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Yes, that’s right, Grandmaster Flash, the hip-hop legend and first in his genre to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2007), performed at Mao (a relatively intimate little venue) in Shanghai.  With great anticipation, I met up with a few friends at about 11pm that evening and the place was starting to fill up … not bad for a Thursday evening.  GMF didn’t go on until almost 1am (by which point the place was packed), and he jammed.  In today’s digital world where DJs seem to spend most of their time pushing buttons and hitting keys on a laptop, the master showed that old school still rocks.  Of course, I’m wondering what he was thinking when he looked out into the audience which must have been at least 80% white (and the balance Asian)?!  Another great Shanghai memory …

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Here are a few pics from this Chinese New Year’s Eve (2010), the first one that I have spent in Shanghai. As expected, there were fireworks everywhere (including the ones that we were lighting) as soon as the sun went down. We got a reprieve from the typical all-night-until-the-sun-comes-up barrage, however, due to the unusually heavy snow (particularly for Shanghai) that was coming down by about 2am.

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Shanghai continues to develop at an astounding pace.  Take the subway for instance.  Opened in 1995, it is already the 2^nd longest in Asia (after Seoul) and several more lines and extensions will open this year in preparation for the World Expo.  Here’s one of the trains at rush hour …

2009 marked the 60^th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.  In addition to the big military parade in Beijing that was televised around the world, there were celebrations across China.  For the National Day holiday in Shanghai, there were plenty of fireworks, the night skyline was magnificent and there were national flags hanging everywhere.

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I want to share a glimpse from a unique tour that I took of Shanghai—a tour of what’s left of Shanghai’s Jewish history.  The plaque pictured below (inscribed with Chinese, English and Hebrew) reads:

THE DESIGNATED AREA FOR STATELESS REFUGEES

“From 1937 to 1941, thousands of Jews came to Shanghai fleeing from Nazi persecution.  Japanese occupation authorities regarded them as “stateless refugees” and set up this designated area to restrict their residence and business ….”

Hongkou District People’s Government

Beyond this wave of Jews who fled Europe before World War II and were turned away from ports around the world until they were finally given refuge in Shanghai, there were earlier migrations of Iraqi and Russian Jews to Shanghai.  To this day, several landmarks that were built by these immigrants (including the famous Peace Hotel on the Bund) remain, and they are a significant part of Shanghai’s rich multicultural history.

Plaque memorializing the Jewish refugees in Shanghai.

The former site of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Shanghai.

Plaque memorializing the site of the JDC.

The front door of a unit in the former Jewish ghetto—the Star of David artwork still there.

If you are interested in taking such a tour, you can find more here.