Text/The sixth day of August

In the old days, whenever someone came to Shanghai to visit and asked what interesting places there were in Shanghai, nine out of ten the answer would be "the big world".

What everyone calls "Big World" refers to the Big World amusement park located at the intersection of Aidoya Road (i.e. Yan'an West Road) and Minti Niyin Road (i.e. Tibet South Road). The founder It was Huang Chujiu, a famous business tycoon in Shanghai at that time.

Speaking of Huang Chujiu, he can be regarded as a legendary figure. He was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province in 1872, and came to Shanghai with his mother when he was a teenager. At first, he set up a stall in the Chenghuang Temple and worked as a "charlatan", treating eye diseases and selling homemade pills. He was enthusiastic and sincere, and his brain was very flexible. He had great business talent and achieved good publicity effects by treating people for free. Business gradually improved. Soon he put away the stall and opened a clinic called "Yi Shou Shi".

But Huang Chujiu's innate ambition and business acumen will not let him be willing to just be a doctor all his life. So he gave up medicine and went into business, borrowed money to open a large Chinese and French pharmacy, and started a business selling Chinese and Western medicines.

Since he was well aware of the blind worship of foreigners by Chinese people, he made the so-called "Ailuo brain supplement" based on traditional Chinese medicine and added some western medicine as a supplement. He casually found Zhang Yangren. used a photo of the drug as a trademark, pretending to be the inventor Dr. Arrow, and then published a large advertisement to promote its efficacy, which actually achieved excellent results.

Later, during the nationwide boycott of Japanese goods triggered by the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, he launched the "Dragon Tiger Man Pill", claiming to be based on the ancient recipe of "Zhuge Xingjun Powder", and paired it with inspiring advertising slogans "Chinese people please use Chinese Rendan" to compete with Japanese Rendan that dominated the Chinese market at that time. Through overwhelming advertising, it achieved a win-win situation of patriotism and profit.

Huang Chujiu, who tasted the sweetness brought by the advertising effect, in his subsequent business career, relied on the power of commercial hype to gradually embark on the path of "slippery yard" and reached the pinnacle of life.

In 1912, he and real estate tycoon Jing Runsan jointly opened the Xinxin Stage at Erma Road (Jiujiang Road) and Daxin Street (Hubei Road). Later, his good friend Sun Yusheng, the "Seishishi student of the sea" (also known as Sun Jiazhen, the author of the popular novel "Dream of Prosperity on the Sea") went to Japan. In cities such as Tokyo, he saw businesses opening up the roofs of buildings into gardens and setting up recreational activities. After returning to China, he lobbied Huang Chujiu to get one in Shanghai. Huang Chujiu thought this suggestion was good, so he created the Louwailou playground on the top floor of Xinxin Stage.

Although "Louwailou" is called an amusement park, compared with the later "New World" and "Big World", it is just an ordinary roof garden with not many entertainment projects. . However, it is the earliest amusement park in Shanghai after all. It is located on the top floor of the building. You need to take the "fresh goods" elevator to reach it. It also has a very popular "haha mirror", so it attracts many curious early adopters. Therefore, Business is booming.

After witnessing the success of "Lou Wai Lou", Huang Chujiu feels that Shanghai's entertainment industry will have a bright future. In 1915, he and Jing Junzo opened a new New World Amusement Park near the "Louis Wai Lou" (now the New World Mall), which means that the place called "New World" today was also called "New World" in the past. "New World")

The "New World" is three stories high. It houses performances such as singing, storytelling, juggling, and cross talk. It also has facilities such as shopping malls, teahouses, restaurants, and billiard rooms. Fashionable entertainment projects such as the ice rink and dance hall were also moved into the playground, which can be said to be the prototype of the later "Big World". Since its opening, it has been busy.

But soon Jing Runsan passed away due to illness. When he was dying, he entrusted the property to his wife Wang Guozhen, the "Jing Da Niangzi", and reminded her that "Huang Chujiu is not a thing in the pond and is not easy to control." Of course, this Wang Guozhen is not an ordinary woman. She has a stronger personality and more ruthless tactics than her husband. She tried every means to seize the equity and kicked Huang Chujiu out of the "New World".

After all, Huang Chujiu can be regarded as an "old slicker" who has been in the business world for decades. He didn't expect to lose at the hands of a woman. He really couldn't swallow this sigh of relief. He made up his mind to build a playground larger than the "New World" with more facilities.

Youdao is the road to perfection. Huang Chujiu, who suffered a defeat in the shopping mall, attracted the attention of Gan Sidong, the French consul in Shanghai, because there was no real playground in the French Concession at that time. , would like to open a playground to prosper business. So Gan Sidong sent someone to contact Huang Chujiu and invited him to open an amusement park in the French Concession.

Huang Chujiu would not miss such a God-given opportunity. He raised funds everywhere, rented an open space at the intersection of Edoya in the French Concession, and began to build a playground.

Finally, on the French Bastille Day in 1917, after ten days of advertising bombardment in major newspapers in Shanghai, the much-anticipated "Big World" officially opened to the public. On the opening day, more than 20,000 people including officials, gentry, business people, and ordinary people came to attend the opening ceremony. The venue was so crowded that it became a big news sensation in Shanghai.

In order to surpass the "New World", the "Big World" put great effort into the architectural design. It was completed by Huang Chujiu and a group of literary friends *** covering an area of ??more than 14,000 square meters. Twice as big as the "New World". The internal style is mainly displayed in the form of Chinese-style pavilions. There are buildings such as the Grand Harmony Hall, Daguan Tower, Xiaopeng Mountain, Que Screen, Wind Corridor, Shoushan Stone House, Dengyunting Pavilion, and Yuanyang Pond. Huang Chujiu also asked scholars to name each building, which is known as the "Ten Wonders of the Great World", namely: Flying Pavilion Flowing Dan, Floor View, Pavilion Autumn, Guangsha Yanchun, Wind Corridor Spend Summer, Flower Border Sitting The moon, the cranes singing in the frosty sky, exploring the wonders of the Yinghai Sea, listening to music in the crane pavilion, and the sparrow screen shining brightly.

In terms of various facilities, Huang Chujiu has also achieved more richness than the "New World", such as theaters, movie theaters, bookstores, shopping malls, sideshows, animal enclosures, dance halls, rooftop gardens, Chinese and Western restaurants, etc. , everything you need. The performances are also colorful, with operas, jugglers, civilized plays, shadow plays, puppet shows, juggling, qigong, martial arts, etc. from all over the country making a dazzling appearance. There are also a large number of gambling toys placed throughout the venue, such as electric bells, air guns, diamond sets, etc. All the tools that are profitable and profitable will not be used.

In addition, Huang Chujiu has also arranged many novel amusement facilities: in addition to the "Hard Mirror" that was well received during the "Lou Wai Lou" period, he also built an open-air high-altitude airship that is very popular among children. , machine horse racing, high chair rotation and other fun projects. We also designed the "Qiankun Grand Theater" with two floors, which can accommodate more than a thousand people watching a show at the same time. It screens movies during the day and performs Peking opera at night. The theater is almost full.

In order to attract more audiences, he also invited many famous opera actors to perform on stage in turn, which attracted a large number of theater fans to come to support him. At the same time, the "Big World" is also a place where talents emerge in large numbers. Many famous actors who later became famous in the north and south, such as Meng Xiaodong, came from here.

Although a lot of money has been spent on the hardware, the "Big World" ticket setting is very civilian. The ticket price is 20 foreign dollars, and half the price for children and servants. For the price of one ticket, you can You can have fun playing there all day long.

Regarding the origin of this civilian ticket price, there is also a legend that is not true or false: when discussing the price positioning issue, Huang Chujiu proposed to make the price civilian, but some people felt that the tickets were too low and difficult to recover. Cost, so Huang Chujiu stood in front of the window thoughtfully, pointed at the crowds of people outside the window, and said meaningfully: "There are so many people in Shanghai, as long as we make one dollar per person, it will be great!" Our ticket price should be set at a level that allows more people to play. If more people come, are we afraid that we will not make money?”

Just because “let more people come” "Everyone can afford it." The business of the amusement park is naturally very booming, and the venue is crowded every day. It also attracts many tourists from cities around Shanghai to come and play.

Feng Zikai once mentioned in his article "Old Shanghai" what it was like to visit the "Big World": as soon as you enter the door, there is a "haha mirror", many uneven mirrors, reflecting people's bodies... ....There are many tricks inside, including the Beijing Theater, the Yue Theater, the Shanghai Theater, the Pingtan Theater...there are movies, juggling, spinning the roulette wheel, flying in a spaceship, lottery, guessing, and all kinds of food and drinks. shop, and a rooftop garden. All in all. People who come from the countryside regard the playground as a paradise.

While having launched many amusement projects, Huang Chujiu is still constantly innovating.

His little coppersmith invented a unique "tea vending machine" on the market, with a coin hole on it. Just put in a copper plate, and a cup of tea will flow out of the outlet (sour plum soup is also available in summer) , became a huge hit upon its launch.

In addition, the Big World often holds some bizarre exhibitions, such as Tarzan Orangutan, Colorful Python, Millennium Turtle Spirit, Indian Civet Spirit, etc., which are exhibited in the name of curiosity, attracting many tourists. The eyeballs, as the "Big World" advertisement says, are "an all-encompassing world."

Gradually, "Big World" became more and more famous and became the "leader" in Shanghai's entertainment industry during the Republic of China. At that time, there was a popular saying in society: If you don't come to the big world, you will be in Shanghai in vain. The story of its business competition with its arch-enemy "New World" is also quite interesting, so I won't go into details in this article.

The booming performance of "Big World" makes Huang Chujiu even more ambitious. Due to the lack of funds at the beginning, some facilities were relatively crude, which affected development. Therefore, in the seventh year after opening, he rented the sites on Edoya Road and Mintinyam Road to rebuild and expand the "Big World".

Huang Chujiu hired the famous architectural designer Zhou Huinan to design a new version of "Big World". Later, it was modified by foreign designer Richard Richard, which gave the playground a completely new look - the overall style is a fan-shaped building complex. The main body consists of three four-story buildings, two facing east and west, and one facing north and south. In addition, a 55.3-meter-high hexagonal hall composed of twelve thick round stone columns was built at the middle corner, rising layer by layer to form a pagoda at the top. This unique shape later became the symbol of the "Big World" and was also the commanding heights of Shanghai at that time. Visitors could overlook the beautiful scenery of Shanghai by climbing the tower.

In addition, the sky bridges and corridors connecting the ground floor center field to each floor not only facilitate tourists to visit various venues anytime and anywhere, but also watch the performances on the center field stage on the bridges and corridors. Such a novel design brings visitors a refreshing viewing experience.

As a result, with its unique advantages, "Big World" finally successfully defeated "New World" and dominated the entertainment industry in Shanghai at that time.

Although Huang Chujiu has made a lot of money through his achievements in the entertainment industry, it is obvious that these achievements cannot satisfy his increasingly expanding ambitions.

Driven by profit, he founded Dachang Cigarette Company in 1915 and launched the sensational "Xiaonan Brand" cigarettes. Later, day and night banks and exchanges were opened, as well as hundreds of factories, hospitals, pharmaceutical factories, hotels, teahouses, hotels, bathhouses, film companies and even cemeteries. So much so that there was a rumor among Shanghainese at that time: Huang Chujiu had worked in all walks of life, but he had not opened a coffin shop.

Huang Chujiu, who is good at marketing, has also integrated the success of his major industries with the "big world" to form a circular industry chain. For example, if you deposit five yuan in the day and night bank, you can get a ticket to the "Big World" as a gift; with this ticket, you can also get an extra pack of "Xiaonan Brand" cigarettes; his name is plastered everywhere in the "Big World" Industrial advertising; he also required actors to advertise products in plots and lines; sometimes he would ask actors to come off the stage to sell products, and if the audience paid for them, they would also receive "Big World" tickets as a gift...Such a huge sales The big world is no longer just an ordinary amusement park, but has expanded into Huang Chujiu's money empire.

Main Bibliography

"Map of Shanghai Culture - Past Events of Shenjiang" written by Pan Zhen? Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press

"Shanghai Spring and Autumn" written by Cao Juren? Life·Reading·New Knowledge Published by Sanlian Bookstore

"Life History in the Silver Dollar Era" by Chen Cunren? Guangxi Normal University Press

"Golden Rong" by Zhang Yanling? Chinese Publishing House

"Shanghai Tycoon" is silently published by Xuelin Publishing House