Text/The sixth day of August
In the old days, whenever someone came to Shanghai to visit and asked what interesting places there were in Shanghai, nine out of ten people would get the answer in the affirmative. It's the "big world".
What everyone calls "Big World" refers to the intersection of Aidoya Road (i.e. Yan'an West Road) and Minti Niyin Road (i.e. Tibet South Road). The founder of Big World Amusement Park was Huang Chujiu, a famous business tycoon in Shanghai at that time.
Speaking of Huang Chujiu, he can be regarded as a legend. He was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province in 1872, and came to Shanghai with his mother when he was a teenager. At first, he set up a stall in the Chenghuang Temple and worked as a "charlatan", treating eye diseases and selling homemade pills. He was enthusiastic and sincere, and his brain was very flexible. He had great business talent and achieved good publicity effects by treating people for free. Business gradually improved. Soon he put away the stall and opened a clinic called "Yi Shou Shi".
But Huang Chujiu’s innate ambition and business acumen will not let him be willing to just be a doctor all his life. So he gave up medicine and went into business, borrowed money to open a Chinese and French pharmacy, and started a business selling Chinese and Western medicines.
Being well aware of the Chinese people’s blind worship of foreigners, he used Chinese medicine as the basis and added some Western medicine as a tonic to create the so-called "Ai Luo brain supplement". ", randomly found a photo of a foreigner as a trademark, pretended to be the inventor Dr. Ai Luo, and then published a large advertisement to promote its efficacy, and unexpectedly achieved excellent results.
Later, during the nationwide boycott of Japanese goods triggered by the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, he launched "Dragon Tiger Man Pill", claiming to be based on the ancient prescription of "Zhuge Xingjun Powder", and then Paired with the exciting advertising slogan "Chinese please use Chinese Rendan", it competed with Japanese Rendan that dominated the Chinese market at that time. Through overwhelming advertising, it achieved a win-win situation of patriotism and profit.
Huang Chujiu, who has tasted the sweetness brought by the advertising effect, in his subsequent business career, step by step embarked on the road of "slippery yard" with the help of commercial hype, and Reached the pinnacle of life.
In 1912, he and real estate tycoon Jing Runsan co-founded Xinxin Stage at Erma Road (Jiujiang Road) and Daxin Street (Hubei Road). Later, his good friend Sun Yusheng, the "Seishishi student of the sea" (also known as Sun Jiazhen, the author of the popular novel "Dream of Prosperity on the Sea") went to Japan. In cities such as Tokyo, he saw businesses opening up the roofs of buildings into gardens and setting up recreational activities. After returning to China, he lobbied Huang Chujiu to get one in Shanghai. Huang Chujiu thought this suggestion was good, so he created the Louwailou playground on the top floor of Xinxin Stage.
Although the "Outdoor Building" is called a playground, compared with the later "New World" and "Big World", it is just an ordinary roof garden, so There are not many entertainment projects launched. However, it is the earliest amusement park in Shanghai after all. It is located on the top floor of the building. You need to take the "fresh goods" elevator to reach it. It also has a very popular "haha mirror", so it attracts many curious early adopters. Therefore, Business is booming.
After witnessing the success of "Lou Wai Lou", Huang Chujiu feels that Shanghai's entertainment industry will have a bright future. In 1915, he and Jing Junzo opened a new New World Amusement Park near the "Louis Wai Lou" (now the New World Mall), which means that the place called "New World" today was also called "New World" in the past. "New World")
The "New World" is three stories high and houses singing, storytelling, juggling, cross talk and other performances. It also opens up shopping malls, teahouses, Restaurants, billiard rooms and other facilities were also moved into the playground, as well as fashionable entertainment items such as an ice rink and a dance hall. It can be said to be the prototype of the later "Big World". Since its opening, it has been busy.
But soon Jing Runsan passed away due to illness. When he was dying, he entrusted the property to his wife Wang Guozhen, the "Jing Da Niangzi", and reminded her that "Huang Chujiu is not a thing in the pond and is not easy to control." Of course, this Wang Guozhen is not an ordinary woman. She has a stronger personality and more ruthless tactics than her husband. She tried every means to seize the equity and kicked Huang Chujiu out of the "New World".
After all, Huang Chujiu can be regarded as an "old slicker" who has been in the business world for decades. He didn't expect to lose at the hands of a woman. He really couldn't swallow this sigh of relief. He was determined to build a playground that was larger than the "New World" and had more facilities.
There is no end to the right path. Huang Chujiu, who suffered a defeat in the shopping mall, attracted the attention of Gan Sidong, the French consul in Shanghai, because at that time, the French Concession There is no real playground yet, and I would like to open one to prosper business. So Gan Sidong sent someone to contact Huang Chujiu and invited him to open an amusement park in the French Concession.
Huang Chujiu would not miss such a God-given opportunity. He raised funds everywhere, rented an open space at the intersection of Edoya in the French Concession, and began to build a playground.
Finally, on the French Bastille Day in 1917, after ten days of advertising bombardment in major newspapers in Shanghai, the much-anticipated "Big World" officially opened to the public. On the opening day, more than 20,000 people including officials, gentry, business people, and ordinary people came to attend the opening ceremony. The venue was so crowded that it became a big news sensation in Shanghai.
In order to surpass the "New World", the "Big World" put great effort into the architectural design, which was completed by Huang Chujiu and a group of literati friends - accounting for It covers an area of ??more than 14,000 square meters, twice the area of ??"New World". The internal style is mainly displayed in the form of Chinese-style pavilions. There are buildings such as the Grand Harmony Hall, Daguan Tower, Xiaopeng Mountain, Que Screen, Wind Corridor, Shoushan Stone House, Dengyunting Pavilion, and Yuanyang Pond. Huang Chujiu also asked scholars to name each building, which is known as the "Ten Wonders of the Great World", namely: Flying Pavilion Flowing Dan, Floor View, Pavilion Autumn, Guangsha Yanchun, Wind Corridor Spend Summer, Flower Border Sitting The moon, the crane in the frosty sky, exploring the wonders of the Yinghai Sea, listening to music in the crane pavilion, and the colorful bird screen.
In terms of various facilities, Huang Chujiu has also achieved more richness than the "New World", such as theaters, movie theaters, bookstores, shopping malls, juggling venues, animal houses, and dance halls. , rooftop gardens, Chinese and Western restaurants, etc., everything is available. The performances are also colorful, with operas, jugglers, civilized plays, shadow plays, puppet shows, juggling, qigong, martial arts, etc. from all over the country making a dazzling appearance. There are also a large number of gambling toys placed throughout the venue, such as electric bells, air guns, diamond sets, etc. All the tools that are profitable and profitable will not be used.
In addition, Huang Chujiu also arranged many novel amusement facilities: in addition to the "Haha Mirror" that was well received during the "Lou Wai Lou" period, he also built other Fun projects such as the open-air high-altitude airship, horse racing, and high chair rotation are popular among children. We also designed the "Qiankun Grand Theater" with two floors, which can accommodate more than a thousand people watching a show at the same time. It screens movies during the day and performs Peking opera at night. The theater is almost full.
In order to attract more audiences, he also invited many famous opera actors to perform on stage in turn, which attracted a large number of theater fans to come to support him. At the same time, the "Big World" is also a place where talents emerge in large numbers. Many famous actors who later became famous in the north and south, such as Meng Xiaodong, came from here.
Although a lot of money has been spent on hardware, the "Big World" ticket setting is very common. The ticket price is 20 foreign dollars, and the price for children and servants is half. For the price of one ticket, you can have fun there for a whole day.
Regarding the origin of this civilian fare, there is also a legend that is not true or false: when discussing the price positioning issue, Huang Chujiu proposed to make the price civilian, but someone Feeling that the tickets were too cheap and it was difficult to recover the cost, Huang Chujiu stood thoughtfully in front of the window, pointed at the crowds of people outside the window, and said meaningfully: "There are so many people in Shanghai, as long as we make a dollar from each person." Money is a big deal! Our ticket price should be set at a level that allows more people to play. If there are more people coming, are we afraid that we won’t make any money?”
Precisely because of the "standard of making it affordable for more people", the business of the amusement park is naturally very hot. The venue is crowded every day, and it also attracts many tourists from cities around Shanghai. Come and have fun.
Feng Zikai once mentioned in the article "Old Shanghai" what it was like when visiting the "Big World": as soon as you enter the door, there is a "haha mirror", many uneven mirrors, Illuminating people's bodies... There are many tricks inside, including Peking Theater, Yue Theater, Shanghai Theater, Pingtan Theater... There are movies, juggling, spinning the roulette wheel, flying in a spaceship, lottery, etc. There are quizzes, various restaurants, and a rooftop garden. All in all. People who come from the countryside regard the playground as a paradise.
While having launched many amusement projects, Huang Chujiu is still constantly innovating. His little coppersmith invented a unique "tea vending machine" on the market, with a coin hole on it. Just put in a copper plate, and a cup of tea will flow out of the outlet (sour plum soup is also available in summer) , became a huge hit upon its launch.
In addition, the Big World often holds some weird exhibitions, such as Tarzan Orangutan, Colorful Python, Millennium Turtle Spirit, Indian Civet Spirit and other exhibitions in the name of hunting. It has caught the attention of many tourists. As the advertisement for "Big World" says, it is "an all-encompassing world."
Gradually, "Big World" became more and more famous and became the "leader" in Shanghai's entertainment industry during the Republic of China. At that time, there was a popular saying in society: If you don't come to the big world, you will be in Shanghai in vain. The story of its business competition with its rival "New World" is also quite interesting, so I won't go into details in this article.
The booming performance of "Big World" makes Huang Chujiu even more ambitious. Due to the lack of funds at the beginning, some facilities were relatively rudimentary, which affected development. Therefore, in the seventh year after opening, he rented the sites on Edoya Road and Mintinyam Road to rebuild and expand the "Big World".
Huang Chujiu hired the famous architectural designer Zhou Huinan to design a new version of "Big World". Later, it was modified by foreign designer Richard Li, giving the amusement park a completely new look──the overall It is a fan-shaped building complex. The main body consists of three four-story buildings, two facing east and west, and one facing north and south. In addition, a 55.3-meter-high hexagonal hall composed of twelve thick round stone columns was built at the middle corner, rising layer by layer to form a pagoda at the top. This unique shape later became the symbol of the "Big World" and was also the commanding heights of Shanghai at that time. Visitors could overlook the beautiful scenery of Shanghai by climbing the tower.
In addition, the sky bridges and corridors connecting the ground floor center field and each floor not only facilitate tourists to go to various venues anytime and anywhere, but also watch the center from the sky bridges and corridors A stage performance. Such a novel design brings visitors a refreshing viewing experience.
Ever since, relying on its unique advantages, "Big World" finally succeeded in defeating "New World" and dominated the entertainment industry in Shanghai at that time.
Although Huang Chujiu has made a lot of money through his achievements in the entertainment industry, it is obvious that these achievements cannot satisfy his increasingly expanding ambitions.
Driven by profit, he founded Dachang Cigarette Company in 1915 and launched the sensational "Xiaonan Brand" cigarettes. Later, day and night banks and exchanges were opened, as well as hundreds of factories, hospitals, pharmaceutical factories, hotels, teahouses, hotels, bathhouses, film companies and even cemeteries. So much so that there was a rumor among Shanghainese people at that time: Huang Chujiu had worked in all walks of life, except for the coffin shop.
Huang Chujiu, who is good at marketing, has also successfully integrated his major industries with the "big world" to form a circular industrial chain. For example, if you deposit five yuan in the day and night bank, you can get a ticket to the "Big World" as a gift; with this ticket, you can also get an extra pack of "Xiaonan Brand" cigarettes; his name is plastered everywhere in the "Big World" Industrial advertising; he also required actors to advertise products in plots and lines; sometimes he would ask actors to come off the stage to sell products, and if the audience paid for them, they would also receive "Big World" tickets...Such a huge sales The big world is no longer just an ordinary amusement park, but has expanded into Huang Chujiu's money empire.
Main Bibliography
"Map of Shanghai Culture - Past Events of Shenjiang" by Pan Zhen? Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press
"Shanghai Spring and Autumn Period" written by Cao Juren? Published by Life·Reading·New Knowledge Sanlian Bookstore
"History of Life in the Silver Dollar Era" written by Chen Cunren? Published by Guangxi Normal University Press
"Golden Rong" written by Zhang Yanling? Chinese Publishing House
"Shanghai Tycoon" written by Shen Ji Xuelin Publishing House
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