Behind the images: photography in Lost in Shanghai part 3

Stories behind the images I'm using for my 2024 theatre show

As a child growing up in colonial Hong Kong, my Mum’s relatives were ever-present in our lives. She had lots of first cousins. She grew up with them in Shanghai. And she had many more Eurasian (mixed-race or biracial) school-friends who became my Godmothers and aunties. Even our Amah or domestic helper called Mum, ‘fourth Miss’ (the fourth of four children). You couldn’t escape your place in the family.

This haunting family portrait, a key image in Lost in Shanghai (it bookmarks the show near the beginning and near the end), only began to make sense later in my life. As I say in the show, the Greaves and Cumines were a close-knit Eurasian family moving between Shanghai and Hong Kong. Even in this photo, my grand-father Keat (or Kit as he was known) seems somewhat aloof.

The Family in Shanghai 1923 ©Hutcheon archive

Due to the war, my Mum had very few keepsakes from her early life. Most of the images we have of her were taken by other people. Mum’s Uncle Henry (he’s labelled in the photo above) was a wealthy, entrepreneurial, dominating character who became influential in Shanghai although he was to lose most of his property after emerging from internment at the end of the Second World War.

Uncle Henry documented his success with photographic portraits, captured by prestigious photographers working in Shanghai in the early 20th century. The image below shows him during a function in the grounds of his home. Mum recalls that despite being Eurasian (Henry’s Chinese mother died when he was a child and his Scottish father had long departed China), Uncle Henry was very attached to his Scottish roots. Mum fondly recalls High Tea (known as ‘tiffin’) was a regular and favourite event at his home. She would join her uncle’s family to drink Keemum tea, eat delicious cakes, pastries and sandwiches before Henry’s children performed Scottish dancing.

Uncle Henry in the grounds of his Shanghai home, 1920s @Hutcheon archive

I should also mention Uncle Henry’s grand home which he designed and built around 1925. It was part of an ‘estate’ of houses which takes up a laneway in what used to be known as Route de Grouchy in the former French Concession of Shanghai. Uncle Henry named his sixteen room mansion Ferryhill House. I believe his Scottish father came from Ferryhill in Aberdeen.

I love that the house, now home to ten families, is a ‘character’ in Lost in Shanghai. Though I don’t mention this bit in the show, many of the families living there now are doctors or descendants of to doctors. Apart from being a former Soviet Club, in another incarnation Ferryhill House was a private sanitorium.

Ferryhill House in the 1930’s ©Hutcheon archive

I was so excited last year to learn that history lovers, Historic Shanghai, were planning an excursion to Uncle Henry’s former home. I was able to fill them in on some of its history. After the tour, they posted this update which tickled me.

Screenshot of a post on X (Twitter) by @HistoricSH

In 2018, I visited Ferryhill House myself with my friend Yuteh, whose father had worked for Uncle Henry. This connection is another great twist in the story of Lost in Shanghai. Yuteh and I connected after he read one of my books. Of course, long ago, there were consequences for his family for working for a capitalist and a foreigner. However, that’s not my story to tell.

Lost in Shanghai was created two years ago but I have not lost any of my passion for Mum’s story. Maybe it will be the only big story I ever tell, but there will always be new ways to share it. I am about to go on tour around Australia with the show, talks and workshops on telling family stories. I hope I can encourage you to see the show and to take the time to record/write/document your own family stories.

If you ever wondered exactly who was ‘Lost in Shanghai’, perhaps by now you’ve guessed it’s me.