Drawing upon a unique and untapped reservoir of newspapers, magazines, novels, government documents, photographs and illustrations, this book traces the origin, pinnacle, and ultimate demise of a commercial dance industry in Shanghai between the end of the First World War and the early years of the People's Republic of China. Delving deep into the world of cabarets, nightclubs, and elite ballrooms that arose in the city in the 1920s and peaked in the 1930s, the book assesses how and why Chinese society incorporated and transformed this westernized world of leisure and entertainment to suit its own tastes and interests. Focusing on the jazz-age nightlife of the city in its "golden age," the book examines issues of colonialism and modernity, urban space, sociability and sexuality, and modern Chinese national identity formation in a tumultuous era of war and revolution.

List of Illustrations ix Preface and Acknowledgements xi Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 Part I. The Social 1 From Grand Balls to Jazz Cabarets 19 Westerners and Jazz-Age Culture in Shanghai, 1919?1926 2 Turning Lazy Old Opium Smokers into Spry Jazz Maniacs 53 The Rise of Chinese Dance Madness and the First Chinese Cabarets, 1927?1931 3 Towers and Palaces 83 Ballroom Architecture and Interior Design, 1929?1936 4 Important Attractions 119 Cabaret Hostesses and the Popularization of Cabaret Culture in Chinese Society, 1932?1937 5 Improper Amusement 153 Chinese Patrons, Chinese Nationalist Politics, and Cabaret Culture, 1932?1937 Part II. The Political 6 Ballrooms and Bombs 177 Cabarets, Underground Intrigue, and Occupation Politics, 1937?1941 viii ? Contents 7 8 Regulations and Interventions 207 Cabarets under Japanese and Nationalist Occupation, 1942?1947 Resist to the End! 233 The Nationalist Government?s Ban on Cabarets and the Dancers? Uprising of 1948 9 Epilogue 285 Appendices 1? 4 293 Notes 309 Bibliography 335 Index 343