Fascinating Photos of Life in Old Shanghai from the 1920s and 1930s

Shanghai in the old days was unlike any other city. It was famous for its free port, where the whole world gathered to work and play. European expats and adventuresome Americans rubbed shoulders with Russians, Jews and Japanese expats: it was truly a city with many faces.

Louis-Philippe Messelier, an 18-year-old Frenchman, set out for Shanghai in the 1920s to participate in the booming wool trade. The French Journal of Shanghai published his photographs while he was juggling his business career in the French concession of Shanghai.

Louis-Philippe Messelier saw everything: the ritual processions, the acrobats, the snake charmers; the races, the film studios, aerial views; and old church ruins of fishermen’s cottages in the countryside. He captured everything in a sincere and singular manner.

#1 Snake charmer, Shanghai, 1929

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#2 Japanese ladies in Shanghai’s harbor, 1930

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#3 Crowd and boats on the bund N°1, Shanghai, 1929

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#4 Making a movie N°1, circa 1930

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#5 Religious dignitary, Shanghai, circa 1930

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#6 Japanese itinerant Kumosu monk, Shanghai, 1932

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#7 Shanghai, the Bund, 1929

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#8 Crowd and boats on the bund N°2, Shanghai, 1929

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#9 Young Acrobats N°1 French concession, Shanghai, 1930

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#10 Street Theater, 1928, Shanghai

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#11 Playong Mahjong

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#12 Fuzhou street, French concession, Shanghai, 1930

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#13 Junks on the Huang-Pu river, Shanghai, 1930

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#14 At the Racecourse

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#15 Old man eating noodles in his shop, bird in a cage, Shanghai, 1923

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