Cfee Stalls Under the Shanghai Eaves

Chen Zu'en

Chen Zu'en isapressorthe andaspecial researcherthe ， .Heistheauthorseveral monographsand isanexpert on thestudy the societyand history the Japanese in .

Aspeople'shorizonsbroadened， cfee-making techniques gradually refined，and cfee becameafashionableurban beverage，leading toa surge in trendy cafés - so many th they formedtheirownmarket.Some even predicted th cfee shops would replace tobacco shops and“tigerstoves\"（traditional public werhouses） as the most common storefronts in . However，by the mid-1940s，some cafeshadbecomeamishmash styles，increasinglyresembling streetstalls.Beyond cfeeand Western pastries，they also sold Yangzhou dim sum，North Chinese dishes，and even street food like gluten，tripe，beef，vermicelli，rib and rice cakes，and Cantonesestyleraw fish congee.Thesewere alldishes th could easily be found wetmarket stalls.Yet now，theyhadsomehowmade theirway into cfeeshops.Yet， the congee in these cafés couldn't comparetothauthentic Cantonese restaurants.Despite this，the café version was priced as high as shark fin soup，selling congeesharkfinpricesbecame justanotherway forthesecafés to do business.

In fact，street-side cfeeis alsoaquintessentialEuropean tradition.Take Paris，for example， itsbustlingsidewalksthrive with café culture.Beneh large roundumbrellas，tinytablesand wicker chairs invite prons to sip cfee，ch，orlosethemselves in a book，whilingaway entire afternoonswitheffortlesscharm andpoeticease.ltwasin these very spots th poets and artists ten conceived theirtheoriesand masterpieces.

Indeed，street-sidecfeecarries its own extraordinary charm and distinctive flavor.Strolling down the boulevards，one could witness the very scenery people enjoying cfee，its rich aroma drifting along the breeze. Back then，on thoroughfares like Bubbling Well Road （today's West Nanjing Road） and Avenue Jfre （today'sHuaihaiMiddle Road），Parisian-styleoutdoor cfee seing emerged.Yet these couldn't truly be called“stalls;\" They weren't standalone entities， butrherthecolonnaded extensionspropercafes.

Theso-calledstreet-sidecfee stalls in opered much like mobile snackcarts. Asearlyas October1921，the Municipal Council in the Internional Settlement set up\"cfee wagons\"as mobile nighteeriesalongtheBund on Nanjing Road，the intersection Broadway Road （today's Daming Road） and Seward Road （now Changzhi Road），and other bustling areas with heavy pedestrian traffic.These wagons sold light fare such as cfee， tea，hotme-filled buns，and soup，keeping the menu limited toensurehygieneandease preparion.Thecartsthemselves weresturdyand clean，either

Ford-modeltrucksor horse-drawn carriages.Inside，anarrowcounter ranalong one side，with a few customer ses nearby. Parking locionsforbusinesswere designed by the police.After the victory in the WarResistance in 1945，eight or nine simple snack stalls popped up in the evenings along the Bund between Jiujiang Roadand Hankou Road.Their setupswere rudimentary，white enamelbasins，enamel cups，and tarnished silverware，lit by gas lampsor candles.Theyserved cheap cfee，milk，and toast， cering mainly to foreign sailors.

Bythe summer1946，as Americangoods flooded the market，cfee，cocoa，and milkbecameaffordableand popularcommodities.Seizing the opportunity， snack stalls advertisingcfee began sprouting up like mushrooms afterrain，nearly everystreet corner had one，spaced just steps apart.Though touted as a product massappeal，'s cfee stallswere in factan unconventionalnewventure withdistinct localcharacteristics. There was no poetry here， no romance，justsimplecomfort for theeverydayperson，becominga favorite among the working and middleclasses.

No line streetvending was without its hardships.These vendors rose fourin the morning，mobilizing theirentire families，youngand old，to move their stalls to parks or school ges for the dawn rush. By afternoon，they'drelocenear theers，working well past midnight.Some couplesopered stallstogether，with thewife doubling as a server while their son fanned the brazier.Street stallswere required to opere on sidewalks without obstructing traffic. During municipal cleanup campaigns，theybecame the most vulnerabletargets.Somevendors evenassignedafamilymember specifically to deal with police according to their regulions， first-time fenders receiveda warning;Second-timeviolors faced three hours detention， a 1，00o-yuan fine，plus covering rickshawfaresforboththe arrestingficerand themselves. Forhird fense？The cycle resettoanother\"warning\"

With the rise cfee stalls， other street vendors，selling soy milkandsticky rice rolls，scallion pancakes，potstickers，orvermicelli soup with fried beancurd，found themselves struggling to survive， their complaints growing louder asbusiness plummeted.But theheydaycfeestallswas short-lived，lastingbarelyasingle summer.As the autumn winds turned harsh and the cold set in， the once-booming cfee stalls faded away，replaced onceagain bythe familiarstreet fare：beef vermicelli soup and rib and rice cakes.