The Coffee Cafe Returns to Duolun Rd

The exterior and interior of the Coffee Cafe. Photo by Qian Jing

By Lu Ren

At the end of 1920s, the Coffee Cafe on Duolun Road (near North Sichuan Road), Hongkou District was famous in Shanghai. After over 90 years, the cafe returned to Duolun Road. On the afternoon of December 31, 2020, the opening activity of the Coffee Cafe and the bookstore was held on the Duolun Road Cultural Celebrities Street. Many citizens came to admire the style of old Shanghai and feel the charm of the red culture, the Shanghai-style culture and the celebrity culture.

Duolun Road, with many red marks and celebrity stories, was then the cultural center of Shanghai and even the whole country, where the Left Wing League was founded and Lu Xun, Rou Shi, Ye Shengtao, Mao Dun and some other elites of the New Culture Movement lived and fought. Duolun Road, a "living fossil" of the Shanghai-style culture, shows an epitome of Shanghai's urban development in the past 100 years and has left an immortal chapter in the history of Chinese revolution and modern literature.

The Coffee Cafe was related to the Left Wing League. Xia Yan once recalled: "I remember that the first preparatory meeting of the Left Wing League was held on the second floor of the Coffee Cafe near the tramcar terminal on North Sichuan Road in mid October 1929, with 10 participants including Pan Hannian, Feng Xuefeng, Yang Hansheng, Qian Xingcun and me." And he added: “This kind of preparatory meeting was usually held once a week, sometimes every two or three days. The meeting venues were nearly a small room on the second floor of the cafe, with a space accommodating 12 or 13 people”. For that, Tian Han's early drama "One Night in the Cafe" based on the prototype of the Coffee Café restored relevant scenes.

It is seen in the cafe that a large Lu Xun poster, pictures of old Shanghai a hundred years ago, and rose wallpapers in the style of Paramount Hall in the 1920s and 1930s are full of retro flavor. The old-fashioned bicycle, electric fan and table lamp, and the old stairs leading to the attic familiar to Shanghai people, the order menu in the form of old newspaper give citizens a special experience.

The Coffee Bookstore, which was opened together with the Coffee Cafe, has put many books written by Lu Xun, books as well as cultural and creative products related to the red culture of Duolun Road for the public. Three display screens are installed in the corridor between the cafe and the bookstore to display Lu Xun and other Shanghai cultural celebrities respectively. Through the naked eye 3D recognition function supported by 5G technology, The buildings, and the block culture and historical culture of Duolun Road are introduced to tourists. When tourists look at these screens, the contents of the screens will interact with tourists, forming a very interesting immersive experience.

There is also a small stage theater in the cafe, where Cantonese opera, Yue opera, farce, storytelling and crosstalk are frequently performed. Liu Bin, manager of the cafe, said that it is not only a cafe, but also a multi-functional service consortium. Its functions are diversified, with cultural connotations and technological elements. Tourists can not only taste coffee here, but also get interactive and immersive experience.