Gateway in front of China Cafe and Walled Village, next to Lama Temple on 16th Street (now Waldron Drive), formerly at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. [Click here for more information on the Gateway]
We need more information about both gateways. Let us know if you have pictures (or even better, parts) of them
This page contains data and images of the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair, the Century of Progress Exposition. For more such images, please click on Object Photos. For general background, click on Chinese at Midwestern Fairs.
Hoffman, one of America's greatest woman artists, chose a number of Chinese, both Han and other Chinese ethnic groups, as subjects for her famed "Races of the World" series that she sculpted for the 1933 World's Fair. Several are shown here, from photographs taken in the Field Museum by Ben Bronson and appear by courtesy of him. The Field Museum retains all rights to these and other images of Hoffman's "Races" series. They may not be reproduced without permission.
Hu Shih, one of modern China's leading intellectuals, about 1930
Dhon Drub Foonchog, a Tibetan gem trader in Lhasa, about 1930
Malvina Hoffman's "Races of the World" Sculpture
The last page of the (8-page) pamphlet reads:
"With a view of bringing about a wider appreciation of the Chinese Porcelains, the provincial government has appointed Mr. Kung H. Chow and the writer [D. Te Hui Shaw] as special delegates to the 1933 A Century of Progress Exposition of Chicago, with Mr. C. F. Hsiung as assistant. They bring with them a collection of high quality porcelains, which are on exhibit in the "Republic of China" Building. In this collection there are carved specimens of lacework in porcelain that are so intricate and dainty that they defy imagination. Vases large and small, old and new, as well as dinner sets painted in various different manners are also found. In the selecting of the pieces, strict emphasis has been laid on variety and individuality. various methods of forming and shaping, glazing and decoration are typically illustrated by these pieces. It is indeed a very rare and rich collection!"
Pamphlet published in 1933 by the Kiangsi (Jiangxi) Provincial Government and written by a Chinese former student at the University of Illinois-Urbana.
The Chinese-American Museum of Chicago would be very interested to know whether any of the porcelains on exhibit still survive
From the Official Guide Book of Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition:
"The Chinese Village
At Sixteenth Street just south of the Bendix Lama Temple you will see the replica of a walled village from China. Occupying its own shrine, is a carved jade representation of a Chinese temple of seven stories, standing 50 inches high. It took 18 years and a small army of artists to achieve this very beautiful work of art. The exhibits themselves are a veritable treasure house of porcelain, lacquer ware, silks, embroideries, rugs, furs, carved ivories and furniture. [for the Lama Temple, see below; we don't have pictures of the porcelain, lacquer ware, and other exhibits]
The Chinese silk industry will play an important part in the industrial section. An exhibit of surpassing interest is that of specimens from the cave deposits near Peiping, where was found the Pekin man who lived 500,000 to a million years ago. Interesting relics of the expedition which discovered the Pekin man will accompany this display. [!! Did these actually come? Where are they now?]
Entertainment is furnished by the finest troupe of acrobats that has ever left China and there will be dramatic interpretations by leading Chinese actors and actresses."
The Lama Temple
Interior, altar end
Embroidered thangka showing wrathful deity
Hanging with chakra wheel and guardian deity
Pewter altar set -- incense burner, vases, candlesticks
The most publicized Chinese exhibit at the Fair was a replica of an 18th century Buddhist building in the Potala temple at Chengde or Jehol (now Rehe), north of Beijing. Billed as the Lama Temple of Jehol, it was brought to Chicago by the famed Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, with the financial support of the Swedish-American industrialist Vincent Bendix. Contemporary newspapers often called it the Bendix Lama Temple, crediting Bendix with the idea of making the replica and bringing it here to Chicago.
The Chinese artists on the lower right were from Beijing ("Beiping"), named Hwa-ting Shun and Ping Chen Chang. The younger man between the older builders on the upper right is the architect Kuo Yuan-hsi. Another key player on the Chinese side, not pictured here, was the youthful Chinese Vice-Consul, G. H. Wang. Wang stayed in the U.S. and eventually left the Chinese diplomatic service to become an American citizen, a real estate developer, and a leading inhabitant of Chinatown.
The Chinese-American Museum of Chicago would like to acquire (or photograph) any objects that were in the temple during the Century of Progress Exposition, in 1933-34. If you have such objects or know where they are, please let us know
All of these are ordinary ritual equipment for Tibetan ("Vajrayana") Buddhists, as used by lamas (monks) in religious ceremonies. The Tibetan variety of Buddhism (sometimes called "lamaism") was favored by emperors of China during the Qing dynasty (1646-1911). Objects similar to these are still in use here in Chicago at a number of Buddhist temples. Such temples now serve European-American as well as Tibetan-American and Chinese-American worshippers.
Rickshaws in front of the Lama Temple. Many of the rickshaw pullers were European-American students from Chicago universities
Lama Temple, with drinking fountain in front
Lama Temple by night -- postcard
Chinese builders in front of Lama Temple, in Chicago
Interior, throne end
Altar
Chinese artists installing painting in Lama Temple
The interior of the temple featured an altar at one end and a lama's (Buddhist priest's) throne at the other. The walls were covered with painted ornaments and hangings, while the floor had several Tibetan-style rugs. Many small ritual objects were exhibited on the tables and altars.
The following pictures are taken from the official guidebook to the temple by Gosta Montell, a Swedish scholar who worked with Sven Hedin. Many of the pictures in Montell's book were chosen to illustrate facts about Tibetan-Mongolian Buddhism and have nothing to do with the Fair. The pictures shown here, however, seem to be of objects that were actually displayed on and above the altar in the interior of the temple.
Some of those objects are in the Jacques Marchais Museum on Staten Island in New York, and others are in the hands of Bendix's descendants or the Swedish Ethnographic Museum. The rest have disappeared but may be in private collections near the places where the disassembled temple has been stored:at Oberlin College in Ohio and in Stockholm. The temple was also exhibited at the 1939 New York World Fair and later came to be owned by Harvard University, then by Oberlin, then by Indiana University, and finally by a cultural organization in Sweden. The building itself is now in Stockholm and may someday be rebuilt, either there or in Chicago.
For more on the fate of the temple and its contents see the pages for the Sven Hedin Foundation on the website of Stockholm's Etnografiska Museet, http://www.etnografiska.se/smvk/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1246&l=en_US&a=6731, and Barbara Lipton & Nima Dorjee Ragnub's, Treasures of Tibetan Art : Collections of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, Oxford Unioversity Press, 1996. See also Sven Hedin, Jehol : City of Emperors. Dutton, 1933
For more about the Century of Progress Exposition, see the Chicago Historical Society's website, http://www.chicagohs.org/history/century.html.
Print made from painting showing an aerial view of the Chinese exhibits at the Fair -- the Lama Temple and the walled Chinese Village are at the upper left, just south of Soldier Field. The Avenue of the Flags runs diagonally on the lower left.
Jade Pagoda on exhibit inside the Chinese Village. It was said to have taken 18 years to make
The Chinese parade at the Fair, with the Avenue of Flags in the background. The Lama Temple is outside the picture to the left. The Teco float may represent the ceramic company that had recently supplied the tiles for the new On Leong building on Wentworth. October 1, 1933. Photo courtesy of Ruth Moy.
At some point in late 1933 the decision was made to hold Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition over for another season, to run from May through October 1934. This re-run version of the Exposition was to feature several new attractions, including a locally-financed Chinese concession called the "Streets of Shanghai" that would compete not only with stage-set communities representing such places as Ireland, Mexico, and France but also with the "Chinese Village" (see above) that had been built near the Lama Temple in 1933 and was still to be open in 1934.
One of the big differences between the two Chinese attractions was that the Chinese Village had been partly financed by the Chinese government whereas the Streets of Shanghai was entirely a private venture of Chinese Chicagoans. Another big difference was that the Streets was built according to a truly interesting design by the architectural firm of Burnham Brothers and Hammond, "assisted by" the Chinese architect See Wing Louie.
As described by the Tribune, the Streets were to be "lined with authentic reproductions of gorgeous hued structures ... housing far eastern shops, a Chinese theater, and eating and drinking places ... the main entrance will be flanked by two tall eight story pagoda towers. Entrance to the village will be free. On one side will be a large Chinese restaurant and a big cafeteria, where oriental dishes may be had." The shops were to be filled not with "the hodge-podge of atrocities usually sold as so-called souvenirs" but with "authentic Chinese merchandise" such as rare silks, bronzes, porcelains, and jades. Although not mentioned by the Tribune, a theater and a temple were also included.
China and Japan at the 1933 Exposition
The two countries were virtually at war in 1933. Japan had seized Manchuria (the three northeastern provinces of China) in 1932 and in 1933 had resigned from the League of Nations in response to criticism of this aggression. The Japanese established a puppet state in Manchuria, named by them Manchukuo, and placed it under the Last Emperor of the Qing Manchu dynasty, Pu Yi. In 1932 Japan also attacked Shanghai with warships and ground troops.
Although a truce between Japan and a brave but badly outgunned China had been signed at about the time the Exposition opened, relations between Chinese and Japanese exhibitors -- who were located on the same plaza just south of Soldier Field -- were not at all good. To add insult to injury, the Japanese government succeeded in making a last-minute addition to the exhibition: a pavilion for the puppet state of Manchukuo. China, through its diplomats and representatives at the Exposition, protested but to no avail.
One would have expected one or both nations to refuse to participate after fighting began in 1932. An important role in convincing them not to back out was played by a Chicagoan, Allen D. Albert, who was not only Vice President of the Fair but also a past president of the Rotary Clubs International, which was headquartered in Chicago and had very active branches in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Tokyo, Osaka, and other cities. In the summer of 1932 Albert went to East Asia on behalf of the Rotary, "to confirm the sense of personal and neighborly contact between Rotarians of the Orient and the U.S. and Canada."
Albert used the opportunity to meet with the Chinese and Japanese authorities in charge of organizing their respective exhibitions for the Fair. Both seem to have agreed to stick to their commitments. Albert's chief Chinese contacts, who may both have been Rotarians, were Z.L. Chang and Ping-yin Ho of the Department of Foreign Trade in Shanghai. Ho, a Cantonese, was later to become notorious for his role as a leading collaborator with the Japanese during their occupation of China from 1937 to 1945.
Source: Century of Progress Exposition records stored in the University of Illinois at Chicago Library's Special Collections.
Credits: Members of the Chicago World's Fairs exhibit research team: Andrea Stamm, Bob Salika, Chuimei Ho, and Ben Bronson
Cai Tingkai or Tingjie (1892-1968) was an outstanding military man who became an enemy of the Kuomintang (the Nationalist Party) as well as the Japanese.
He had risen from a humble family from Luoding county in Guangdong (Canton) province. In 1930, when Chiang Kai-shek realigned the Sixtieth and Sixty-first Divisions to become the famous Nineteenth Route Army, he appointed Cai as army commander. On 28 January 1932, Cai led the Nineteenth Route Army in the defense of Shanghai against Japanese attacks. Although his troops were poorly supported by other Kuomintang army units, they managed to beat back the Japanese anyway, forcing them to change their commander-in-chief repeatedly and inflicting heavy casualties before Chiang's government, misjudging the situation, hurriedly signed a humiliating armistice agreement.
The battle made Cai famous as a defender of China and as a capable military leader as well. However, he was not an admirer of Chiang Kai-shek. Leading his army southward to Fujian province, he attempted a coup d’état, calling on the Fujianese to overthrow Chiang and join a revolutionary anti-Japanese government. The coup failed almost immediately, and he was forced to flee to Hong Kong in early 1934.
Hong Kong too proved to be dangerous. Cai soon moved on to America at the invitation of Situ Meitang 司徒美堂, the president of the American branch of the Zhigong Tang 致公堂, the same organization that was called the Hongmen 洪門 in Chicago. Tight security was provided, as there were rumors that he was on a hit list drawn up either by the Japanese government or by Chiang and the Kuomintang.
In spite of this, Cai and his supporters felt that he should visit Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition, which then was in its second year. Representatives of the Chinese government, under Kuomintang control, refused to acknowledge his presence. However, the courageous head of the Cantonese merchants at the Fair, C.P. Chan, felt that a Cantonese hero had to be received with due honor. As shown below, he had a banner made that read "Welcome clansman General Cai”. Cai is said to have been grateful for this public show of support.
Cai stayed in the U.S. for about a year before returning to Hong Kong where he lived comfortably until the 1950s when he returned to China. Neither the Japanese nor the Kuomintang assassinated him.
欢迎同乡蔡廷锴将军(右二:蔡廷锴将军, 右三:陈炽伯先生)
General Cai (2nd from right) and C.P. Chan (3rd from right) in front of the Guangdong gallery at the Fair
Credits: This article was researched and written by Chuimei Ho. It is partly based on an excellent Chinese-language website from Shanghai (http://www.worldexpoinfo.cn/sbxx/sbxx20.htm) that features an interview with C.P. Chan's son, Chan Rugang 陈汝刚, currently a resident of Vancouver. The site includes a number of photographs from Chan, of which one is shown above.
Updated June 2005
Jan 2005
Updated May 22 2006
Updated May 17 2006
Dec 2004
Mar 2006
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Chinese America shows offDec 2004
The local Chinese-American community was deeply involved with the Century of Progress Exposition. The Fair took place only about a mile from Chinatown. Many Chinatown residents worked at the Fair, and many others financed concessions there. In 1934, local Chinese merchants financed the entire Shanghai Village.
One of the high points of Chinese-American involvement was the major parade held on October 1, 1933. The whole of Chinatown, under the leadership of Zhong Hua, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, turned out for a parade up Michigan Avenue and then through the Fair along the Avenue of the Flags to the Lama Temple and Chinese Village. With floats, bands, boy scouts, and pretty girls in Chinese costume, the parade was a great success. It was one of the first times that the full Chinese community of Chicago had asserted itself as the equal of every other ethnic community, parading in front of other Chicagoans and visitors from the entire world.
The Streets of Shanghai were also to include cultural features -- an exact reproduction of an existing Confucius temple (seemingly replaced by a Buddhist "Lohan temple"), an art gallery with old Chinese masterpieces, and Chinese portrait painters to make sketches of Yankee visitors. Tom Chan, a Chinatown leader, was to provide an operating noodle factory that would include an exhibit of the way bean sprouts were grown. The president and general manager of the Streets was another local businessman, K. Bernard Kim. The vice president and concession manager was H. Jen-Kin, owner of the Pagoda Inn at 22nd and Wentworth.
Construction went quickly. The Streets opened on May 8. But finances were weak. A bankruptcy petition was filed against the Streets on July 20, and it went into receivership shortly after that. Interestingly, the main petitioner was its vice president, H. Jen-Kin. He claimed that the concession owed him 450 dollars.
The Streets stayed open after bankruptcy and may still have been run by H. Bernard Kim. The advertisement on the right shows that not all of the attractions were as high-minded as the art gallery and the noodle factory. While we do not know anything about the singers Olive Young Lun and Key S. Youn, or about the sensational dancer Blossom Chan, we are sure they were just as popular as the Confucius/Lohan temple
Artist's drawing of the interior of the Streets of Shanghai, from a Chicago Daily News advertisement
Architects' drawing the layout of the Streets of Shanghai, Burnham Bros. & Hammond
Data from Chicago Tribune: Mar 11 1934, May 8 1934, and Jul 20 1934 and from the souvenir issue of. the Chicago Daily News
