Article
Great World, located at the center of Shanghai City, was the biggest and most famous entertainment complex of old Shanghai, with simultaneous all-day performances of music, films, opera, magic.
Originally built in 1917 and rebuilt in1924, Great World had L-shaped plane with reinforced concrete frame structure. Its architectural style is a mixed one, something like Western classical, but is limited to the door, hall and theater, and the in-house decoration is in the traditional Chinese style.
The establishment had six floors to provide distraction for the milling crowd, six floors that seethed with life and all the commotion and noise that go with it studded with every variety of entertainment Chinese ingenuity had contrived.
On the first floor there were gambling tables, sing-song girls, magicians, pick-pockets, slot machines, fireworks, bird cages, fans, stick incense, acrobats and ginger. One flight up were the restaurants, a dozen different groups of actors, crickets in cages, barbers and earwax extractors. The third floor had jugglers, herb medicines, and ice cream parlours. The fourth floor was crowded with shooting galleries, fantan tables, and massage benches. The fifth floor featured story tellers, balloons, a mirror maze, two love-letter booths with scribes who guaranteed results, 'rubber goods' and a temple filled with ferocious gods and joss sticks. On the top floor and roof of that house of multiple joys a jumble of tight-rope walkers slithered back and forth, and there were seesaws, lottery tickets, and marriage brokers.
After 1949, Great World has been transformed to a public recreation center characterized by recreation, acrobatics and traditional dramas. It has been popular for its civilian style and entertainment suit both refined and popular tastes. Its unique Shanghai Culture, novel entertainment facilities and wonderful performances have attracted tens of thousands of guests at home and abroad.