与世界对话：上海咖啡文化彰显城市开放精神   2021-04-15

 

On the afternoon of March 22, new legends about coffee were added to the stories of Shanghai in Shanghai Starbucks Reserve Roastery under the theme of “Close Relationship Between Coffee and Shanghai”. The first “Shanghai Coffee Culture Week” that started from March 29 will extensively involve various fields and resources of the city, and use coffee as a medium to demonstrate Shanghai’s distinctive urban culture to citizens and tourists.
An important carrier of Shanghai culture
Coffee that enjoys a long history has become a part of the historical memory of Shanghai and an important carrier of Shanghai culture. According to relevant documents, coffee was first imported to Shanghai in 1844, and records of the trade port had mentioned the import of coffee beans at that time. The first coffee room in Shanghai appeared in the Astor House Hotel after its renovation in 1860. The Minutes of Shanghai Municipal Council in 1880 indicated that the first independent cafe in Shanghai was born in Hongkou. Coffee is not only inseparable from the socialites of that time in old Shanghai, but also closely related to the ambitious young people with the aspiration to dedicate themselves to the country. One example is the Coffee Café, which was called “revolutionary cafe” by Lu Xun. As the birthplace of the League of Left-Wing Writers, it brought together literati of different sides, and enabled them to find a common spiritual attachment in the wonderful aroma of coffee. As a result, a cultural alliance was formed. Of the 58 domestic films shot between 1922 and 1937, a total of 33 either took Shanghai as the main background or set part of the story in Shanghai. The 13 films of them had scenes of drinking coffee in a cafe or serving coffee for friends at home. It seemed that cafes had become an important outdoor space to show urban modernity in the 1930s in films set in Shanghai, and the Western rituals and atmosphere had become important elements in Western scenes of the films. In addition to adopting the traditional western business philosophy, cafes in old Shanghai developed some local characteristics. For example, the musical devices including phonograph and record player were introduced to play European and American classical music or pop music in the cafe at first. Later, entertainment programs including jazz band, resident singer, dance group, martial arts and acrobatics were added. All of these showcased the convergence of Chinese and Western cultures and combination of tradition and modernity in a multi-dimensional public space.
A vivid embodiment of the warmth of the city
The 2020 International Cultural Metropolis Evaluation Report jointly released by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and University of Southern California shows that among the 50 international cultural metropolises worldwide, Shanghai ranks first for the number of cafes and teahouses. In the Chinese coffee market with a compound annual growth rate of more than 15%, the sales in Shanghai account for about 50%. The per capita coffee consumption in Shanghai has reached 20 cups per year. The total number of cafes and teahouses in Shanghai has increased to around 8,500 against the downward trend instead of declining during the pandemic.
Shanghai is the first choice for almost all international coffee brands to enter China. Starbucks, %Arabica, the “most beautiful cafe in Japan”, Peet’s, a strong brand in the US, and Tim Hortons, the most popular coffee in Canada, have all snatched market share in Shanghai. Meanwhile, local brands such as Manner, Seesaw and Mellower have gone from Shanghai to all cities in China and even global markets. From “Beethoven Coffee”, a kind of pour over coffee made of Costa Rica coffee beans named after Beethoven, to Latte Art in the style of the paintings of Dong Qichang, a famous Chinese calligrapher and painter during the Ming Dynasty, the coffee culture in Shanghai is creating constantly changing trends in the diverse urban culture. From mini cafes in community public spaces to “Bear Claw Cafe” with disabled employees and the Memory Cafe specially designed for the elderly with cognitive disabilities, cafes in Shanghai are attracting visitors of different nationalities, from different regions and with different occupations across the world as always. Coffee that carries a unique imprint of Shanghai culture is no longer a simple indicator of economic development, but an important bridge linking industry and culture. It has cultivated a unique urban character and spiritual temperament, and becomes an important carrier of Shanghai culture and a vivid embodiment of the warmth of the city.
An indicator of the city’s soft power
Looking back at the long history of Shanghai’s coffee culture, we can find that it has always displayed unique and charming features, and finally integrated into the urban texture, becoming one of the models of Shanghai culture. The Shanghai culture is known for its “neither Chinese nor Western while both Chinese and Western” characteristics. This means that Shanghai culture originates from the time-honored Jiangnan culture, but has absorbed complex and diverse Western cultures through understanding and conversion in the collision and integration of Chinese and Western cultures. This speaks to Shanghai’s inherent high level of openness, and points out the core of its coffee culture - never stop observing the world, contacting the world or integrating into the world.
After distilling the local culture, condensing new designs and injecting emotions, Shanghai’s coffee culture finally becomes a strong expression of values and shows distinctive characteristics. While Shanghai’s high level of internationalization and openness has been continuously and vividly reflected in coffee, the coffee industry and coffee culture are becoming a specific indicator of its soft power. The openness of Shanghai’s coffee culture is to continuously talk with the world, which has become an important part of the city’s soul, and created fascinating notes together with the city’s connotation, character and characteristics. Coffee culture has become a unique business card for Shanghai.
(Author: Bao Yaming, Researcher of Institute of Literature at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and Deputy Director of Shanghai Culture Research Center)
 

 

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