Celebrating our great Republic! 🇮🇳☀️ #VasudhaivaKutumbakam 🌎🪷 In the lead upto our 77th Republic Day celebrations, CG @PratikMathur1 together with the leading Historical Society of China @HistoricSH curated a “Indians in Shanghai” event for Friends of India from the diaspora, local community & diplomatic and consular corps, including colleagues from the BRICS New Development Bank in Shanghai, to showcase the rich history of the Indian community in the region. The key highlights: ➡️ Leading historians Mr. Patrick Cranley and Ms. Tina Kanagaratnam explained to participants the rich history of landmarks such as the BUND, the word itself derived from Hindi language and its meaning and origins rooted in old maritime links. ➡️ The interactions during the event also featured details of the the Shanghai Gurdwara, built in 1908. During the Second World War, the Sikh community of Shanghai had volunteered to give the building to the Indian National Army (INA - Azad Hind Fauj) for its use. #Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose visited this training camp, in the city in 1944. ➡️ Jo Bole So Nihaal! 👳🏾‍♂️👳🏾‍♂️The event also featured descriptions of the brave Sikh warriors from the Indian army and the Ghadar party and visit to the struggle sites where they persevered in the face of tremendous odds to spread the message of independence and freedom. ➡️ Amar Sonar Bangla 👵🗣️The gathering also paid tribute to #Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore who visited Shanghai multiple times and whose immortal works heralding our rich civilizational heritage continue to inspire us today. ➡️ The links fostered by trading, business and shipping companies including banks such as Tatas and Hong Kong and Shanghai International Bank were also cited and showcased to underline the age old link the city enjoys with India. 🌆 ➡️ The visitors also had an opportunity to visit sites and places of interest linked with Azad Hind Fauj, Parsee and Dawoodi Bohra Communities and the Sephardic Jewish community who trace their roots to Gujarat and other parts of Western India such as Mumbai. ➡️ A brief video showing the family history of several such families and inspirational figures from city archives was also released on the occasion. ➡️ Consul General while felicitating the organizers and historians, underlined the significance of Indian community’s cultural heritage and paid tribute to the rich contributions that 🇮🇳’s soft power has made to humanity and the Founding of our great Republic. 🫡 Jai Hind Jai Bharat 🇮🇳 @indiandiplomacy @indiandiplomats @TMK_TinaManiK @AsiaMediaPR

Interior of  "Pagoda Paris", a townhouse in the 8th Arrondissement, 1930s, the gallery and home of C. T. Loo, a well-known and controversial dealer of Chinese art and artifacts for the first half of the 20th century.

The only known original color (!) footage of Old Shanghai's neon advertisements in 1939. From the 8mm camera of Colonel Harvey S. Walseth, US Marine Corps.