Qiu Xiaolong’s six Inspector Chen crime thriller novels, which are set in 1990s Shanghai, are about the city as much as the poetry-quoting detective. He tells Time Out about the local places and traditions which have inspired his fiction
Huangpu Park
'Huangpu Park regularly features in the Inspector Chen series. For example, Chen finds a mutilated body there in the
Loyal Character Dancer (2002). There’s also a flashback where the inspector studies English in the park. This is partly because I base large parts of my fiction on my childhood memories – I studied English in this park.
In my school years, I read in textbooks that there was a sign in front of Huangpu Park saying ‘No Chinese or dogs are allowed’. That’s why it was used for patriotism education, though in recent years people have started to question the authenticity of this story. I also used to live near The Bund, so for a couple of years I walked here almost every morning to meet friends and practise tai chi. The area is symbolic of Shanghai – there’s a real mixture of old and new China.’
Jingan Temple
'In the
Red Mandarin Dress (2007), Inspector Chen goes to a place based on Jingan Temple for inspiration and to help him with his murder enquiries. In the past, you could go there to think. And it didn’t matter whether
or not you were religious.
But you can’t do that today; it’s become so materialistic and too much like a tourist attraction. The surrounding high-rises and shopping centres aren’t good for the temple’s harmony, and I don’t understand how it can exist side by side with an area that’s become so commercial.’
Xiaolongbao
‘Inspector Chen has good taste in food – pork dumplings and soup are his favourites. It’s not easy being a cop, so I have to give him something he enjoys. In
The Mao Case (2009), Chen and Old Hunter like eating in traditional Chinese restaurants, which reflects my own taste. I don’t enjoy eating at the type of luxurious and expensive restaurants that are now everywhere in Shanghai, and I’m not sure people of my generation like them much either.
I remember going to small, local restaurants near to where I grew up on Shandong Lu in Huangpu district.
Xiaolongbao is one of my favourites – you can still have good ones in the City God Temple Market or Yu Gardens.’
Nanjing Xi Lu
‘The main character (Guan Hongying) in
Death of a Red Heroine (2000) works at the Shanghai Number One Department Store on Nanjing Xi Lu. It was the most popular store in Shanghai when I was writing the book. Guan Hongying worries that her youth is disappearing and that a fancy new department store will replace where she works as the trendiest place to go. This is exactly what’s happened in real life; the status of the building has definitely changed.
Young people who enjoy shopping will not go to the Shanghai Number One Department Store anymore. Instead, they’ll go to Xintiandi, or modern shopping centres like Henglong and Zhongxing, which are also on Nanjing Xi Lu. So the storyline in this book has mimicked what’s happened in real life. Because Shanghai is changing so quickly, some of the places I write about in the Inspector Chen series are already falling far behind the reality of modern Shanghai.’
As told to John Sunyer
This article originally appeared in the April 2010 issue of Time Out Shanghai
