Shanghai Daily news

The former China headquarters of EMI on Hengshan Road (top) is now a restaurant. The original staircase and light fittings (above left) have been kept and preserved. The building is also decorated with original LPs(above right), a reminder of the birthplace of China’s recorded music industry. 

On the edge of the grassy peaceful surrounds of Xujiahui is an old red building where recorded musical history began in China.
The house is known as ``Xiao Honglou'' (small red house) and was the first headquarters of recording company EMI in China. Located on Hengshan Road, this tastefully decorated building was turned into a restaurant two years ago. Walking along its worn wooden floors, it's a chance to step back in time, surrounded by antique tables, leather chairs and gramophones in almost every room.
Genuine traces of the past remain with exquisitely carved staircases, fire places and a secret iron safe on the first floor. Old framed records grace the walls.
``Many say it used to be the recording studio but it's not true,'' says Xue Liyong, an expert at Shanghai History Museum. ``This house is too luxurious for recording rooms. It used to be the residence for senior staff and offices of EMI.''
EMI had considerable influence on China's record and gramophone industry.
``It was the first and biggest music recording company in China before 1949,'' says Xue. ``The company entered the Chinese market in 1908. At first the company was based in Nanyangqiao (now Xizang Road S.) to sell records and gramophones. In 1921 it moved to this site near Xujiahui.''
``To win Chinese customers the company made records for famous Peking opera singers and sold them with `Rooster' as the logo,'' he says.
``In 1934 EMI's headquarters in Paris went bankrupt and the Shanghai branch was taken over by a British company,'' Xue adds. ``The house then became occupied by the Japanese before falling back into British hands and then finally it became the Shanghai branch of China Records in 1952.''
After 1949 many songs about Chinese armies and revolutions were recorded there. In the late 1980s a record named ``The Red Sun,'' which was a collection of popular songs during the ``cultural revolution'' (1966-76), was created. The album made record sales of 7 million copies nationwide.
For Chinese, this land used to be a ``music valley.'' The former retail department of China Records was a paradise for music lovers and record collectors. China's first magazine for pop music, Audio-Video World, was also launched there in 1986. In 1995 Chinese actress Gong Li recorded her first song in the building, for director Zhang Yimou's film ``Shanghai Triad.''
``The roofs and outer walls look like a typical British residential house in the late 19th century,'' says Liu Gang, an expert on historical conservation. ``But this neoclassical style building contains some French and Belgium elements. The surrounding buildings have been demolished.''
A galaxy of stars worked there during the EMI era, including singer Zhou Xuan who gained the nickname ``golden voice'' in the 1930s and composer Nie Er, who wrote China's national anthem.
``Last year an old, slim woman with short hair in a wheelchair visited the house accompanied by her son,'' recalls Ying Jun from La Villa Rouge restaurant. ``This old lady gazed at the black-and-white pictures of famous singers on the wall for a while. Some believe she might have been the famous singer Gong Qiuxia from the 1930s.''
Ying says former China Records staff regularly visit the house in groups.
``The house also attracted music fans who were hoping the government would turn it into a museum for music records,'' says Ying. ``They were disappointed when it was finally turned into a restaurant. Last year, a middle-aged man, who is a former employee of China Records, came here to open the iron safe on the first floor. The safe opened, and there were files saved inside.''
The 1.5 meter-high safe is marked with an address in Paris. Two tiny iron flakes that conceal the two keyholes are patterned with a lively phoenix.
In some ways it's a pity the restaurant recently replaced the black-and-white photographs with modern paintings to match its new Italian-style food, but it's said that a genuine fan with sensitive ears for music can still hear the historic melodies which have been etched into the walls.