The Last Rose of Shanghai

A 20-year-old Aiyi makes her way to a hotel in the International Settlement of Shanghai. Her nightclub’s alcohol stash is dwindling due to supply deficits caused by World War II, and she is unwillingly turning to British millionaire Sir Victor Sassoon for assistance. On the way, she sees a Japanese soldier casually murder a Shanghainese man. Inside the hotel, the white men in the lobby look down on Aiyi as a Chinese woman. As she waits for Sassoon, two drunken white men tell her that “[d]ogs and Chinese are not allowed in this hotel” (5). They throw a bottle at her, cutting her forehead. She slips on the broken glass. A man called Ernest helps up Aiyi, and she notices his blue eyes and scarred hand. The two drunk men claim that Ernest and Aiyi assaulted them and demand that a Sikh policeman arrest the pair. As the officer grabs him, Ernest trips. Aiyi takes the chance to flee, seeing Ernest apprehended behind her.

Ernest is led away but resolves not to end up in jail. As he and the policeman enter a market area, Ernest distracts the policeman before sprinting into the crowd. Once free, Ernest puts his habitual glove on his scarred hand. A Jewish refugee escaping the Nazis, Ernest arrived in Shanghai mere hours earlier and is living at the Embankment Building with his sister, Miriam. Penniless, Ernest was seeking employment at Sassoon’s hotel, to no luck. As he left, memories of his own persecution led him to help Aiyi. He thinks that she’s gorgeous, and he wants to see her again.

He realizes that he is in the waterfront neighborhood where many foreigners have businesses, including Russian Jews who came to Shanghai after the Bolshevik Revolution. Ernest feels optimistic and tries to get a job at a Russian Jewish barbershop, but he is rejected for being a refugee. This experience repeats. Ernest realizes that while being Jewish isn’t stigmatized in Shanghai, being a refugee is.

Aiyi heads to her nightclub and wonders why the white man with blue eyes helped her, when the many groups of foreigners that control Shanghai typically keep to themselves. The Japanese are only the most recent outside force to take over. As a businesswoman, Aiyi has acquaintances like Sassoon despite knowing that being in foreign-controlled places is dangerous.

Aiyi enters her business, One Hundred Joys Nightclub. A jazz band plays on a stage overlooking a lively dance floor; Aiyi imagines that the music brings her Chinese customers to a single place, seeking escape. Guests ask Aiyi about the liquor that she still doesn’t have, and they leave for Sassoon’s club in order to drink. Aiyi remembers building this business after losing her fortune to the Japanese occupation. She must return to Sassoon or lose her club.

Ernest returns to the Embankment Building where he and Miriam have bunks amidst over 1,000 Jewish refugees. The siblings’ voyage from Berlin took a month, and Ernest was shocked to see Shanghai so dilapidated by war, though he loves it for being a Nazi-free city that doesn’t require entry visas for refugees. Thirteen-year-old Miriam, whom Ernest has sworn to protect, informs him that the charity committee running the building says that they must leave in five days. Feeling hopeless, Ernest goes to sleep.

In the morning, Ernest waits for an hour to use the bathroom. His mood improves afterwards, and he hums Chopin. An older gentleman, Mr. Schmidt, asks if he is a pianist. At first Ernest demurs, as he stopped playing several years back, but then confirms that he is.

Back at Sassoon’s hotel, Aiyi meets with the older British man. As “the wealthiest man in Asia” (22), Sassoon does as he pleases, including having Chinese acquaintances like Aiyi when other foreigners don’t socialize with the locals. Even the Japanese show deference to Sassoon. Aiyi likes the man for his courtliness, despite his penchant for nude photography. Shanghai jazz (a combination of American jazz and Chinese folk melodies) plays as Sassoon orders Aiyi a cocktail from his well-appointed bar. He suggests that he would marry her if she were Jewish; she counters that she would accept if he were Chinese. Aiyi brings up her club’s lack of liquor due to the occupation, and Sassoon expresses his hatred of the Japanese, who are trying to gain influence in the International Settlement’s Municipal Council. Aiyi asks if she might buy alcohol from Sassoon. He agrees but wants her to let him photograph her naked, which, Aiyi senses, also means sex. She pleasantly tells him she’s “a businesswoman, not a model” (26). Sassoon is frustrated. As Aiyi waits for him to cool down, she sees Ernest.

Ernest is excited to see Aiyi. His job hunt has gone terribly. Most entertainment halls are closed and he sees other refugees reduced to selling their possessions. He entered Sassoon’s hotel because he heard music, and found both a gramophone and Aiyi in the Jazz Bar. Aiyi thanks Ernest for his aid and tells Sassoon that Ernest helped her. Ernest thinks that he’s lucky to meet this rich Baghdadi Jewish businessman and asks for a job playing the bar’s piano. In a foul mood, Sassoon tells Ernest that he’s done enough for the refugees. Aiyi invites Ernest to share a cocktail, though Sassoon points out that he can’t afford one. Ernest brashly downs an entire drink and offers to pay by playing piano; Aiyi convinces Sassoon to accept. Ernest sits at the piano and is nervous as he hasn’t played for four years, and he’s ashamed of his damaged hand. However, he plays for Aiyi.

Ernest’s music is a profound experience for Aiyi, and she finds herself at the piano. Ernest says that he played the song for her and asks what else she’d like. She tells him that she loves Shanghai jazz, especially the song “The Last Rose of Shanghai” (35). Aiyi hums it, and Ernest picks it up on the piano. She is affected by his immediate understanding of the song. She introduces herself and tells him to call her by her first name. No one but her family calls her by this. Ernest plays Gershwin’s “Summertime,” a stride jazz piano piece, and explains that he is a pianist. Aiyi wishes that she could have stride piano in her club. As Ernest leaves, Aiyi realizes from his expression that he is struggling. Sassoon again refuses Aiyi’s suggestion that he hire Ernest but agrees to sell her three months’ supply of liquor.

On her way home, Aiyi continues thinking of Ernest and her attraction to him. Although it would be risky for her to hire a foreigner, she considers it, wondering if she has the courage.

Ernest lies in bed mouthing Aiyi’s name, but he does not want to fall in love. He dreams of his parents saying goodbye on the train platform, his mother telling him to “marry a good Jewish girl” (38).

Miriam and Ernest leave the Embankment Building at dawn, though they have nowhere to go. They hear from the newly arrived refugees that German Jews are being sent to camps, and Ernest worries for his parents. A car pulls up with Aiyi inside. She offers him a job playing stride piano in her nightclub and he accepts. She takes him and Miriam to their new apartment in the Settlement, as Aiyi provides housing to all of her employees. Miriam finds Aiyi cold, but Ernest defends her. He sells the Montblanc pen that he brought from Germany and gets Miriam noodle soup. He daydreams of providing for himself and his sister and of getting to know Aiyi.

Aiyi’s niece (and attorney) Phoenix brings the American documentarian, Scarlet Sorebi, to meet Aiyi. Sorebi’s southern accent upsets Aiyi. Sorebi has researched her host, describing Aiyi as “perhaps the most reclusive billionaire in the world” (44). Aiyi flew Sorebi to Shanghai because she wants a documentary about Ernest, whom Sorebi featured in an exhibit about World War II’s Jewish refugees in Shanghai. Sorebi brought photos of Ernest, who was described as kind-hearted by the people interviewed for the exhibit. Sorebi reads from her research that Ernest attended a music conservatory in Berlin until he was kicked out for being Jewish and that Hitler Youth beat his older sister, a talented painter, to death. The documentarian states that Ernest found a job at Sassoon’s nightclub, and Aiyi corrects her. The American is surprised that a Chinese woman owned a business in the 1940s, which annoys Aiyi.

Aiyi ascertains that the interviewees said negative things about Ernest’s romance with her. Although Aiyi knows that this will now appear to be bribery, she tells Sorebi that in return for the documentary she’ll donate The Peace Hotel, valued at $10 million. Sorebi is stunned, asking why Aiyi wants to do this. Aiyi explains that Ernest matters deeply to her, and she wants to die without regrets. She begins her story with the challenges of being a female businesswoman in Shanghai.

Aiyi details her upbringing as one of seven children in an extremely rich Shanghainese family. Her father was Shanghai’s mayor but had an opium addiction. Aiyi’s mother hid the family fortune from her husband and raised Aiyi in luxury to have a future as her cousin Cheng’s wife. After hearing jazz, Aiyi became obsessed. She decided to become an entrepreneur and invested in a cousin’s record company, which then failed. A year after Aiyi’s father’s death, her mother died, and most of her siblings scattered. The cousin helped the now-penniless Aiyi to buy the nightclub, which she ran for two years before meeting Ernest.

Aiyi finds a piano for Ernest and receives Sassoon’s delivery of alcohol. She hopes that the combination will revitalize her club. Dressing for the evening of Ernest’s first workday, she puts on a padded Western bra. When the pianist arrives, he tries to shake her hand. Aiyi explains that Chinese etiquette demands that men and women not touch, which confounds Ernest. Although Shanghai uses several currencies, Aiyi will pay Ernest in Chinese fabi like the other employees. She apologizes that no one else working at the nightclub speaks English.

Aiyi leads Ernest to the piano, noting that her gangster customer, Mr. Zhang, has ordered a whole bottle of liquor. The club’s band is not happy to work with a foreign pianist, but Aiyi is unconcerned. Ernest begins to tune the piano and she notices that his presence disturbs not only her employees but her customers. She decides to let his music speak for him and goes to her office. A scream brings her back to see Ernest on the floor, having been stabbed in his hand by Mr. Zhang.

Ernest wonders if his scarred hand is a curse and thinks that he will no longer be able to play piano. Noticing the customers’ animosity, he’d tried to work unobtrusively but was attacked anyway. Aiyi helps him to her car and apologizes for the gangster’s violence. Ernest is oddly reassured that the assault was motivated by hatred of all foreigners, not just Jews. Aiyi takes him to a hospital run by French nuns and waits all night until he emerges. He is touched by her care. The injury was lucky—Ernest will be able to play again. However, full healing will take four months. Though Ernest offers to play with one hand, Aiyi wants him to play stride piano. She offers him a week’s paid leave, but Ernest says that he’ll be back tomorrow.

Aiyi wonders if Ernest returns to the club right away to get revenge on Mr. Zhang. However, she sees that he only wants to earn his pay, which prompts her to ask him about himself. He left Berlin due to the war and trained to play classical music. Aiyi shares that she prefers jazz because it is lively even amidst the horrors of war. They both like movies. Ernest says that he also likes skiing—and Aiyi. She brushes him off but can’t stop thinking of his eyes.

The following evening, Aiyi’s cousin and fiancé, Cheng, takes her to the club. He claims that it is to keep her safe, but she knows that he likes to keep an eye on her. While fashionable himself, he chides Aiyi for wearing what he deems to be revealing clothing. Aiyi’s family thinks that Cheng is the perfect match, and though she doesn’t feel romantic towards him, she would never jeopardize her engagement. Cheng asks about the knifing and is annoyed that she hired “a foreigner” without telling him. Aiyi insists that her customers will come around to Ernest’s music, but Cheng foretells that “the foreigner” will only cause trouble. When they arrive at the club, Aiyi sees Ernest “doing something he shouldn’t” (63).

Ernest tries to contribute to the club by serving guests and sweeping the floor. He requests to take drinks to Mr. Zhang, surprising the manager. He bows to the suspicious men and pours the gin, which pleases the gangster. Aside, Aiyi asks Ernest if he is certain that he wants to perform these tasks. He notices Cheng accompanying her. Aiyi explains that foreigners think that serving Chinese people is “beneath them” (65), but Ernest doesn’t care. Working as a menial, Ernest endears himself to the staff and patrons of the nightclub. He has feelings for Aiyi, though he tries to suppress them. He is eager to play again, and he memorizes the band’s repertoire in addition to learning Shanghai jazz.

Ernest brings home tofu, although Miriam doesn’t like it. His wage is still not enough to feed them well. Miriam is bored and miserable killing cockroaches all day. Ernest knows that she needs company, but he’s too tired. Miriam reveals that she has been exploring the city, including an opium den, and Ernest is terrified. He demands that Miriam promise to stay in the apartment, and she is silent. As he falls asleep, she accuses him of not caring about her.

Ernest has been a server for almost three weeks. Aiyi is frustrated that all the clubs have a specific draw, from whisky to dancing girls, and her club was to have the stride piano until Ernest’s injury. She still won’t fire Ernest, though.

She goes to her family home in the Old City, a walled compound and the final remnant of the Shao family’s wealth. Aiyi is nervous to see her oldest brother Sinmay’s car. They’ve had tension since Sinmay attempted to take Aiyi’s portion of the family inheritance since he is the firstborn son, and she took the unprecedented step of suing him and won. She wishes that she could move out, but it would be too dangerous and too scandalous to publicly separate from her family. Aiyi is concerned that Sinmay might kick her out of the house for hiring Ernest and misses her Mother’s guidance of the family.

The family, including Cheng, is playing mah-jongg. Sinmay’s wife, Peiyu, calls for Aiyi to join them. Peiyu and Cheng’s mother have found “an auspicious date for [her] wedding” in spring (73). Cheng has told Sinmay about Ernest, and Sinmay is upset that Aiyi hired “a foreigner.” Yamazaki, the Japanese officer who confiscated the family’s fortune, has been promoted to be in charge of a troop stationed in the Settlement. Sinmay thinks that fraternizing with “foreigners” will prompt Yamazaki to take Aiyi’s business. Aiyi protests that her club pays taxes to the Japanese government.

Peiyu says that “girls from good families don’t work to make a living” and that Aiyi should get ready to have children (76). Aiyi asks when Sinmay’s mistress, American journalist Emily Hahn, will next visit to remind her brother that he, too, consorts with white people. Aiyi’s brother, Ying, offers for her to take his spot at the mah-jongg table. Sinmay asks if she’ll fire Ernest, which reminds Aiyi that she’s paying him a pianist’s wage when he can only be a menial—this is bad for her business. Cheng offers to get rid of Ernest for her. He and Aiyi have an agreement that she’ll give him the nightclub after their marriage, which entitles him to an opinion about business decisions. She says that she will take care of it.

Ernest is summoned to speak with Cheng and Aiyi. Ernest is envious of Cheng’s wealth and notices that Aiyi doesn’t seem comfortable with her fiancé. Aiyi begins to tell Ernest she can’t keep employing him. He asks for one more week. Cheng tells him that he must leave immediately. Ernest asks Aiyi if she still wants the stride piano in her club. She does, and he asks for a single performance that night to prove himself. Cheng tries to interrupt, but Aiyi agrees. The show will be the following day so that she can advertise. After Cheng leaves angrily, Ernest asks Aiyi if she will go to the movies with him, as long as his playing is good. He has strong feelings for her. They flirt, and Aiyi wishes him good luck.

Ernest listens to the band and meditates on the evocative nature of jazz. Though his hand remains painful, his fingers work. He is excited to play.