‘Blossoms Shanghai’ draws tourism to Shanghai
LUMPUR: Shanghai nostalgia has hit China in a big way thanks to Blossoms Shanghai, a television series by acclaimed director Wong Karwai.
Set in the city against the economic boom of the 1990s, it follows Ah Bao, a self-made millionaire and the four fabulous women he falls for.
With the last of its 30 episodes aired on Jan 9, the show, originally a novel, evoked memories of a more open and optimistic time among Chinese citizens who are struggling with an economic slowdown and tightening state control over all areas of business and private life.
In Shanghai, the longing for the past is compounded by the lingering trauma of the Covid lockdown, where residents are forced to stay in their apartments for months. That anger culminated in rare street protests at the end of 2022.
“It brings back memories of the good old days,” said Hao Hong, Hong Kong-based chief economist of Grow Investment Group in an interview with Bloomberg.
“It portrays a time of economic boom, in contrast to where we are today. It was also when the people's minds were most liberated.”
The show depicts the opening of Shanghai's stock exchange in 1990 and the construction of the landmark Oriental Pearl Tower in 1991 during China's opening-up period, in which Shanghai played a central role.
“Given the chance, I would like to experience that era,” said 30-year-old Chloe Tao, a native Shanghainese. “Because that's when everybody had hopes, and everything was growing.”
Evidence of the show's popularity is visible in locations featured in Blossoms Shanghai, according to Bloomberg.
Recently, hundreds of people were seen gathered at the crossing of Huanghe Road, a short street in the city centre once famous for its high-end restaurants and neon signs, as police officers stood by to control traffic.
In the show, Ah Bao frequently cuts deals with business partners over Australian lobsters and expensive baijiu liquor, symbols of China's burgeoning upper class, at a restaurant in the area.
Ding Mingquan, manager of Tai Sheng Yuan, the restaurant where scenes were filmed, said daily revenue doubled to more than 160,000 yuan (RM105,000) since Blossoms Shanghai debuted.
At the nearby Peace Hotel, a 1920s art deco icon on the Bund waterfront, the hotel suite used by Ah Bao is almost fully booked for the coming weeks at prices 20 per cent higher than similar suites on the same floor, according to Trip.com.
Even the Shanghai government has taken note of the craze.
During a gathering of political advisers for the district-level government of Huangpu, where the show is set, delegates mentioned Blossoms Shanghai at least four times in one morning as an example of how to build high-quality brands that will bring happiness to citizens.
For Shanghai natives, however, the importance of the series goes beyond business or entertainment.
Wong made a parallel version of the show in Shanghainese and other neighbouring dialects, which have been dying out in China as standard Mandarin dominates.
Regulators in 2009 also ordered Mandarin be the primary language used in TV dramas and as a result, Gen Z can barely speak any Shanghainese.
But Blossoms Shanghai has spurred local comedians, actors and TV anchors to post short videos to teach Shanghainese on social media.
He Yi, a theatre actor who plays a small role in the show as a street bully hailing from Shanghai's grassroots, said Blossoms Shanghai has even helped to rehabilitate the image of Shanghai within China thanks to its rare depiction of different social classes in the city.
The city's locals are often stereotyped as being haughty and shrewd and its bourgeois lifestyle a point of ridicule.
“We are losing our identity as Shanghainese and it's not just about the dialect,” said He in the same interview with Bloomberg.
“Watching Blossoms Shanghai is like celebrating the new year for us local performers, citizens and anyone who understands Shanghai's culture.” — Malay Mail