上海跑马总会 Shànghǎi Pǎomǎ Zǒnghuì
Shanghainese - Zånhae bohmu dzonwae
1.The Shanghai Race Club was a horse racing club located in Shanghai, China. The Club was based at the Shanghai Racecourse (跑馬廳 pǎo mǎ tīng ), and the two names are often used interchangeably.
2. Originally the Race Committee of the International Recreation Club, the Race Club was first established in 1850, with the building of Shanghai's first racecourse. In 1862, it detached itself from the Shanghai Recreation Club to become an independent body.
3. From 1862, the Shanghai Race Club was based at the race track it owned in the centre of Shanghai. The grounds later became People's Park and the adjacent People's Square in central Shanghai - which (taken together) are even today still in the shape of the original track. This racetrack, opened in 1862, was the third racecourse owned by the Shanghai Race Club. The turf was described as "smooth as a billiard table".
The clubhouse's exterior has a neo-classical structure, with eclectic details. A loggia which ran along the second floor of the building was used as the members' stand. The ground floor was the box office and betting hall. A mezzanine level between the ground and first floor contained bowling lanes. The first floor contained club facilities, including a cafe, games room, billiard room and reading room. The second floor contained rooms for members and the restaurant.
5.The Race Committee of the International Recreation Club (also called the Shanghai Recreation Fund) organised its first race meet in 1848. In 1850, five founding directors (W. Hogg, T.D. Gibb, Langley, W. W. Pakin and E. Webb) obtained a permanent lease over land at the corner of Honan Road and Nanking Road and built the first racecourse (known as the "Old Park"). The Race Club was formed the same year, and the first race meet was held the next year.
6. By 1861, the Race Club had 25 members. At first, membership of the Race Club was restricted to foreign (non-Chinese) residents over the age of 21. A membership committee of 9 to 11 people would vote on each application. A unanimous approval is required for the application to succeed. If there is one disapproval vote, the application is held over until the next meeting. If there are two disapproval votes, the candidate is required to re-apply after a certain time period. If there are three disapproval votes, then the application fails and the candidate is not permitted to re-apply. It was not until 1908 that select Chinese nationals were permitted to join as honorary members, associate members or social members.
7.The influx of refugees fleeing the Taiping Revolution rebels caused a sharp rise in city centre property prices in Shanghai. In 1862, with funds realised from sale of the old racecourse and sports ground, the Race Club was able to purchase even larger grounds further to the west, and construct the third (and last) Shanghai Racecourse. The land enclosed by the race track was sold to the Recreation Club for use as sports grounds.In 1910, the Recreation Club purchased a controlling share of the racecourse at Kiang-wan (now Jiangwan) (which was renamed the International Recreation Ground), and thereafter became the main rival to the Race Club.
The Race Club prospered from the influx of migrants into Shanghai in the early 20th century and the sale of hugely popular raffle tickets from 1908. By 1938, it had purchased all of the assets of its former parent, the Shanghai Recreation Club (which had lost its major source of revenue when the Kiang-wan Racecourse was ransacked by invading Japanese troops), including the sport field surrounded by the racecourse.
8. The Club's activities were affected by the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. Upon the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, Japanese forces occupied the Race Club. The facilities were briefly used by US forces at the end of the war in 1945. The Race Club resumed activities in October 1945. However, due to public outcry about this vestige of colonialism in central Shanghai and the reputation of the racecourse as a gambling den, the government did not permit race meetings to be resumed. From 1946, the Republic of China government began negotiations with the Race Club to resume the racecourse.
9.After the Communist takeover of Shanghai in 1949, the Trustees of the Shanghai Recreation Fund wrote to the new Communist administration to voluntarily hand over the properties of the Recreation Club, including the sports ground at the centre of the Racecourse. Because the Race Club and the Recreation Club had by now effectively become one, the government waited until the next year to officially "receive" the properties of both the Race Club and the Recreation Club at the Racecourse. The Racecourse was placed under military administration on 31 May 1951. The land occupied by the Racecourse was resumed by the government, the Club's buildings remained in its hands, but it had to pay land tax. In September, the government began reconstruction of the race course as People's Park and People's Square. As the Club still could not organise horse races, it did not have any significant income, and by 1954 owed large amounts of land tax and staff salary. The Club had no choice but to hand over all of its properties to the government to pay these debts.
9.After the Communist takeover of Shanghai in 1949, the Trustees of the Shanghai Recreation Fund wrote to the new Communist administration to voluntarily hand over the properties of the Recreation Club, including the sports ground at the centre of the Racecourse. Because the Race Club and the Recreation Club had by now effectively become one, the government waited until the next year to officially "receive" the properties of both the Race Club and the Recreation Club at the Racecourse. The Racecourse was placed under military administration on 31 May 1951. The land occupied by the Racecourse was resumed by the government, the Club's buildings remained in its hands, but it had to pay land tax. In September, the government began reconstruction of the race course as People's Park and People's Square. As the Club still could not organise horse races, it did not have any significant income, and by 1954 owed large amounts of land tax and staff salary. The Club had no choice but to hand over all of its properties to the government to pay these debts.
