China: Shanghai's Da Shijie or Great World entertainment centre. Postcard, 1930s. Shanghai’s best-known and largest entertainment complex, Dashijie – the ‘Great World’ – was a six storey building at the junction of today’s Yan’an Donglu and Xijang Nanlu. According to a contemporary account, the first floor was dedicated to gambling and sing-song girls in dresses slit to the thigh, the second to restaurants and actors, the third to ‘a bevy of girls in high-collared gowns slit to reveal their hips’, the fourth to more gambling tables and massage services.

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Size: 5200px × 3412px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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