Quinsan Gardens Postcard – Mislabelled…

Posted: May 20th, 2019 | No Comments »

This undated postcard is labelled “Shanghai, Hongkew Park” (which is now Lu Xun Park). However, i think it is the old Quinsan Gardens. Hongkew Park was (and remains) far larger than this. True – Quinsan Gardens was a park in Hongkew (Hongkou), but they were too different places….

Quinsan Gardens, or alternatively Quinsan Square, just off Quinsan Road (now Kunshan Hua Yuan Road) was named after the town (often spelt Qinsan or Qinshan) in Zhejiang Province. Actually the Gardens (pictured below – as well as misidentified above) were not entirely a park but a road with a green square for the public.

However, they were a centre of serious do- gooding. The Nurses Association of China was based along the road (10) as well as The China Christian Educational Association and the China Continuation Committee (dedicated to linking up all Christians across China) which was at No. 5 with its Christian Book Room at No. 3, while the China Christian Endeavour Union was at No. 1, run by Mr. and Mrs. Edgar E. Strother (who eventually gave up missionary work in Shanghai to “convert the heathen of New York”). Given the presence of all these nurses and missionaries, both believed to be good-hearted, the Gardens became a congregating spot for beggars hoping for plenty of charitable donating from those visiting the local offices.

---