![]() Add a layer of amnesia post-1949, induced by politics and to anaesthetize pain, and you see why this city’s history is simultaneously so fascinating, and so hard to grasp. Shanghai’s strata is complex: there are the time periods, of course, but also nationality, be it Shanghainese, migrants from the countryside, or foreigners-French, American, British, Russian political affiliation, whether Communist or Nationalist, Axis or Allies place of residence – Concession, International Settlement, Chinese city? monied or poor. Spend a little time in Shanghai and it becomes clear that the history of the city can best be understood as a multilayered phenomenon: anthropologist Jie Li, in Shanghai Homes, uses the very apt term palimpsest: A manuscript on which earlier writing has been effaced but is still discernible. Luckily for us, Isabel shared her story with us in her memoir, Remembering Shanghai. ![]() ![]() ![]() We’ve lost one of the last voices of Old Shanghai with the passing of Isabel Sun Chao on March 13 2023, just a day after her 92nd birthday. ![]()
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