Paramount Ballroom

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The Paramount Ballroom was the largest and a notorious ballroom in the city of Shanghai during the decadent era before the People's Liberation Army established control over the city in 1949.

1 Pinnacle of High Class Society
2 Prominence
3 Communist Management
4 Modern Day Management
- 4.1 Accident
5 External links

[edit] Pinnacle of High Class Society

The Ballroom was constructed in 1933 by a group of Chinese bankers in the style of Art Deco and was a meeting place for wealthy elite of Shanghai society. The Ballroom lasted under its original owners before going bankrupt in 1936. In 1937, it was converted into a taxi dance hall featuring Chinese dance hostesses, which it remained until 1949.

[edit] Prominence

Chinese playboys frequented the venue who were escorted by prostitutes and dancing girls. In 1941, a dancing girl was killed by a gunman, whether she refused to dance with a Japanese man or because she was suspected of espionage.

[edit] Communist Management

In 1949, the Paramount was converted into a cinema, screening a program of Maoist propaganda films. As a result of the cultural revolution, the building became defunct and obscure.

[edit] Modern Day Management

In 2001, Taiwanese investors spent $3-million to refurbish the venue and reopened it as a ballroom in the old glamorous style, with red-and-gold décor.

In December 2006, the Paramount's Taiwanese owners announced the ballroom was losing revenue so the owners decided to convert the second and third floors into a disco. Only the fourth-floor ballroom will remain in the old style, and preservationists have expressed concerns that the structure could be damaged by the reverberations of the disco.