Rating: 
Summary: Shanghai; "Sin City"
Review: There is always something new that you can learn when you read a book, and that's why I purchased this one. I didn't know much at all about Shanghai, except for its lurid reputation, and I decided that buying this book would inform me about something new. It's a good purchase, for the author has a very interesting tale to tell, and she tells it very well. The book gives the city's history from 1842, during the Opium Wars, until 1949, when it fell to the Red Army. Between these dates a lot of amazing things happened in the city, and they are well-recounted in this book, both the highs and the lows. At times the profusion, and confusion, of Chinese names can cause the eyes to glaze over, but that's not the author's fault. If you like to learn something new every time you read a book on history, buy this one and you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Lao Hao a (Shanghainese for 'very good')
Review: To put it mildly, Shanghai has a checkered past. As a notorious bastion of rouges, thieves, soldiers of fortune, drug smugglers, prostitutes, pleasure seekers, speculators and industrial tycoons- it is second to none. From being a sleepy little fishing and trading village on the Huangpu river in the early 1800's to becoming one of the worlds largest ports and a city of over 14 million people- Shanghai has had more than it's fair share of growing pains. Not very many cities on the globe can match it in having gone through so much political and financial turmoil in the last 150 years.When I first picked up this book I was a little skeptical. The title, 'Rise and Fall of a Decadent City' seemed a bit over the top and I was afraid it was going to end up being three hundred pages of vice soaked sensationalism. As a resident of Shanghai I have discovered that the myth of old Shanghai often looms larger than the truth. I was pleasantly surprised. The book was meticulously researched, well written and most important- interesting. Since this book is a history of Shanghai, China's most populous and prosperous city, you also inadvertently get a short course in modern Chinese history while your reading it. From the Taiping rebellion to the opium war and the Boxer rebellion- many of the great historical events in Chinese history are clearly laid out and explained in the context of how they influenced and helped to form Shanghai. 'Shanghai, The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City' is a very good piece of popular history and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: An eye-opener
Review: Until I read Stella Dong's "Shanghai," I had no idea that Shanghai was the opium capital of the East, nor that it had more prostitutes than any place in the world, nor that it was the most revolutionary spot in China. My grandparents are from Shanghai, but growing up in Santa Barbara, I never knew that there was such an exciting place in China. At first I was a little wary of this book because I feared Dong, though Chinese, would depict Chinese as all criminals and dope addicts, but actually, I came away with a fuller sense of the Chinese as people. Yes, their are some low-lifers in "Shanghai," but many heroes as well. I enjoyed "Shanghai" a lot. It made a bit of my family's history come alive for me. Also it was a very enjoyable read--full of humor and subtle wit.
Rating:
Summary: An eye-opener
Review: Until I read Stella Dong's "Shanghai," I had no idea that Shanghai was the opium capital of the East, nor that it had more prostitutes than any place in the world, nor that it was the most revolutionary spot in China. My grandparents are from Shanghai, but growing up in Santa Barbara, I never knew that there was such an exciting place in China. At first I was a little wary of this book because I feared Dong, though Chinese, would depict Chinese as all criminals and dope addicts, but actually, I came away with a fuller sense of the Chinese as people. Yes, their are some low-lifers in "Shanghai," but many heroes as well. I enjoyed "Shanghai" a lot. It made a bit of my family's history come alive for me. Also it was a very enjoyable read--full of humor and subtle wit.
Rating:
Summary: The underbelly of a great city
Review: While I've been to Shanghai many times, and took for granted its reputation, this is the first time I have read-----with all the detail from the Chinese and foreign side-----exactly what made Shanghai such a singular phenomona. Instead of the usual platitudes about corruption or energy, Stella Dong goes into all the detail. Some of this may be a bit scary to descendants of Shanghai's missionary community. But to those of us who find light with the "darker side", "Shanghai" is an unforgettable read. To be specific, we learn not only about the Chinese gangs, but how they controlled the "nice" European companies and were actually patriotic. (They reminded me of how Lucky Luciano became a great "patriot" for America in the Second World War.) Ms Dong goes into detail about the different grades of prostitutuion, both straight and gay. (The divisions are almost bureaucratic!). She is extremely politically incorrect about how Brits, Americans, French and Middle Eastern Jews made their way into Shanghai society. And unlike ANY other book about Shanghai, she writes, with great glee, about the Chinese gangsters. No, they hardly are saints in this book or reality. But let's face it: villains are always more interesting than heroes. Historians of Asia will find much new here, as will lovers of China. But this is a book for anybody who is fascinated by corruption, greed, ambition and, yes, the history of a most fascinating city.
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