MOCA Shanghai was founded in 2005 by the Samuel Kung Foundation as the first non-profit, independent, contemporary art institution in Shanghai. The glass building that houses the exhibitions is a reworking of the former People's Park Greenhouse by Atelier Liu Yuyang Architects.
Brief History of People's Square
The Shanghai International Settlement was one of the original five treaty ports established under the terms of the Treaty on Nanking at the end of the first opium war in 1842. Distinct areas of settlement for the Americans and the French were drawn out to the north and south of the British settlement respectively. In 1854 a united municipal council was created to serve all three settlements, but in 1862, the French Concession opted out of the arrangement. The following year the British and American settlements formally united to become the Shanghai International Settlement. As more foreign powers entered into treaty relations with China, their nationals also became part of the administration of the settlement, but it always remained a predominantly British affair, at least until the late 1930s when Japan's involvement became increasingly important. Throughout this period until December 1941, when Japanese troops took over subsequent to the Japanese attack on the US at Pearl Harbour Shanghai, the International Settlement always remained Chinese sovereign territory. In early 1943, new treaties signed by the free Chinese government brought an end to the extraterritorial privileges which had been enjoyed by British subjects and American citizens for one hundred years.
The Race Course
Right at the heart of the International Settlement a Race Course was set up by the Shanghai Race Club and opened in 1862. A map of Shanghai from 1935 shows the green oval shape of the racetrack just a few blocks from the Bund on the River Huangpu, which was the business centre of Shanghai in those days. The aerial photograph below shows the racetrack's central location to Shanghai during the first half of the twentieth century.
The racetrack operated up until 1949 with the establishment of the People's Republic of China, and that is why People's Park and the adjacent People's Square in central Shanghai together still form the shape of the original track. The Race Club building with its imposing tower was the most sumptuous of any such club in the world. The Grand Stand was reputedly the largest in the world. The turf was described as "smooth as a billiard table". The original Race Club building still stands on the side of the park at the People's Square and has been the Shanghai Art Museum, and home to the Shanghai Biennale since 1996.
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| The Shanghai Art Museum |
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| Postcard of the Race Course Club House and the Grand (from the Park Hotel) |
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| Postcard of Shanghai in the 30's was a city of electric light and glamour |
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| Postcard of the Park Hotel and racetrack |
Facing on to the racetrack were and are some of Shanghai's iconic buildings including The Grand Cinema and the Park Hotel, which was the tallest building in Asia from 1934 to 1958, and the tallest building in Shanghai until the recent building boom that took place in the 1990's. During this period of rapid urban development it is the case that certain periods of time Shanghai contained 20% of the world's building cranes.
People's Park and People's Square are now occupied by recently constructed buildings that include; the Shanghai Municipal Government building to house the local government when it was moved here from the former HSBC Building on the Bund; also the Shanghai Museum was moved here from its previous site in a former office building; more recent additions include the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.
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| The Shanghai Museum |
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| The Shanghai Grand Theatre |
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| The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre |
How people use People's Park
Identifying the social and individual use of a place is one way to identify the meaning of a place. So what kinds of human activity happen in the park/square nowadays?
The parks of Shanghai are places that people use in all sorts of ways, but are almost all the functions are socially oriented, and connected to mind, body and happiness. For example, you will find people forming a so-called "English Corner", where people come together to practice the English language skills. You will also find people playing Mahjong.
You will also see people dancing together and exercising together using tai chi. Bird fanciers bring their caged birds and parents advertise their children to secure a financially advantageous marriage in the so-called "marriage market".
This marketing activity is not necessarily conducted with the permission of those being advertised.
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