History of the Astor House Hotel (Shanghai) 1858-1900

The history of the Astor House Hotel, Shanghai 1858-1900 traces the development of the western first hotel in China, which was the successor of the Richards Hotel and Restaurant in Shanghai, China, from its relocation in 1858 from its original site in the French Concession to its sale to Auguste Vernon in 1900.

The story of the Hotel provides a revealing insight into the history of China itself. According to Rob Gifford, "The Astor House Hotel has witnessed the whole sweep of China's emergence into the modern world, from English opium running in the 1840s through the tea dances of polite society in the 1920s and to the excesses of Maoist China in the 1960s." [1]

Contents

Peter Felix Richards (1858–1861)

In February 1858 Richards' store and the Richards Hotel and Restaurant were relocated to the site leased from Charles Wills on the northern banks of the Suzhou Creek, near its confluence with the Huangpu River in the Hongkou District of Shanghai.[2] probably 'because of an unbeatable combination of lower priced land and convenient access caused by the construction of Wills' Bridge."[3] The new Hotel was a two-story East India style building.[4] On 5 February 1858 Richards announced that:

We beg to give notice that we have removed from our Establishment to the Premises expressly built for us, immediately after crossing the New Bridge between the British and American Consulates. The Premises command a beautiful view of the whole front settlement and of the surrounding country and down towards Woosung as far as the eye can reach. They have also a commanding and central river position remarkably well adapted for Shipping Business; we Have spared no expense to make the Store convenient and safe for Goods.[5]

By 1859 the hotel was renamed (in English) the Astor House Hotel,[6] while retaining the original Chinese name until 1959. According to actress Grace Hawthorne, who stayed at the Astor House in 1894: "The man who named it, some thirty years ago or so, had been to New-York and found in the Astor House a model of elegance and hotel excellence. He returned to Shanghai, and forthwith named his hotel the Astor House.[7] According to John B. Powell, "He christened his establishment in honor of the then most famous hotel in the United States, the Astor House in New York; however, he was compelled to add the designation "hotel," as the fame of the New York hostelry had not yet reached the China coast. Aside from the name, the two establishments had little in common."[8]

Even after the sale of the Astor House Hotel to Englishman Henry W. Smith on 1 January 1861,[9] Richards and his wife were still residents of the Astor House at the time that their seven year old daughter, Helen Mary Richards, died on 10 February 1861.[10] By 17 March 1861, Richards had relocated to Tientsin, where he had established himself as an "Agent ... to carry on business generally with the Chinese in Imports and Exports, having had twenty one years experience in business in China and being acquainted with the language sufficiently to transact business without the assistance of Compradors."[11] In March 1862 Richards was described as "an enterprising speculator".[12] By 1863 Richards was back in Shanghai, when his son Peter Felix MacKenzie Richards (died 18 December 1920 in Colchester, Essex, England) was born.[13] Another son, Frederick Edward was also born in China by 1865.[14] Richards died on 14 November 1868 in Shanghai, and left an estate valued at less than £2.[15] Subsequently Rebecca and their five surviving children relocated to Britain.[16]

Henry W. Smith (1861–1868)

On 1 January 1861 the Astor House Hotel was sold to Englishman Henry W. Smith,[17] In 1862 Smith advertised the Hotel as a "first-class FAMILY HOTEL, ... [that] is unsurpassed, comprising every comfort and convenience, particularly for Gentleman and Families travelling."[18] Under Smith's ownership, there was increased foreign patronage due to his innovations such as a twelve table billiard room,[4] and a public bar, and dances and plays held at the Hotel. Urban myth suggests that "in the nineteenth century, you could order opium from room service at the Astor House."[1] However, despite being one of the better hotels in Shanghai, the lack of internal plumbing was known to cause death to some guests, including members of the Japanese ship Senzai maru who stayed at the Astor House Hotel for ten weeks in 1862: "Three crew members died, at least one from dysentery contracted as a result of inadvertently imbibing the filthy waters of the Wusong River in which everything they consumed had been washed.[19] On 17 September 1862 "a fatal case of cholera occurred in the house", causing the illness of "the wife of the proprietor of the hotel ... [who] was seized with the same disease" and of the seventeen military officers of the 31st Regiment who were billeted at the Astor House Hotel, "nine of them were attacked with sickness, and three of the number invalided."[20] During 1863 the swamps and "enormous pools of filthy and stagnant water which . . . stretched for a considerable distance behind the Astor House" were filled, thus ameliorating the situation.[21]

From 20 June 1863 Smith advertised that the Astor House was for sale. Smith indicated in the North-China Herald: "The business of the Hotel la good; and the only reason the proprietor wishes to dispose of it, is in consequence of ill health, which necessitates his departure from Shanghai."[22] On 21 September 1863, the American Concession, which was centred on Hongkou, merged with the British concession to form the International Settlement,[23] thus bringing the Astor House under that jurisdiction. By November 1863 the Hotel was managed by John Mahon.[24] By 1865 a gasworks was established on North Tibet Road by the British-owned Shanghai Gas Co., Ltd, which had been formed in 1862.[25] On 1 November 1865 coal gas was first used to artificially illuminate the streets of Shanghai,[25] earning the city the nickname "the city without nights."[26] The gas that lit the street lamps was known as "earth fire" (dihuo).[27] In 1867 the Astor House Hotel was the earliest in Shanghai to use coal gas to provide lighting. Ludovic (1846–1929), the Marquis de Beauvoir, who formed a negative view of Shanghai itself while staying at the Astor House in March 1867 described it as "the least horrible hotel in this place".[28] About that time the Astor House Hotel received a more favourable evaluation: "Several hotels or taverns exist in the different settlements, but the only establishment of high pretensions is the Astor House, situated in the Hong-kew Settlement, close by the bridge crossing the Soochow Creek. Good apartments and tolerable accommodation can be found here by strangers. Charges, about $3 per diem.[29] Despite Smith's best efforts, the Astor House remained unsold by August 1867.[30]

When Charles Carleton Coffin (1823–1918), a journalist at the Boston Journal, stayed at the Astor House in early 1868, he described the Hotel as "a building not quite so imposing as its namesake of New York, but clean and comfortable, with good fare, a courteous landlord and excellent landlady from Old England, who do their best to make our stay agreeable."[31]

George Baker (1868-1873)

By October 1868 George Baker was the proprietor of the Astor House.[32]

DeWitt Clinton Jansen (1873–1894)

By August 1873 the Astor House Hotel was purchased by DeWitt Clinton Jansen[33] (born at Shawangunk, New York on 8 November 1840; died 6 November 1894 in Shanghai),[34], "a Hudson River Dutchman",[35] a former merchant sailor, and colporteur in China's interior, and by 1871 Tide-Surveyor[36] in the Imperial Maritime Customs Service in Shanghai.[37] Jansen and his wife, Ellen McGrath (died 12 November 1918 in Shanghai)[38] and their seven children,[39] had been residents of Shanghai since 1871.[4] Jansen was a polyglot, fluent in a number of Chinese dialects, and assisted in the preparation of an 1871 Pekinese-English dictionary.[40] Due to their familiarity with Shanghai and other parts of China, Jansen offered an information and travel service.[4] Jansen was a member of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1877 to his death in 1894,[41] and the Honorary Curator of the Shanghai Museum from 1881 to 1883.[42] Jansen was first elected a member of the Shanghai Municipal Council on 16 January 1890.[43]

Egerton Laird indicated in 1875: "I am stopping at the Astor House, which seems clean and comfortable."[44] Another traveller opined: "We took up our abode at the Astor House, which is very comfortable, with a tolerable table d'hote, and not as expensive as we expected an Eastern hotel to be."[45] On 15 November 1875 the Shanghai Municipal Council decided to re-name the part of Hongkew road north and east from Whangpoo road, "Astor road" (later Jin Shan Lu).[46]

Enlargement (1876)

In 1876 the Astor House Hotel was enlarged,[4] with fifty new rooms added that were often used to accommodate newly arrived families who were awaiting the completion of their own residences.[47] At the time of the US presidential election on 6 November 1876, there were 85 American adult male citizens resident at the Astor House,[48] making it also a center of celebrations of the centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1876.[49] The Hotel was illuminated by both Chinese lanterns and colored fires manufactured by C.S. Churton & Co.[50] After the 1876 expansion the hotel was "four large neo-Renaissance brick buildings linked together by stone passageways."[51] American travel writer Thomas Wallace Knox (1835–1896) recorded this description of the Astor House Hotel after his stay in 1879. He found it

a less imposing fare than the Astor House of New York, though it occupied more ground, and had an evident determination to spread itself. A large space of greensward was enclosed by a quadrangle of one-story buildings, which formed the hotel, and consequently it required a great deal of walking to get from one part of the house to the opposite side....Some rooms were entered from a veranda on the side of the court-yard....On the other side there was a balcony...As this balcony was well provided with chairs and lounges, it was a pleasant resort on a warm afternoon. The house was kept by an American, but all his staff of servants was Chinese.[52]

In January 1877 plans were announced to construct a Turkish Bath on the Seward Road frontage as part of the expansion of the Astor House.[53] In 1881 Jansen renewed his lease of the Astor House Hotel with the trustees of the Wills' Estate for a period of thirty years.[54]

In its desire to be the premier hotel in Shanghai, "the Astor House was eager to be the first in Shanghai with the latest mod cons."[3] On 26 July 1882, "the revolution of electric lighting was introduced to Shanghai"[55] by the American-owned Shanghai Electric Co. which had been founded earlier in 1882.[56] The first public display of electric lights was made in Shanghai on 26 July 1882.[56] When Shanghai lit its first fifteen electric street lamps, seven were installed in the Astor House Hotel, making it the first building in China to be lit by electricity. In 1883 Shanghai became the first city in China to provide piped water to its residents.[26] In 1880 The Shanghai Waterworks Co., Ltd., was incorporated in England,[57] with operations commencing in Shanghai in 1883, and running water supplied from 1 August 1883.[58] The water was pumped from the Whangpoo River, filtered to a level of 99.99 per cent purity.[56] The Astor House Hotel was the first building in Shanghai to install running water. About this time accommodation was $3 a day.[59]

In 1882 the Astor House hosted the first Western circus in China. Benjamin David Benjamin, a Sephardic Jew, and colleague of Elias David Sassoon, in his efforts to acculturate to the prevailing British society in Shanghai, frequently entertained his friends at the Astor House from 1879 to 1883, "running up bills of as much as $70-90 for the evening".[60] By the end of 1887, the Astor House was described by Simon Adler Stern as "the principal American hotel in Shanghai"[61] The Astor House Hotel was "a landmark of the white man in the Far East, like Raffles Hotel in Singapore."[62]

During 1889, The Shanghai Land Investment Company Limited (SLIC), which was formed in December 1888, purchased the "extensive estate known as the Wills' Estate, which includes the site of the Astor House Hotel, and possesses one of the best business situations in Hongkew" for 390,000 taels.[63] By the end of November 1889 Jansen agreed with the Shanghai Land Investment Company to transfer the Astor House Hotel and its land to the proposed Shanghai Hotel Company (SHC).[64] The purchase, which have been funded by the issue of shares to the public and with a loan from the SLIC, would have included the purchase of Jansen's lease, which had 21 years to run, the goodwill of his business, and all of the furniture and trading stock, in exchange for half in SHC shares, and the balance in annual payments of 5,000 taels.[65] To allow for the expansion of the Astor House and the construction of a new one-hundred bedroom hotel and large assembly hall, the SHC would also purchase the land at the back of the Hotel, so that the property would extend from Whangpoo (Huangpu) Road to Broadway, and from Astor Road to Seward Road.[66] Until the necessary land was purchased, Jansen would continue to operate the Hotel for SHC until it was necessary to clear way for the new building.[67] However, in March 1890 the North-China Herald reported: "We are requested to state that the applications for shares not having been sufficiently numerous, the formation of the proposed Shanghai Hotel. Company, Limited, is to be abandoned for the present."[68]

By 1890, "For foreigners the Astor House was the center of social activity....At the Astor House bar tradespeople gathered every morning for an eleven-o'clock drink. It was at the Astor House that the important foreign balls were always held, in the banquet hall, but the Chinese at that time did not join in these revels.[69] Renovations to the Astor Hall were completed in time for the annual St. Andrew's Ball on Wednesday, 30 November 1892.[70] It was described as "a very handsome room with a height of some 30 feet, with a pretty stage at one end, the dancing floor being 100 by 43 feet. . . . It was fairly well lighted with gas, and the only possible improvement in the Hall itself would have been the substitution of electric lighting."[71] At that time Mr Arthur was the manager,[72]By 1892 and Frederick J. Buenzle, an American sailor,[73] rescued from assault by Jansen, was the night manager at the Ascot House until "the sudden and untimely death" of Jansen.[74] Buenzle left Shanghai on the steamship Empress of India bound for Philadelphia in July 1895.[75]

Frenchman Monsieur U. Videau, who had been a partner in L'Hôtel des Colonies at Rue du Consulat (Jinling Dong Lu) et Rue Montauban (Sichuan Nan Lu) in the French Concession until 1891,[76] also assisted in managing the hotel by 1894.[77] In 1894 the Astor House was described as a "first class hotel in all these words imply" and was listed in Moses King's "Where to Stop.": A Guide to the Best Hotels of the World.[78]

On 6 November 1894, during an installation meeting of the Masonic lodge, where he was the first District Deputy Grand Master,[79] Jansen "suddenly fell back in his chair, gave one or two gasps for breath" and died.[80] Jansen Road (now Fulu Street) in the Yangtszepoo District was named in his honour.[81]

Ellen McGrath Jansen (1894–1900)

After her husband's death, Ellen Jansen decided to stay in Shanghai and to operate the Astor House. Ellen purchased a home at 2 Jessfield Road (now Wanhangdu Lu), Shanghai, where her children lived with her.[82] The Astor House remained in Ellen's control until 1 November 1900.[83] By 1896 the Hotel was managed by Lewis M. Johnson (born Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada),[84] who was responsible for booking the first motion pictures to be shown in Shanghai (and probably in China) on Saturday 22 May 1897,[85] in Astor Hall in the Astor House Hotel.[86] The Animatoscope, then considered "Edison's greatest invention",[87] was presented by Harry Welby Cook,[88] and accompanied by pianist Albert Linton.[89] On 5 November 1897, China's first prom was hosted at the Astor House, which celebrated the 60th birthday of Cixi, the Emperor Dowager, thus "ending the social stricture that women should not attend social events";[3] In 1899, Methodist Bishop Cyrus Foss described the Astor House as "the best hotel in Shanghai, and quite good. All the servants are sleek, neatly dressed Chinamen."[90] Captain Sydney Jackson (1863-1928) who stayed at the Hotel on Easter Sunday 2 April, 1899, indicated it was "delightfully situated near the Public Gardens and much patronized by the Americans whose custom is chiefly catered for, this hotel is very comfortable and is undoubtedly the 'smartest' in the place, but the artificially heated rooms and hermetically closed doors and windows are rather trying to lovers of fresh air....[W]e were charged sixteen dollars a day for the two."[91] An 1899 travel guide described the Astor House: "This Hotel, entirely newly built and furnished, contains forty two front-facing Bed-rooms, Billiard and Dining-rooms."[92] One traveller indicated in 1900, "the Astor-House Hotel at Shanghai, it might be called European with a few Chinese characteristics. We of course had Chinese to wait on us here".[93] In August 1900 the manager was Mr. Loureiro.[94]

Auguste Vernon (1900-1901)

On 1 November 1900 Mrs Ellen Jansen sold the Astor House Hotel for 175,000 taels (about US$130.000)[95] to Frenchman Monsieur Auguste Vernon (born 1851 in France; died 3 July 1918 at Kamakura, Japan),[96] who owned another hotel in Hankow,[97] who had previously managed the Hotel Bella Vista in Macau from its opening on 1 July 1890 until he left due to serious illness.[98]

References

  1. ^ a b Rob Gifford, China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power (Random House, 2007):4.
  2. ^ "Five-star legend", Shanghai Daily News (18 April 2005); http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/node20665/node20667/node22808/node45576/node45577/userobject1ai1026003.html (accessed 11 April 2009); Dong, 208.
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  5. ^ "Notice of Removal", North-China Herald (6 February 1858):2.
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  13. ^ Peter FM Richards married Mary Edith "Mollie" MacRae (born 1 July 1869 in Brighton, Sussex; died 7 December 1954 in Heigham Hall, Norwich, Norfolk) on 4 September 1893 at St. Leonard's Church, Upper Deal, Kent. They had four children: Kenneth (born 1894 in Kensington); Campbell (born about 1900); Ursula (born 13 November 1902; died 11 December 1995); and Mary (born 1907). See Shearburn Family Tree, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/780374/person/-778444995; England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2005: Death Registration Month/Year: 1920. Age at death (estimated): 58Registration district: Colchester Inferred County: Essex Volume: 4a Page: 731.
  14. ^ Frederick was born about 1864 in China. See 1881 Scotland Census. Parish: Edinburgh St Cuthberts; ED: 95; Page: 7; Line: 13; Roll cssct1881_293; Year: 1881. Frederick married Lillian Annie Webb on 18 February 1893 at Church of Saint Saviour, South Hampstead, London. At that time he was a merchant, and his father was listed as a deceased merchant. See London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Saviour, Hampstead, Register of marriages, P81/SAV, Item 007.
  15. ^ Probate was granted on 3 December 1868 based on the application of David Mackenzie, a general merchant employed by P.F. Richards & Co., and possibly Richards' brother-in-law. See FO 917/61: "Administration and Probate of Estates and Wills", Foreign Office: Supreme Court, Shanghai, China: Probate Records, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATLN=6&CATID=2578709
  16. ^ One source indicates that in 1881 Rebecca Richards was aged 51 (born about 1830 in Brechin, Forfashire), living in Edinburgh, Scotland with her two sons: Frederick (born about 1864 in China), a commercial clerk; and Peter (born about 1865 in China), an apprentice engineer. See 1881 Scotland Census. Parish: Edinburgh St Cuthberts; ED: 95; Page: 7; Line: 13; Roll cssct1881_293; Year: 1881.
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  27. ^ Lu, 30.
  28. ^ Ludovic Beauvoir, Pekin, Jeddo, and San Francisco: The Conclusion of a Voyage Round the World, trans. Agnes Stephenson and Helen Stephenson (J. Murray, 1872):3.
  29. ^ Nicholas Belfield Dennys, William Frederick Mayers, and Charles King, The Treaty Ports of China and Japan: A Complete Guide to the Open Ports of Those Countries (Trübner and co., 1867):407.
  30. ^ "H.B.M.'s Supreme Court", North-China Herald (31 August 1867):6; North-China Herald (25 November 1865):2.
  31. ^ Charles Carleton Coffin, Our New Way Round the World‎ (London: Frederick Ward & Co., 1869):327-328.
  32. ^ North-China Herald (27 October 1868):8; North-China Herald (15 February 1870):14; J. Small, "Notes From My Diary", Wellington Independent [New Zealand] XXVIII (16 May 1872):3.
  33. ^ Sometimes his name is misspelled "Janssen". "Police Court", North-China Herald (16 August 1873):18; The China Directory 16th ed. (Ch'eng Wen Pub. Co., 1874):15. Hibbard indicates the date of purchase was 1884, seeBund, 212, and Darwent suggests a much earlier date than that: "It was founded by Mr. DC Jansen in 1860." See Charles Ewart Darwent, Shanghai: A Handbook for Travellers and Residents to the Chief Objects of Interest in and Around the Foreign Settlements and Native City 2nd ed. (Kelly & Walsh, 1920):62.
  34. ^ "Official", The New York Times (24 December 1894):5; http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E00EEDA1231E033A25757C2A9649D94659ED7CF; Thomas Patrick Hughes and Frank Munsell, American Ancestry: Giving the Name and Descent, In the Male Line, of Americans Whose Ancestors Settled in the United States Previous to the Declaration of Independence, A.D. 1776 Vols. 4-6 (Clearfield, Co., 1891):158; Charles Ewart Darwent, Shanghai: A Handbook for Travellers and Residents to the Chief Objects of Interest in and Around the Foreign Settlements and Native City, 2nd ed. (Kelly & Walsh, 1920):62.
  35. ^ The World's Work: A History of our Time 3 (Doubleday, Doran and company, 1901):1963.
  36. ^ The Tide-Surveyor was a revenue officer under the Customs Commissioner, but with direct supervision of the Outdoor staff. See Hosea Ballou Morse, The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1908):369.
  37. ^ Charles Ewart Darwent, Shanghai: a Handbook for Travellers and Residents to the Chief Objects of Interest in and Around the Foreign Settlements and Native City‎, 2nd. ed. (Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 1920)62; George Carter Stent, A Chinese and English Vocabulary in the Pekinese Dialect: By George Carter Stent (Customs Press, 1871):ix.
  38. ^ Ellen arrived in Shanghai by 7 July 1871 from Tientsin on the Dragon. See "Arrivals", North-China Herald (7 July 1871):15. Ellen died at her home at 2 Jeffield Road (now Wanhangdu Lu) on Tuesday, 12 November, 1918, and was buried at Pahsinjao Cemetery two days later. The service was conducted by Rev. C.E. Darwent. Her sons-in-law, Messrs. Hide and Everall were chief mourners. See "Mrs. Ellen Jansen", North-China Herald (16 November 1918):30; Millard's China National Review 9 (7 June 1919):41.
  39. ^ One source indicates 6 children, see Hughes & Munsell, 57; however Jansen's application for an emergency passport in Peking on 5 October 1888 indicates he was married with 7 minor children, see Emergency Passport Applications (Passports Issued Abroad), 1877-1907 (M1834) Volume 002: Africa to Honduras, 1886–1889, Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Original data: Passport Applications, 1795–1905; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1372, 694 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C.http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec/?htx=View&r=5538&dbid=1174&iid=USM1834_1-1148&fn=Dewitt+C&ln=Jansen&st=r&ssrc=&pid=1298160.
  40. ^ Fred J. Buenzle, with A. Grove Day, Bluejacket: An Autobiography, (W. W. Norton & company, 1939):278; George Carter Stent, A Chinese and English Vocabulary in the Pekinese Dialect: By George Carter Stent (Customs Press, 1871):ix.
  41. ^ Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 22-23 (1887):325.
  42. ^ S. Josefsen-Bernier, ed., China's Natural History: A Guide to the Shanghai Museum (R.A.S.) (Royal Asiatic Society, North China Branch, 1936):5; Arthur de Carle Sowerby and John Calvin Ferguson, The China Journal 19 (China Society of Science and Arts, 1933):220.
  43. ^ "The Municipal Election", North-China Herald (17 January 1890):7 (59); North-China Herald (17 January 1890):3 (55). See also affidavit of Joseph Seymour supporting the passport application for Mabel Jansen in San Francisco, 3 March 1920. Seymour attests: "In 1893 he [DeWitt Clinton Jansen] was the American representative on the Shanghai Municipal Council and I voted for him in that year." U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 (Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925 (M1490); Roll 1106 - Certificates: 185000-185375, 13 Mar 1920-13 Mar 1920), http://search.ancestry.co.uk/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1174&path=Passport+Applications%2c+January+2%2c+1906+-+March+31%2c+1925+(M1490).1920.Roll+1106+-+Certificates%3a+185000-185375%2c+13+Mar+1920-13+Mar+1920.182&sid=&gskw=Mabel+Jansen; Timothy Richard, Forty-five Years in China: Reminiscences (Frederick A. Stokes, 1916):226; and William Edward Soothill, Timothy Richard of China: Seer, Statesman, Missionary & the Most Disinterested Adviser the Chinese Ever Had (Seeley, Service & Co. Limited, 1924):276.
  44. ^ Egerton K. Laird, The Rambles of a Globe Trotter in Australasia, Japan, China, Java, India, and Cashmere (Chapman & Hall, 1875):241.
  45. ^ Lilias Dunlop Swainson, Letters from China & Japan, by L.D.S. (1875):160.
  46. ^ "Municipal Council Meeting", North-China Herald (25 November, 1875):13 (523); "Street Names", Tales of Old China, http://www.talesofoldchina.com/shanghai/places/t-plac02.htm
  47. ^ Hibbard, Bund, 213.
  48. ^ North-China Herald (9 November 1876):4.
  49. ^ The North-China Herald (8 July 1876):13 (35).
  50. ^ The North-China Herald (8 July 1876):13 (35).
  51. ^ Stella Dong, Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City 1842-1949 (New York: HarperCollins, 2001):208.
  52. ^ Thomas Wallace Knox, The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part First: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Japan & China (New York: Harper, 1879):319-320.
  53. ^ North-China Herald (11 January 1877):5.
  54. ^ North-China Herald (28 February 1890):4 (232).
  55. ^ Lu,30; Frank Dikötter, Exotic Commodities: Modern Objects and Everyday Life in China (Columbia University Press, 2007):133, 135.
  56. ^ a b c Tales of Old Sanghai, http://www.talesofoldchina.com/library/allaboutshanghai/t-all03.htm
  57. ^ Dikötter, 146; Tales of Old Sanghai, http://www.talesofoldchina.com/library/allaboutshanghai/t-all03.htm
  58. ^ Lu, 27.
  59. ^ George Moerlein, A Trip Around the World (M. & R. Burgheim, 1886):59.
  60. ^ Maisie J. Meyer, From the Rivers of Babylon to the Whangpoo: A Century of Sephardi Jewish Life in Shanghai (University Press of America, 2003):17; John George Thirkell, Some Queer Stories of Benjamin David Benjamin and Messrs. E.D. Sassoon & Co. Wealth, Fraud and Poverty ("Celestial Empire" Office, 1888):
  61. ^ Simon Adler Stern, Jottings of Travel in China and Japan (1888):121.
  62. ^ Barbara Baker and Yvette Paris, eds., Shanghai: Electric and Lurid City : an Anthology (Oxford University Press, 1998):100.
  63. ^ "The Proposed Land Investment Co., Limited", North-China Herald (7 December 1888):17 (637); "Advertisement", North-China Herald (14 December 1888):22 (666). 390,000 taels was then worth approximately US$290,000.
  64. ^ North-China Herald (29 November 1889):3 (889).
  65. ^ North-China Herald (29 November 1889):3 (889).
  66. ^ North-China Herald (29 November 1889):3 (889).
  67. ^ North-China Herald (28 February 1890):4 (232).
  68. ^ North-China Herald (7 March 1890):3 (267).
  69. ^ Emily Hahn, The Soong Sisters (E-Reads Ltd, 2003):15.
  70. ^ "The St. Andrew's Ball", North-China Herald (2 December 1892):17.
  71. ^ "The St. Andrew's Ball", North-China Herald (2 December 1892):17.
  72. ^ "The St. Andrew's Ball", North-China Herald (2 December 1892):17.
  73. ^ Buenzle joined the US Navy as an apprentice in 1889. See Patrick McSherry, "John R. Bell, Steward, Battleship Maine", http://www.spanamwar.com/belljohn.htm
  74. ^ Fred J. Buenzle, with A. Grove Day, Bluejacket: An Autobiography, by Captain Felix Riesenberg (W. W. Norton & company, 1939):278-280; Jerome Bird Howard, The Phonographic Magazine 13 (1899):85.
  75. ^ "Passengers", North-China Herald (12 July 1895):36.
  76. ^ "L'Hotel Des Colonies Ld.", North-China Herald (17 April 1891):16. See http://virtualshanghai.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Image.php?ID=363
  77. ^ The Directory & Chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Siam, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, &c. ; with which are Incorporated "The China Directory" and "The Hongkong Directory and Hong List for the Far East" ... (The Hongkong Daily Press Office, 1894):111.
  78. ^ Moses King, ed., "Where to Stop.": A Guide to the Best Hotels of the World‎ (1894):110.
  79. '^ R.W.Bro. Graham Stead, "THE HUNG SOCIETY AND FREEMASONRY THE CHINESE WAY. Part 1—Hung Society to Chinese Masonic Society", ANZMRC Proceedings 2002; http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/chinese-masonic-society.html; Fred J. Buenzle, with A. Grove Day, Bluejacket: An Autobiography, (W. W. Norton & company, 1939):278; Mose King, ed., Where to Stop': A Guide to the Best Hotels of the World (1894):110; John James Aubertin, Wanderings & Wonderings: India, Burma, Kashmir, Ceylon, Singapore, Java, Siam, Japan, Manila, Formosa, Korea, China, Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, the States (K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & co., 1892):263; http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=sea;idno=sea287; The Directory & Chronicle of China, Japan, Straits Settlements, Malaya, Borneo, Siam, the Philippines, Korea, Indo-China, Netherlands Indies, Etc. (Hongkong; London, 1892):559.
  80. ^ "Sudden Death of Mr. D.C. Jansen", North-China Herald (9 November 1894):26; Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (The Lodge, 1894):142); Frederick M. Gratton, Freemasonry in Shanghai and Northern China, 2nd ed. ("North-China Herald" office, 1900):46; Jacob Randolph Perkins, Trails, Rails and War: The Life of General G.M. Dodge (Bobbs-Merrill, 1929):295.
  81. ^ North-China Herald (20 December 1895):22 (1022); JANSEN ROAD (K28):-American who founded the Astor House Hotel in 1860, in "The Streets of Shanghai", Tales of Old Shanghai, http://www.earnshaw.com/shanghai-ed-india/tales/library/streets/t-streets1.htm; HISTORY OF OLD SHANGHAITAN STREET (March 1941); http://www.geocities.com/zhihguo/mapZ.html
  82. ^ Transactions of the Annual Meeting 15 (National Tuberculosis Association., 1920):525.
  83. ^ Hibbard, Bund.
  84. ^ Johnson married Marcela Olsen on 7 July 1896 at the Astor House Hotel in a ceremony conducted by Rev. J.R. Hykes. See "Marriages", North-China Herald (10 July 1896):31 (75). According to one source, Johnson was born in Maine, was a Brigadier General serving under Arthur MacArthur in the Philippines, "was in the pearl business in the Philippines and spent some time in Japan learning he business. He died as the result of a Typhoon while trying to get his pearl diving boats back to port. He was adrift for a couple of weeks and after he was rescued he died in Manila. He did own or manage a hotel in Shanghai." See Bob Zellner (25 May 2009), in Bob Couttie, "Independence Day Mysteries", (9 June 2007), http://bobcouttie.wordpress.com/2007/06/09/independence-day-mysteries/. On 29 September 1908 on the 50th anniversary of Mr & Mrs George Johnson at Lake Annis, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, he was a colonel. Further, he may have met and befriended Filipino nationalist Emilio Aguinaldo in Shanghai and later supplied arms to him in the insurgency against Spain.
  85. ^ "The Animatoscope", North-China Herald (28 May 1897):23 (963). There were repeat screenings on Tuesday 25 May 1897, Thursday 27 May 1897, Saturday 29 May 1897, and Saturday 12 June 1897. See North-China Herald (4 June 1897):6 (988); and North-China Herald (18 June 1897):4 (1080).
  86. ^ Matthew D. Johnson, "'Journey to the Seat of War': The International Exhibition of China in Early Cinema", Journal of Chinese Cinemas 3:2 (June 2009):109-122. Johnson was involved with Maurice Charvet in demonstrating the cinematograph at the Lyceum theatre in Shanghai in September 1897. See North-China Herald (10 September 1897) and (17 September 1997):3.
  87. ^ Robert C. Schmitt, "Movies in Hawaii, 1897-1932" (1967):74; (accessed 11 April 2009).
  88. ^ His Family name is sometimes given as Wellby-Cook. See North-China Herald (18 June 1897):4.
  89. ^ Law Kar, Frank Bren, and Sam Ho, Hong Kong Cinema: A Cross-Cultural View (Scarecrow Press, 2004):11-12.
  90. ^ Cyrus David Foss, From the Himalayas to the Equator: letters, sketches. and addresses, giving some account of a tour in India and Malaysia (Eaton & Mains, 1899):208.
  91. ^ Sydney Charles Fishburn Jackson, A Jaunt in Japan, Or, Ninety Days' Leave in the Far East‎ (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1899):149-150; http://libweb.uoregon.edu/ec/e-asia/read/jaunt.pdf
  92. ^ The Directory & Chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Siam, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines (The Hongkong Daily Press Office, 1899):880.
  93. ^ J. Fox Sharp, Japan and America: Lecture (Todd, Wardell and Larter, 1900):13.
  94. ^ North-China Herald (17 October 1900):47 (847).
  95. ^ North-China Herald (24 October):6 (862). In June 1897 in Shanghai US$1 gold was worth 1.35 taels. See North-China Herald (4 June 1897):6. In 2008, $130,000.00 from 1900 is worth $3,438,500.00 using the Consumer Price Index. See Samuel H. Williamson, "Six Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1790 to Present," MeasuringWorth, 2009. URL http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/
  96. ^ "The Transfer of the Astor House", North-China Herald (24 October 1900):27 (883); North-China Herald (20 July 1918):9 (129).
  97. ^ "The Astor House Hotel Company, Limited", North-China Herald (24 July 1901):20 (164).
  98. ^ Elaine Denby, Grand Hotels: Reality and Illusion (Reaktion Books, 1998):210.