A VW Santana taxi arrived and four of us begin our Formula I taxi ride through the labyrinth of streets and lanes in the former French Concession.

The taxi stopped at the main gate of Ruijin Guest House.

‘Aren’t you going to drive us to the building inside?’ I demanded.

‘No. You’ve got to find your own way in the garden yourselves!’ The driver shouted back.

It was wet and dark, and there was no light in the big garden, with muddy pools everywhere: we had to be extra cautious. It took us about twenty minutes before we could arrived to one of the 4 buildings in the compound, and fortunately, Lan Na Thai was inside!

The restaurant was located on the second floor of the building and was extremely dark inside too. The walls were painted blue, with wooden tables and chairs, and some Buddha statues; all windows were opened, the white curtains were not properly tied, thus they dance in the air. There were no other diners except us and so the atmostphere was quite ghostly.

All the waiters and waitresses were dressed in black Tang shirts and trousers and wore kung-fu shoes.

I asked one of them who looked sleepy probably due to the dim lightings, ‘Who originally owned this house?’

‘Chiang Kai Shek, the Generalissimo.’

‘He really knows enjoying life.’ I thought… … … … …

The following story is my recent research about this classified complex. Hope you’ll enjoy!

A lot of foreigners rushed to Shanghai after it was opened as a treaty port and many of them made a fortune trading opiums. Later they invested in real estates and became even richer. Among these people are the Morriss family, which most of the older Shanghainese heard of.

Henry Morriss arrived to Shanghai from Britain with another friend in 1867. He first worked for HSBC, and later won some fortune from horse racing, a game he was so passionate about. He later purchase North China Daily News, the oldest English newspaper in China and became the president.

He also owned lots of lands at the French Concession area like those around Seymour Road (today’s Shanxi Lu) and Avenue Pere Robert (today’s Ruijin No.2 Road), where he later built the Morriss Estate. When he died, a Frenchman called Chollot bought the northern part of the garden in 1928 and built a Canidrome (dog racing track) and a hotel there. Aftger liberation, the dog racing track became the Cultural Square as it is today and the hotel was once a library and then a theatre academy.

The whole garden covers an area of 77000sqm, and the complex comprises 4 elegant villas that are distinctive in style. Constructed in 1917, Villas 1 and 2 were the private garden residence of Mr Morriss and located in the heart of the complex. It’s worth to mention that Madame Soong Mei Ling once stayed here and after liberation, it was used as the office for Shanghai’s first mayor, Mr Chen Yi. Villa 3, built in 1932 was also the residence of Morriss and was taken over by Shanghai Building of Land Bureau when the last Morriss son, a bachelor died in 1952 in the estate.

In 1924, the northeastern part of the garden was sold to Mitsui Trading Co., where they later built an Italian Renaissance style estate in 1936 which is known as Villa 4 today. They built a wall west of the estate to separate themselves, and later the place was named Mitsui Garden. After the Anti-Japanese War, the KMT took the estate and the high-ranked officials stayed there. After liberation, officials of the East China Bureau who used to stay at the St. John’s Univeristy moved in.

Not long after, the municipal government tore down the walls that separate the estates and the complex became a whole again.

The site was turned to Ruijin Guest House in 1956, accomodating Party Leaders and foreign politicians. The guesthouse was opened to public in 1979, so everyone of us have the chance to enjoy ourselves at this unique landmark!

Eric Moller arrived to Shanghai from Sweden in 1919 in poverty and won in a horse race; he used the money to purchase a few horses and got engaged in the racing business which Shanghai was famous for. Later he started a trading company, bought a ship carrying passengers along the canels and rivers around the Cheong Kong areas, and even tried his hand at real estates! He soon rose to become a ‘Taipan’, the Chinese word for a boss or successful businessman.

As his business expanded, he decided to build a house worthy of his own status.

According to most present sources, while he was finding an architect, his daughter, who has a great fondness for Andersen’s fairytales, dreamt she walked into one of the fairytale’s castles. She sketch the house to her father after waking up the next day. Eric was very interested and invited some architects to construct the house as sketched.

It was completed in 1936, but in Tess Johnston’s famous book on Shanghai’s old houses, ‘A Last Look’, she wrote that the house’s completion was delayed for a couple of years after a fortune teller warned Moller misfortune would occur if ever the house is completed. He finally did so in 1949, the year when the house was overtaken by the Communist Youth League.

But a more accurate source was that the Japanese overtook the mansion after the Pacific War, later occupied by some KMT officials, before the Communist Youth League moved in, the latter unveiling the mask of this mysterious house to the public.

The garden of the mansion covers an area of 200sqm. In the centre of the garden lies a grave with a bronze statue of a horse erected above it. Below buried a horse many said that had tuned Moller rich. Later some of his other favourite pets were buried there.

The whole estate comprises of 6 buildings, a total number of 106 rooms, with wood panel interior, decorated with navigation motives that might symbolize Moller’s shipping business.

Hengshan Group, a Shanghai based travel company, took charge of the estate in 2001 and renovated it to adapt its new use as a hotel, which was officially opened in 2002 as Hengshan Moller Villa.

Built in 1936 (although the plague states it’s 1929),it covers an area of 546 sqm and it’s located south of the Avenue Road Apartments; in fact it’s just behind it.
As it’s tucked away in the narrow Tongren Road and sandwiched between larger apartment blocks, it’s easy for one to pass by the place without noticing it.
However with a keen eye and a dare devil soul to discover, the main entrance is worth to take a look at. It resembles a European Castle.