- Paramount Ballroom
The "Paramount Ballroom" was the largest and a notorious ballroom in the city of
Shanghai during the decadent era before thePeople's Liberation Army established control over the city in 1949.Pinnacle of High Class Society
The Ballroom was constructed in
1933 by a group of Chinese bankers in the style ofArt Deco and was a meeting place for wealthy elite of Shanghai society. The Ballroom lasted under its original owners before going bankrupt in1936 . In1937 , it was converted into a taxi dance hall featuring Chinese dance hostesses, which it remained until1949 .Prominence
Chinese playboys frequented the venue who were escorted by prostitutes and dancing girls. In 1941, a dancing girl was killed by a gunman, whether she refused to dance with a Japanese man or because she was suspected of espionage.
Communist Management
In 1949, the Paramount was converted into a cinema, screening a program of Maoist propaganda films. As a result of the
cultural revolution , the building became defunct and obscure.Modern Day Management
In
2001 , Taiwanese investors spent $3-million to refurbish the venue and reopened it as a ballroom in the old glamorous style, with red-and-gold décor.In December 2006, the Paramount's Taiwanese owners announced the ballroom was losing revenue so the owners decided to convert the second and third floors into a disco. Only the fourth-floor ballroom will remain in the old style, and preservationists have expressed concerns that the structure could be damaged by the reverberations of the disco.
Accident
On a rainy day in
1990 , part of the structure's façade collapsed and killed a passerby on a sidewalk.External links
* [http://www.han-yuan.com/zhongguotong/tongguotongshu/alastlook/shhai51.htm Deco Theatres]
* [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061222.wshanghai22/BNStory/Entertainment/home Globe and Mail - Dancing the dreary decades away]
* [http://history.arts.unsw.edu.au/afield/Web%20Pages/China%20Films/Paramount.htm China on Camera - The Paramount Ballroom]
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