|
The history of the Astor House Hotel, Shanghai 1900-1922 traces the development of the Astor House Hotel, the first western hotel in China, from its sale by Ellen Jansen to Auguste Vernon in 1900 to its sale to the Hotels Limited in May 1922. The story of the Hotel provides a revealing insight into the history of China itself. According to Rob Gifford, "The Astor House Hotel has witnessed the whole sweep of China's emergence into the modern world, from English opium running in the 1840s through the tea dances of polite society in the 1920s and to the excesses of Maoist China in the 1960s." 〔Rob Gifford, ''China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power'' (Random House, 2007):4.〕 ==Auguste Vernon (1900-1901)== On 1 November 1900 American Mrs Ellen McGrath Jansen (died 12 November 1918 in Shanghai),〔Ellen arrived in Shanghai by 7 July 1871 from Tientsin on the ''Dragon''. See "Arrivals", ''North-China Herald'' (7 July 1871):15. Ellen died at her home at 2 Jeffield Road (now Wanhangdu Lu) on Tuesday, 12 November 1918, and was buried at Pahsinjao Cemetery two days later. The service was conducted by Rev. C.E. Darwent. Her sons-in-law, Messrs. Hide and Everall were chief mourners. See "Mrs. Ellen Jansen", ''North-China Herald'' (16 November 1918):30; ''Millard's China National Review'' 9 (7 June 1919):41.〕 widow of DeWitt Clinton Jansen〔Sometimes his name is misspelled "Janssen". "Police Court", ''North-China Herald'' (16 August 1873):18; ''The China Directory'' 16th ed. (Ch'eng Wen Pub. Co., 1874):15. Hibbard indicates the date of purchase was 1884, see''Bund'', 212, and Darwent suggests a much earlier date than that: "It was founded by Mr. DC Jansen in 1860." See Charles Ewart Darwent, ''Shanghai: A Handbook for Travellers and Residents to the Chief Objects of Interest in and Around the Foreign Settlements and Native City'' 2nd ed. (Kelly & Walsh, 1920):62.〕 (born at Shawangunk, New York on 8 November 1840; died 6 November 1894 in Shanghai),〔"Official", ''The New York Times'' (24 December 1894):5; http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E00EEDA1231E033A25757C2A9649D94659ED7CF; Thomas Patrick Hughes and Frank Munsell, ''American Ancestry: Giving the Name and Descent, In the Male Line, of Americans Whose Ancestors Settled in the United States Previous to the Declaration of Independence, A.D. 1776'' Vols. 4-6 (Clearfield, Co., 1891):158; Charles Ewart Darwent, ''Shanghai: A Handbook for Travellers and Residents to the Chief Objects of Interest in and Around the Foreign Settlements and Native City'', 2nd ed. (Kelly & Walsh, 1920):62.〕 who had owned the hotel since 1873, sold the Astor House Hotel for 175,000 taels (about US$130.000)〔''North-China Herald'' (24 October):6 (862). In June 1897 in Shanghai US$1 gold was worth 1.35 taels. See ''North-China Herald'' (4 June 1897):6. In 2008, $130,000.00 from 1900 is worth $3,438,500.00 using the Consumer Price Index. See Samuel H. Williamson, "Six Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1790 to Present," MeasuringWorth, 2009. URL http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/〕 to Frenchman Monsieur Auguste Vernon (born 1851 in France; died 3 July 1918 at Kamakura, Japan),〔"The Transfer of the Astor House", ''North-China Herald'' (24 October 1900):27 (883); ''North-China Herald'' (20 July 1918):9 (129).〕 who owned another hotel in Hankow,〔"The Astor House Hotel Company, Limited", ''North-China Herald'' (24 July 1901):20 (164).〕 who had previously managed the Hotel Bella Vista in Macau from its opening on 1 July 1890 until he left due to serious illness.〔Elaine Denby, ''Grand Hotels: Reality and Illusion'' (Reaktion Books, 1998):210.〕 Vernon retained all of the principal staff.〔"The Transfer of the Astor House", ''North-China Herald'' (24 October 1900):27 (883)〕 The manager was Mr. Loureiro.〔''North-China Herald'' (17 October 1900):47 (847).〕 At that time of the change of ownership, the Hotel was considered the first first-class hotel in Shanghai.〔''The North-China Herald'' (17 July 1901):6 (102).〕 and "the best hotel in all the Orient",〔''The World's Work: A History of our Time'' 3 (Doubleday, Doran and company, 1901):1963.〕 One traveller indicated in 1900, "the Astor-House Hotel at Shanghai, it might be called European with a few Chinese characteristics. We of course had Chinese to wait on us here".〔J. Fox Sharp, ''Japan and America: Lecture'' (Todd, Wardell and Larter, 1900):13.〕 Vernon introduced several improvements, including a series of "Elite Dinners" accompanied by the Shanghai Municipal Symphony.〔''North-China Herald'' (14 November 1900):30 (1046).〕 Vernon added a suite of eighteen bedrooms and saloons to the Hotel.〔"The Astor House Hotel Company, Limited", ''North-China Herald'' (24 July 1901):21 (165).〕 In 1901 the first telephones were installed in Shanghai, with the Astor House having the first telephone used.〔The Astor House in Tientsin installed one of the first telephones in 1879. See Dikötter, 148.〕 In the first Yellow Pages telephone directory published in Shanghai, its number was "200". ''The North-China Herald'' praised the Astor House Hotel in January 1902: "it is a great thing that we have at last in Shanghai a hotel which is a credit to the place, and whose vast improvement has stimulated its rivals to renewed efforts to satisfy the travelling and homeless public".〔''The North-China Herald'' (8 January 1902), quoted in William Arthur Thomas, ''Western Capitalism in China: A History of the Shanghai Stock Exchange'' (Ashgate, 2001):58.〕 However, later In the first six months of 1901 the Astor Astor House Hotel had generated $90,000.61 profit, while its sister hotel in Hankow made just over $10,000.〔"The Astor House Hotel Company, Limited", ''North-China Herald'' (24 July 1901):20. In 2008, $90,000.00 from 1900 is worth: $2,380,500.00 using the Consumer Price Index. See Samuel H. Williamson, "Six Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1790 to Present," MeasuringWorth, 2009. URL http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the Astor House Hotel (Shanghai) 1900–22」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|