting a large number of new buildings as the economy booms. But he notes the lack of a defining style displayed by this new generation of architects. Indeed, he poses the question: "What will they give the world to see?"
What past generations have built is evident in Erh's own work-to date, he has published 52 books, and Art Deco Shanghai is his 15th documenting historical Chinese architecture, with American collaborator Tess Johnston. This latest publication, out late last year in 2006, is by far his most personal work. "This is Deke's book," Johnston declares. "He's been collecting Deco furniture for years."
Erh attributes his enthusiasm to growing up surrounded by Shanghai's Art Deco edifices, a pervasive part of Shanghai's aesthetic identity. Shanghai's deco heritage is distinct, Erh says, because, "Shanghai had the different districts determining the different styles. There are even Art Deco shikumen, so it's a very rich offering."
"Shanghai unique deco characteristics are its incorporating of Chinese symbolism, which is not found anywhere else," adds Johnston. "Also, it covers the whole spectrum: you have villas, furniture, cinemas, apartments, probably more diversity than anywhere else. Shanghai has always looked forward, and in the 1920s that meant Art Deco."
In the past, Erh and Johnston's books have explored architectural themes to the exclusion of all else; this new book is the first to include the design of furniture and other objects. That said, these items are given fairly cursory attention, filling only 66 pages of the 320-page work. The remaining pages are divided into sections for public buildings, apartments and residences.
That said, Johnston says that it's very hard to get information in Shanghai, because unlike in the rest of the world, there's no access to the municipal archives. "To gain access," she explains, "you must have the established owner in tow, but it's hard to navigate the old versus new owners, hard to say who has ownership, so we work from the outside. There are Chinese books with some information, like from Tongji, but there's generally not much information you can get."
To illustrate her point, Johnston contrasts Shanghai with Asmara in Eritrea, another Art Deco center she and Erh are researching. "It has a population of 200,000, is very poor with no traffic, but offers lots of information. Here, we can't get anything. People abroad find it hard to believe how little documentation there is on Shanghai."
Still, what the pair has uncovered makes for compelling reading, including Erh's favorite subject, the story of Chinese architects designing in Deco. "There were a lot of returned foreign architecture students back from the University of Pennsylvania in the US, or Paris, or Tokyo," he says. "They felt the new city needed a new style, and gave it Shanghai Deco. But they had a hard time of it, and after 1949 most left for Taiwan or abroad, and so didn't train the next generation."
Brief though it was, Shanghai's Art Deco period offers plenty of material. Erh and Johnston's next project will continue the theme with a book comparing Shanghai's and Miami's Deco. In addition, they took part in an exhibition on Shanghai's Deco at Miami's Art Deco Weekend last month, along with a number of Shanghai officials. The exhibition will show in Shanghai in March, with Miami preservationists attending, then travel to Melbourne in April. Erh hopes said officials will study and adopt the Miami preservation approach. In the meantime, Art Deco Shanghai should help raise public and political awareness of the city's Deco heritage and spur interest in preserving it.
Help that appears to be desperately needed. Art Deco, Erh says with a sigh, is a popular buzzword in naming new building projects, whether or not it features relevant design elements. "They fell it sells, so they use the word." Even so, Erh is optimistic. While he recognizes that popular interest in (and understanding of) Shanghai's historic architecture remains low, it is growing. "Shanghainese don't know what Art Deco is, but they will see this book and recognize it immediately."

Art Deco Shanghai，Deke Erh Center, Bld. 2, Lane 210
Taikang Lu, by Sinan Lu, RMB 600（64150675）