Shanghai Wai Fon Bank (Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation), gelatin silver print postcard, 1930s, 8.3 x 13.1 cm.

Photographed on one summer day in the 1930s, it shows people walking along the Bund of Shanghai with the palatial building of the former headquarters of HSBC (currently the premises of the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank) as the backdrop. Respectably dressed, the man who wears a long gown and a panama hat in the left foreground walks with pride. Born at the turn of the century in a traditional family, he has received tons of impacts of western culture. Now it is the peak of the development of modern China in his lifetime and he is working his way in this “paradise of adventurers”. He has particularly chosen to walk on the other side of the road to enjoy the view of prosperity.

 

《上海滙豐銀行》,照片明信片,1930 年代,8.3 x 13.1 厘米。

圖中可見 1930 年代的夏日,上海外灘宏偉的滙豐銀行總部(今日的上海浦東發展銀行)前人來人往。左前方有一男子身穿長衫、頭戴巴拿馬草帽,衣著得體, 昂首而行 ;他在世紀之交生於傳統家庭,經歷無數西方文化衝擊,如今是有生之年現代中國發展的高峰,他也在這「冒險家的樂園」努力。他特意走在馬 路的另一邊,好欣賞這繁華美景。
 
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