Shanghai Public Garden in 1895
A page from Klingen’s book.
“Thanks to its favorable position on the river bank, its overall good upkeep, its excellent wind orchestra comprised of Manila musicians and its splendid lawns, where numerous groups of children are allowed to run as much as they please, Shanghai Public Garden attracts all European families of Shanghai, especially in the evening, after the heat subsides. During the daytime, however, this is the domain of little children, who hop, crawl or lie outstretched in their carriages tucked into their soft English wraps, with their blissful silly muzzles peeking from the lace frills and bonnets. The long benches are all occupied by the happy chattering Chinese nannies in wide pantaloons and fake shoes, in which they hobble with extra flair to demonstrate that their feet are as small as noble ladies’, which in fact is not affordable to working-class women who have to work alongside their husbands in the fields. Chinese nannies are very affectionate and protective with their wards and love them like their own children.
Teenagers go out for walks in the evenings and play a variety of games, always well-coordinated and organized among themselves, with no grown-up anywhere in sight...”
Translated from Ivan Klingen, Among the Patriarchs of Agriculture of the Peoples of the Asian Nations (1899).
Public Garden around the time Klingen described it. Ebay.