Former Tung-Lai Building

Address: No. 587 West Nanjing Road

I noticed this building in early 2009 when I went to the 555 Building for a business meeting. Although the exterior, at the time I visited looked no different from a typical modern euro-style mockup, I suspected it to be a historic structure based on my "keen observation" (just joking).

I decided to get into the building and to my expectation, it is indeed an old house. Much of the inerior was kept intact and I am very lucky to get a last glimpse of this old style elevator before it’s going to be torn down next month.

While shooting the interior in the dark hallways last week, I had the opportunity to chit chat with many of the tenants who passed by me:

An old man who is excited about the new elevator that will be installed after they torn down this old one.

Another comrade who told me about the few century-old tenants who walk up and down the stairs each day. Pity I didn’t witness that.

Another Ayi who told me that this building was built by the British (don’t think she’s correct) and that this house was featured in the first version of the action movie "Bao Mi Ju De Qiang Sheng" (Gunshot of the Secret Agency)

After some research and also thanks to my trusty directory of the apartment building book published by Tongji University Press, this building was built in 1927 and known as The Tung Lai Building. Tung Lai Bank was founded in 1918 in Tsingtao by Liu ZiShan (1880-1948), a Shandong Native. Many of this wealthy banker’s buildings are still well preserved in Tianjing.

Some interesting facts about Liu ZiShan:

Born in 1880 in the rurals of Shandong, he went to start earning his living as a street hawker at the tender age of 14. He later became a page to a German. He was a very clever man and self taught himself German and later Japanese. In 1908, he even became an interpreter for a German architect while at the same time started his life as an entrepreneur engaging in the construction material business. In the next few years, he also became a sole agent for many German products and became quite wealthy before the outbreak of WWI.

However, a large part of his first bucket of gold came from opium trade. In a short span of time, he won a whopping amount of 42 million yuan from trading opium and became the infamous "Opium King of Tsingtao". He later diversified his business into the real estate, automobile (he was also agent of the American BUICK cars), logistic and transport, insurance, textile, electricity, coal mining and founded Tung Lai Bank in 1918, headquartered in Tsingtao, with the second branch opened in Tianjing in 1919.

As he accumulated his wealth, he deeply regretted about his early life as an opium trader and started his next chapter: PHILANTHROPY. He founded the Ji’Nan Orphanage, built the Shandong Univerity and also donated a lot of money in building the infrastructure in the Shandong Province.

He moved to Shanghai in the spring of 1948 to receive medical care and passed away in the same year, on 12th October after a heart attack.

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