Campus architecture(2)

Xiong Foxi Building at Shanghai Theatre Academy Photo: Huang Lanlan/GT

Xiong Foxi Building

Built in the 1930s, the two-story Xiong Foxi Building at Shanghai Theatre Academy was originally a German country club.

Working at the school for more than 40 years, Yu Zhong, who is now in charge of its archives, told the Global Times that some Germans once built a club near Jinjiang Hotel in Huangpu district at that time during World War I, but that was later occupied by Frenchmen.

"There were a ballroom, a movie house and assorted facilities for leisure and recreation," Yu said. "It was said that in the 1930s the Germans in Shanghai often held parties here, with their horses tethered in a stable in front of the house."

The building was used as a film studio after World War II and the subsequent China's liberation war (1946-49). "It was also the biggest recording studio in the Far East in those years," Yu said, adding that many popular local movies in the 1940s were dubbed here. "Some film stars even lived in the building at that time, such as a famous movie and drama artist named Bai Yang," he said.

In 1956, when Shanghai Theatre Academy was relocated to Jing'an district, the building became a canteen and dormitory for students. The stable was removed, and a swimming pool was built during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), Yu recalled.

Made of red and cyan bricks, in the 1990s the building was named after the first headmaster of the school, Xiong Foxi. Today it is used for meetings and exhibitions, as well as rehearsals for student plays.

Add: 630 Huashan Road

華山路630號(hào)