No. 12 The HSBC Building

No. 12 The HSBC Building

The HSBC Building is a six-floor in the Bund area of Shanghai, China. It was the headquarters of the Shanghai branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1923 to 1955. The building is situated at number 12, the Bund. It is also known as the Municipal Government Building. Currently it houses the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. Construction began on 5 May 1921, and completed in 23 June 1923. This building was built in the style of neo-classicism in China. It was designed by the British architecture firm, Palmer & Turner Architects and Surveyors.

The HSBC Building has been called "the most luxurious building from the Suez Canal to the Bering Strait".[1] The building has a floor area of 23,415 m², and was, at the time, the largest bank building in the Far East, and second largest in the world, after the Bank of Scotland building in Edinburgh.

The building exterior adopted a strict neo-classicist design, with a tripartite vertical and horizontal division. In the centre is a dome, the base decorated with a triangular structure in imitation of Greek temples. Below that are six Ionic columns penetrating from the second to the fourth storey. The main structure is five storeys, the central section seven storeys, with one and a half storey for the basement. The main structure has a steel lattice with brick filling, and a granite exterior.

The interior was luxuriously decorated, using materials such as marble and monel. The whole building was fitted with heating and air-conditioning. The main trading hall has four columns hewn from whole blocks of marble, which was at the time unique in Asia.

Behind the main building is a subsidiary building which houses bank offices, safes, and vaults.

History

On 4 March 1865, HSBC opened its Shanghai branch on the ground floor of the Central Hotel (now Peace Hotel) on the corner of the Bund with Nanjing Road.

By 1874, HSBC's business had grown so much that the existing premises was becoming cramped. The bank then purchased the Foreign Club, a three storey building at number 12, the Bund, south of the Customs House, for 60,000 taels of silver.

In 1912, the bank made further acquisitions at number 10 and number 11, the Bund, and began construction of the new building. Construction began on 5 May 1921, with the dome capped off on 23 June 1923. According to contemporary press reports, at the time of construction the bank hired feng shui masters to select the time and direction of the first excavation. In accordance with Chinese tradition, coins from around the world were buried in the foundations. Specially minted coins were placed in dark recesses of the building to ward off spirits. The construction took 25 months, and the completed building occupied 1.3 hectares, with an area of 23,415 m². The architect's firm, Palmer & Turner, also designed numerous other buildings on the Bund including the Yokohama Specie Building, Yangtze Insurance Building, and Bank of China Building.

During the Second World War, the HSBC building was occupied by the Japanese Yokohama Specie Bank. HSBC moved back at the end of the war. The Communists took over Shanghai in 1949. HSBC continued to operate in the relative freedom of the early years of the People's Republic. However, in 1955 the political situation led the bank to scale down its operations in Shanghai. The building was handed over to the government, and HSBC rented separate offices nearby. Later in that year, the Shanghai Municipal Government moved into the building. The building's name was changed to "The People's Government of the Municipality of Shanghai Building", or "Municipal Government Building" for short. The subsidiary building housed the Municipal Archives from 1956.

In 1990, the Municipal Government began moving civic institutions out of the Bund in favour of commercial institutions. HSBC made contact with the Municipal Government on repurchasing the building, but negotiations failed due to price reasons.

In 1995, the Municipal Government moved out of the building, and the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank obtained the lease to the building. During renovations, spectacular murals were uncovered in the building. HSBC's Chinese office is currently headquartered at HSBC Building, Shanghai IFC.

The bank commissioned two bronze lions from the United Kingdom at the time of construction, to be placed outside the front doors flanking the entrance staircase. They were cast by J W Singer & Sons in the English town of Frome, to a design by Henry Poole RA,.[2] One of the lions is depicted roaring, to symbolise protection, the other is calm, and symbolises security. Affectionately nicknamed Stephen and Stitt, (after A G Stephen, once Manager Shanghai and the driving force behind the construction of the building, and by then the Bank's Chief Manager; and G H Stitt, Stephen's successor as Manager Shanghai, and the incumbent when the building was opened on 23 June 1923). An in-joke: Stephen's was said to be the louder character, Stitt the quieter man.

These lions were the inspiration for a second and much larger pair to a completely new design by Shanghai-based British Sculptor W W Wagstaffe that were commissioned for the opened in 1935. This second pair of lions was cast in Shanghai.[3]

During the wartime occupation of Shanghai, the lions were removed by the Japanese to be melted down for their valuable bronze, but they escaped this fate and were restored after the end of the war. They were removed once again in 1966, during the Cultural Revolution. The Shanghai Artefact Administration Board stored the lions in the warehouse of the Shanghai Comedy Troupe. In 1980 they were handed over to the Shanghai Museum where they are on display today. In 1997, when the Pudong Development Bank moved into the building, replicas were made and placed in front of the building.

Dome mosaics

Photo: Wiki The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation building's ceiling, a delicate mosaic.

Near the ceiling of the octagonal entrance hall of the bank building were originally eight mosaic murals. The dome was decorated with frescos depicting the twelve signs of the zodiac, as well personifications of the Sun and Moon. An enterprising architect had the mosaics covered over in stucco and paint to save them from destruction during the Cultural revolution. Red Guards intent on the mosaics' destruction initially wanted to chip away the mosaics' tiles. The architect suggested it would take less work to just cover them up, knowing full well it would preserve the artwork. In 1997, renovations uncovered them. The Pudong Development Bank then funded the restoration, but changed the HSBC emblems in the paintings to the Pudong Development Bank emblem.

The eight murals depicted eight cities in which HSBC had branches: Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, New York, Bangkok, Paris, and Calcutta. Each fresco featured a principal mythological figure, supported by personifications of local rivers and the city, with city scenery in the background.

Book References:

外灘 - 外滩 上海
The Bund - Shanghai

The Bund (simplified Chinese: 外滩; traditional Chinese: 外灘; Shanghainese: nga thae; Mandarin pinyin: Wàitān) is an area of Huangpu District in central Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road (East-1 Zhongshan Road) within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. It is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai. Building heights are restricted in this area.

The word 'bund' means an embankment or an embanked quay. The word comes from the Hindi-Urdu word band, which has Persian origins and meant an embankment, levee or dam (a cognate of English terms 'bind', 'bond' and 'band', and the German word 'bund', etc). In Chinese port cities, the English term came to mean, especially, the embanked quay along the shore. In English, 'Bund' is pronounced to rhyme with 'fund'.

There are many 'bands' to be found in Baghdad, even today. There are numerous sites in India, China, and Japan which are called 'bunds' (e.g. the Yokohama Bund). However, 'The Bund' as a proper noun almost invariably refers to this stretch of embanked riverfront in Shanghai.

History:

The Shanghai Bund has dozens of historical buildings, lining the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, China, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the consulates of China and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the Masonic Club. The Bund lies north of the old, walled city of Shanghai. This was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement. A building boom at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century led to the Bund becoming a major financial hub of East Asia. The former French Bund, east of the walled city was formerly more a working harbourside.

By the 1940s the Bund housed the headquarters of many, if not most, of the major financial institutions operating in China, including the 'big four' national banks in the Republic of China era. However, with the Communist victory in the Chinese civil war, many of the financial institutions were moved out gradually in the 1950s, and the hotels and clubs closed or converted to other uses. The statues of colonial figures and foreign worthies which had dotted the riverside were also removed.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the thawing of economic policy in the People's Republic of China, buildings on the Bund were gradually returned to their former uses. Government institutions were moved out in favour of financial institutions, while hotels resumed trading as such. Also during this period, a series of floods caused by typhoons motivated the municipal government to construct a tall levee along the riverfront, with the result that the embankment now stands some 10 metres higher than street level. This has dramatically changed the streetscape of the Bund. In the 1990s, Zhongshan Road (named after Sun Yat-sen), the road on which the Bund is centred, was widened to ten lanes. As a result, most of the parkland which had existed along the road disappeared. Also in this period, the ferry wharves connecting the Bund and Pudong, which had served the area's original purpose, were removed. A number of pleasure cruises still operate from some nearby wharves.

In the 1990s the Shanghai government attempted to promote an extended concept of the Bund to boost tourism, and land value in nearby areas, as well as to reconcile the promotion of 'colonial relics' with the Socialist ideology. In its expanded form, the term 'Bund' (as 'New Bund' or 'Northern Bund') was used to refer to areas south of the Yan'an Road, and a stretch of riverfront north of the Suzhou River (Zhabei). Such use of the term, however, remains rare outside of the tourism literature.

From 2008, a major reconfiguration of traffic flow along the Bund was carried out. The first stage of the plan involved the southern end of the Bund, and saw the demolition of a section of the Yan'an Road elevated expressway, which will remove the large elevated expressway exit structure which formerly dominated the confluence of Yan'an Road and the Bund. The second stage, begun on 1 March 2008, involves the complete restoration of the century-old Waibaidu Bridge at the northern end of the Bund. The restoration is expected to be completed by early 2009. The next stage of the plan involves a reconstruction of the Bund roadway. The current 8-lane roadway will be rebuilt as in two levels, with four lanes on each level. This will allow part of the Bund road space to be restored to its former use as parkland and marginal lawns. The new concrete bridge that was built in 1991 to relieve traffic on Waibaidu Bridge will also be rendered obsolete by the new double-levelled roadway, and will be demolished.

The Bund was re-opened to the public on Sunday 28 March 2010 after restoration.

Layout:

The Bund stretches one mile along the bank of the Huangpu River. Traditionally, the Bund begins at Yan'an Road (formerly Edward VII Avenue) in the south and ends at Waibaidu Bridge (formerly Garden Bridge) in the north, which crosses Suzhou Creek.

The Bund centres on a stretch of the Zhongshan Road, named after Sun Yat-sen. Zhongshan Road is a largely circular road which formed the traditional conceptual boundary of Shanghai city 'proper'. To the west of this stretch of the road stands some 52 buildings of various Western classical and modern styles which is the main feature of the Bund (see Architecture and buildings below). To the east of the road was formerly a stretch of parkland culminating at Huangpu Park. (This park is the site of the infamous sign reported to have proclaimed 'no dogs or Chinese', although this exact wording never existed. Further information, including an image of the sign, can be found at the article on Huangpu Park.) This area is now much reduced due to the expansion of Zhongshan Road. Further east is a tall levee, constructed in the 1990s to ward off flood waters. The construction of this high wall has dramatically changed the appearance of the Bund.

Near the Nanjing Road intersection stands what is currently the only bronze statue along the Bund. It is a statue of Chen Yi, the first Communist mayor of Shanghai. At the northern end of The Bund, along the riverfront, is Huangpu Park, in which is situated the Monument to the People's Heroes - a tall, abstract concrete tower which is a memorial for the those who died during the revolutionary struggle of Shanghai dating back to the Opium Wars.

Architecture and buildings:

The Peace Hotel (green steepled building), formerly known as Sassoon House, one of the most famous buildings on the Bund.

The Bund houses 52 buildings of various architectural styles such as Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Classical, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco (Shanghai has one of the richest collections of Art Deco architectures in the world). From the south, the main buildings are:

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    黄浦区 - 黄浦區 上海
    Huangpu District Shanghai

    Huangpu District (simplified Chinese: 黄浦区; traditional Chinese: 黄浦區, Shanghainese: huaon1phu2 chiu1, Mandarin pinyin: Huángpǔ Qū), also known as New Huangpu, is one of Shanghai's 18 districts. It was combined from old Huangpu and Nanshi districts in 2000 to form the New Huangpu with an area of 12.41 km² and 574,500 inhabitants (as of 2002). Huangpu is one of the most densely populated urban districts in the world.

    Huangpu is located in central Shanghai, People's Republic of China on the banks of Huangpu river, after which the district is named. It is opposite to Pudong and borders Suzhou Creek.

    Shanghai 上海

    Shanghai (Chinese: 上海; Shanghainese: Zånhae z̥ɑ̃̀hé]; Mandarin pinyin: Shànghǎi Mandarin pronunciation: [ʂɑ̂ŋxài]) is the most populous city in China. The city is located in eastern China, at the middle portion of the Chinese coast, and sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Due to its rapid growth in the last two decades, it has again become one of the world's leading cities, exerting influence over finance, commerce, fashion, and culture.

    Once a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to its favourable port location and was one of the cities opened to foreign trade by the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. The city then flourished as a centre of commerce between east and west, and became a multinational hub of finance and business in the 1930s. However, with the Communist Party takeover of the mainland in 1949, the city's international influence declined. In 1990, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance and foreign investment to the city. Shanghai is now aiming to be a global finance hub and international shipping centre in the future, and is predicted to become one of the world's main global financial centres, on the level of even London and New York in this regard.

    Shanghai is also a popular tourist destination renowned for its historical landmarks such as The Bund, Peoples Square (the former racing track) and Yuyuan Garden, and its extensive yet growing Pudong skyline. It hosted the World Expo in 2010, attracting 73 million visitors. It is described as the 'showpiece' of the booming economy of China.

     

     外灘 - 外滩 上海 - The Bund - Shanghai Map

     

    Web References:
    http://web.utk.edu
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund
    http://www.simonfieldhouse.com/shanghai.htm
    http://www.simonfieldhouse.com/McBain_Building_Shanghai_Simon_Fieldhouse%202.jpg

    Hi Matthew,

    Thank you for your e-mail and interest on my Shanghai photographs. Yes, you may use any of the Shanghai photographs from my site. You can link to the images or you can download them onto your server. They were taken in 1994 so you can compare your recent photos with these and see what had been changed on the Bund. I was in Shanghai last summer for 4 weeks and re-photographed many of the buildings with a digital camera and a "shift" lens (to preserve the proper perspectives on the buildings) and I am in the process of adding these photos to my site.

    I also photographed other colonial-era western architecture in Tianjin, Qingdao, Macau and Hong Kong and will be adding them to the site as well so check back later this summer for the new images.

    Best,
    Paul Leeh
    http://web.utk.edu

    This webpage was updated 27th January 2020