Celebrating many colors of old Shanghai (3)

Impressive guests

The list of the guests is impressive.

Zhou Xiaoxuan, grand-daughter of the famous 1940s "golden voice" singer and film star Zhou Xuan, played renditions of Zhou's songs on the piano.

For the qipao theme salon last November, a 95-year-old tailor surnamed Chu shared stories about how to make the famous garment. He once made qipao for the Soong sisters.

"How many of us knew that you have to measure the figure in 30 places to create a haute couture qipao?" Yan says.

At the Shanghai-style Peiking Opera salon last December, Hu Sihua, son of the former owner of the Shanghai Grand Cinema, told fascinating stories of movies and movie stars.

In May, 88-year old Yu Minzhao, the last surviving pianist of the original Paramount jazz band, performed.

"The elderly lady needed support to walk to the stage, but when she sat down at the piano, she was immediately transformed to a different person," says Yan.

She played a lively rendition of the old son "Rose, Rose, I Love You," which was popular in Shanghai in the 1930s. It was composed by Chen Gexin, Chen Gang's father.

The April salon remembers famous ink-wash artist Chen Yifei who died in April 2005. His younger brother shared little-known stories.

At each salon, the 100 guests include some local celebrities and they know each other well. "The salon is a meeting place because there are few other events that focus solely on art and culture in the city," Yan says.

"The principle of Colormen is not only to take a retrospective look at the city during its peak of cultural prosperity," Yan says. She quotes Pai Hsien-yung, the famous author and Peking Opera fan from Taiwan, saying at the salon: "Shanghai will never grow old.'"