Tracing English family's footsteps
By Lyu Feiran |
May 26, 2013, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITISH children's author Liz Barron has retraced the exact route taken by her grandfather from South Wales to Shanghai exactly 100 years ago.
In May 1913, Leslie Pardoe, Liz's grandfather, arrived in Shanghai after a 6,000-mile train journey and took up a job as a deputy engineer. He worked hard, got married, had children (Liz's father), built a house, went to the races, worked as a volunteer fireman and generally lived a middle-class life in what was the former British concession and former International Settlement.
After 27 years, he and his wife returned to England in 1940. He died in 1965, leaving behind some notes and photos of his Shanghai years. These enabled his granddaughter to follow in his footsteps.
Pardoe departed on April 20, 1913, and Liz and her husband departed on the same day, 100 years later from the same house in Barry, South Wales, where Pardoe lived. Then they crossed Europe by train and took the Trans Siberian Railway from Moscow to China, stopping in Changchun in Jilin Province, Dalian in Liaoning Province and finally Shanghai. They arrived on May 13.
At the time Pardoe took a ferry from Dalian to Shanghai, but that ceased operation long ago and the building itself was demolished last week. "A pity," says Liz. They continued by train.
"My husband and I had always wanted to come to Shanghai to follow my grandfather's track of life and we believed that this year, 100 years after he arrived, is the best time," Liz told Shanghai Daily.
During Pardoe's stay, he married Margaret Dunne, a British newspaper reporter who was born in Shanghai.
Pardoe was her father's father and because her father died when she was 10, she didn't hear many stories about her grandfather from him. She did collect many pictures, a scrapbook and some letters written by Margaret to her parents in England.
Liz showed Shanghai Daily various old pictures, including Pardoe's wedding in 1916 to Margaret, the family at the races, and Pardoe as a volunteer fireman. He took photos of many old buildings, such as the Astor House Hotel and the Palace Hotel (now the south wing of the Peace Hotel).
"I had the impression my grandfather led quite a middle-class life in Shanghai," she said. "He loved riding horses and built a house on Columbia Road (today's Panyu Road in Changning District)."
Liz managed to locate the house in a lane, which she called Columbia Circle, a term common among expatriates from the 1920s to 1940s to describe the "shikumen" neighborhood.
"I must say it was very moving to see the tranquility of the road and to know that my family had lived there so long ago and had such happy memories of it," she said.
In 1916, Pardoe and his bride married in St Joseph's Church in today's Huangpu District. The church was built in 1860 and operated until 1966 when it was forced to close in the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). Services were resumed in 1986.
The church was closed when Liz visited.
She visited his place of work at the old Shanghai Municipal Council Building on Hankou Road in Huangpu District. The building today houses the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau and other city departments.
"It was very emotional for me to know that the grandfather I loved very much as a little girl had gone there every day to work," Liz said.
She also showed Shanghai Daily letters that Margaret Pardoe had written to her parents in England. She worked for the North China Daily News (Zi Lin Xi Bao), the earliest and most influential English-language newspaper in Shanghai at the time.
She told her parents that Shanghai was full of Tommies, British soldiers serving in the Shanghai Defense Force established by the British government to protect European nationals and their property in Shanghai during upheavals in China.
"We are doing our bit for them (Tommies) by allowing some of those quartered in the Girls Public School close by to come and have a hot bath in our bathroom," Margaret Pardoe wrote.
The Barrons left Shanghai to continue sightseeing in China as regular tourists to the Three Gorges, Xi'an and Hong Kong.
"Shanghai is as big and busy as I expected, but not as hustling and bustling as I imagined," Liz said.
In May 1913, Leslie Pardoe, Liz's grandfather, arrived in Shanghai after a 6,000-mile train journey and took up a job as a deputy engineer. He worked hard, got married, had children (Liz's father), built a house, went to the races, worked as a volunteer fireman and generally lived a middle-class life in what was the former British concession and former International Settlement.
After 27 years, he and his wife returned to England in 1940. He died in 1965, leaving behind some notes and photos of his Shanghai years. These enabled his granddaughter to follow in his footsteps.
Pardoe departed on April 20, 1913, and Liz and her husband departed on the same day, 100 years later from the same house in Barry, South Wales, where Pardoe lived. Then they crossed Europe by train and took the Trans Siberian Railway from Moscow to China, stopping in Changchun in Jilin Province, Dalian in Liaoning Province and finally Shanghai. They arrived on May 13.
At the time Pardoe took a ferry from Dalian to Shanghai, but that ceased operation long ago and the building itself was demolished last week. "A pity," says Liz. They continued by train.
"My husband and I had always wanted to come to Shanghai to follow my grandfather's track of life and we believed that this year, 100 years after he arrived, is the best time," Liz told Shanghai Daily.
During Pardoe's stay, he married Margaret Dunne, a British newspaper reporter who was born in Shanghai.
Pardoe was her father's father and because her father died when she was 10, she didn't hear many stories about her grandfather from him. She did collect many pictures, a scrapbook and some letters written by Margaret to her parents in England.
Liz showed Shanghai Daily various old pictures, including Pardoe's wedding in 1916 to Margaret, the family at the races, and Pardoe as a volunteer fireman. He took photos of many old buildings, such as the Astor House Hotel and the Palace Hotel (now the south wing of the Peace Hotel).
"I had the impression my grandfather led quite a middle-class life in Shanghai," she said. "He loved riding horses and built a house on Columbia Road (today's Panyu Road in Changning District)."
Liz managed to locate the house in a lane, which she called Columbia Circle, a term common among expatriates from the 1920s to 1940s to describe the "shikumen" neighborhood.
"I must say it was very moving to see the tranquility of the road and to know that my family had lived there so long ago and had such happy memories of it," she said.
In 1916, Pardoe and his bride married in St Joseph's Church in today's Huangpu District. The church was built in 1860 and operated until 1966 when it was forced to close in the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). Services were resumed in 1986.
The church was closed when Liz visited.
She visited his place of work at the old Shanghai Municipal Council Building on Hankou Road in Huangpu District. The building today houses the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau and other city departments.
"It was very emotional for me to know that the grandfather I loved very much as a little girl had gone there every day to work," Liz said.
She also showed Shanghai Daily letters that Margaret Pardoe had written to her parents in England. She worked for the North China Daily News (Zi Lin Xi Bao), the earliest and most influential English-language newspaper in Shanghai at the time.
She told her parents that Shanghai was full of Tommies, British soldiers serving in the Shanghai Defense Force established by the British government to protect European nationals and their property in Shanghai during upheavals in China.
"We are doing our bit for them (Tommies) by allowing some of those quartered in the Girls Public School close by to come and have a hot bath in our bathroom," Margaret Pardoe wrote.
The Barrons left Shanghai to continue sightseeing in China as regular tourists to the Three Gorges, Xi'an and Hong Kong.
"Shanghai is as big and busy as I expected, but not as hustling and bustling as I imagined," Liz said.
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