Further to my post on silk-and-bamboo around Shanghai, I’ve been looking through my old photos.

Of course there are numerous collections of images from old and new Shanghai, but here’s a personal selection from my visits in 1986–87 and 2001—perhaps suggesting some of the clichés immortalized in Monty Python’s Away from it all?! Little did I realize that such trips would become History (for a montage of remarkable photos from the Maoist era, see here).

1986–87

Longfu si Buddhist temple, 1986.

Street recreation, and a scene at the conservatoire, 1986.

Daoist ritual in Pudong temple, 1987, when Pudong was still a rural backwater.
Photos: Chen Dacan.

Shadow puppets, 1987.

Silk-and-bamboo clubs, 1987.

Burning petitions as Daoist ritual concludes, Baiyun guan 1987.

May 2001

Cathay Theatre, and Shanghai concert hall.

Old house, and wooden staircase.

Nostalgic recent murals.

Another mural, and karaoke bar.

Qinglian street silk-and-bamboo club, Old Westgate.

Daoist liturgy, Baiyun guan.

Mandala for commemorative wangdou ritual, Baiyun guan.