The “one and only” Shanghai Great World
Print Edition
FIRST opened in 1917, the Shanghai Great World Entertainment Center was established by Huang Chujiu, a local businessman. In the beginning, it was nicknamed the “No. 1 Club of the Far East.” Cinema and theater were its main fare.
In 1930, Huang Jinrong, a celebrated police detective-turned-mob boss in Shanghai, took over the Great World from Huang. He expanded the site, turning it into a comprehensive entertainment venue featuring dining, stage shows, shopping malls and rides for children. The trademark funhouse mirrors were installed during that era.
Great World became a bridge to the films of the golden age of Hollywood. It also provided a platform for new talent — the young singers, dancers and opera actors who would go on to become famous performers.
The European-style tower of the Great World was a landmark in the city for decades.
After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Great World underwent yet another change. It was renamed the People’s Playground and later became the Shanghai Youth Palace.
In the 1980s, it once again became the Great World and began growing in popularity as an entertainment venue. In 1992, a hall called Great World Jinisi Record was set up at the site. People from all over the country were invited to come and break world records. Because Jinisi is very similar to the Chinese translation for “Guinness,” visitors and competitors alike assumed it was a branch of Guinness World Record in Shanghai.
The deception didn’t dent enthusiasm. In 1995, Great World hosted record attendance. During the May Day holiday alone that year, some 20,000 people visited the venue.
Two years later, however, Great World was on the skids. New entertainment sites were mushrooming all over Shanghai. Theme parks, aquariums and observatory decks in skyscrapers became the new must-see attractions. Moreover, young people weren’t interested in the Chinese operas and folk-art shows that had so fascinated their parents’ generation.
In 2004, the outbreak of SARS proved the last curtain call for Great World. Many public places were closed temporarily. Great World never reopened. Its façade has been redecorated, but the interior remains empty. There has been speculation that the site may reopen as a folk art museum, but nothing has been confirmed.
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