Description

Regardless of its position as an international settlement territory or as the Chinese-occupied section, this city developed at such a breakneck pace from 1930 that within ten years, it became one of the Four Great Cities of the World alongside New York, London and Paris. The city was named Shanghai in July 1930. On August 13, 1937, the Battle of Shanghai erupted and for the next 3 months, resistance efforts intensified as it marked the beginning of an all-out war against the Japanese. Shanghai was captured. After the war, the Chinese-occupied sections of Shanghai sank into poverty. When the Pacific War broke out in 1941, Japanese troops started to invade the international settlement territory and by 1943, had fully annexed the territory. The war was eventually won by China in 1945, and Shanghai came under the rule of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China.

Shanghai of the 1930s was undoubtedly a period of decadence and debauchery. Behind the backdrop of opulence, life turned cruel for some. One such man would be Du Yuesheng. Orphaned at a young age, he went to Shanghai when he was 15 to make ends meet. As a clever and quick-witted boy, he was accepted into the Green Gang and was introduced to Huang Jinrong, one of Shanghai’s most notorious gangsters. Du Yuesheng rose to power steadily and became the most important and famous person in the Green Gang of his generation. He led a life of extravagance and riches, a far cry from the time when he did not have enough to eat. Also known as “China’s Gangster Boss” and “China’s First Triad Boss”, this man who ruled the world was audacious and ruthless.

When we look at old photographs of him and flip through calendars yellowed and softened by the passage of time, will we remember him? Yet behind that power was a sentimental man who wore the same old watch spotted with rust. Perhaps we might even reminisce that within the numerous sights and sounds of old world Shanghai there once stood a formidable man with such a colorful past that even the passage of time could not remove from history. The Shanghai 30s For Men 十里洋场男款 was launched in 2014.