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This winter holiday marked what was my third visit to Shanghai since relocating to China one brisk afternoon in February 2019. As with all travel plans that had come before, I was prepared to traverse the city with my arsenal of cameras and rolls of film of varying speeds and formats. As a self-proclaimed insatiable creative type, I could never simply settle on color or black & white. I always had to shoot two rolls simultaneously. This film debate was not merely a matter of aesthetics, but highlighted an intrinsic dilemma; Does the world look better in color or black & white?
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A local corner shop in Huangpu from two perspectives
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When I think of Shanghai, prior to (now) living here, images of the International Settlement as detailed in every Paul French novel I have read come to mind. Fragmented anecdotes of the opium wars, the underbelly of old Shanghai and the shady expats who frequented equally shady haunts, the glitz and glamor of the Viktor Sassoon heyday, and the tragedies that unfolded right outside his lair, rub elbows in the caverns of memory. What is presently known as The Fairmont Peace Hotel, sat at the east end of Nanjing Road along The Bund, has yet to live up to the romanticized version I have read about and seen photos of in books and on the walls of its second-floor museum. From my perspective, it’s still the Cathay Hotel, or the later rebranded Peace Hotel, and it only exists in black & white. This makes me wonder if the inability to accept places and products of bygone eras in their modern-day incarnation is an archaic mindset or a matter of artistic personal preference.
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Fish drying out in Xuhui (top) and Huangpu (bottom)
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During my monthlong holiday last January, while wandering the former French Concession on foot and into the talons of any ‘lilong’ accessible enough to pass through, I could see how the color dilemma highlighted two distinct memories of my Shanghai experience: The first represented by the monochrome longing and absence of color I felt upon returning to Beijing, with the other represented by muted colors of spring renewal and the fiery red determination to be reunited with the city.
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Laundry day in Jing'an (top) and a haircut in Huangpu (bottom)
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What I love most about exploring Shanghai is capturing the duality of the very old and the very new. Where laundry swings inconspicuously off ‘shikumen’ houses while Pudong gleams in the distance. Where Chinese New Year decorations and cured meat dangle on oversized hangers, and oversized dehydrated fish are strung along a community gate like a wintry curtain. Where, if you take enough turns, you might run into someone receiving a fresh shave between two parked cars, and it won’t feel jarring. Sometimes these ethereal micro scenes that embody the city look better in black & white, but these days I prefer to recount my time here in the kaleidoscope of color and magnetism that I am currently getting to know both on film and in person.
All photos and words by Lauren Elizabeth
