Shanghai travel story: the history of the Duoyunxuan

In July 1900, there was an advertisement in Shen Newspaper, announcing the opening of Duoyunxuan Art Studio. More than 100 years have passed, and the studio has turned into an enterprise that sells and buys works of art, such as curiosities, seals, Chinese calligraphy and ink-wash paintings, which attracted millions of foreigners and local tourists in Shanghai travel.
Over the past centuries, Duoyunxuan Art Studio has donated part of the treasures to the nation’s first-class museums including China Art Museum, China History Museum (now named The National Museum of China), Shanghai Museum and Liaoning Museum.
Shops more than a century old are rare in the city, and Duoyunxuan is one of the few. Amid the mostly modern buildings of Nanjing Road, this five-story shop is outstanding for its traditional architectural style. It also boasts a vast collection, from ink stones to the dragon boat carved from wood.
It may be the passion of the Chinese for collecting art that explains the shop’s survival though all the social turmoil of the last century.
Duoyunxuan took its name from an ancient poem. Duoyun signifies people’s respect for written words. Established in Shanghai in 1900 by Sun Jiepu, the shop originally sold fans and letter paper. But like any successful enterprise, its owner had a strategy to develop his business as a cultural broker.
He invited many of the city’s celebrities to his shop, among them artists, bankers and entrepreneurs. Their frequent visits greatly helped Duoyunxuan to become a renowned cultural salon.
Zhang Ailing, the famous writer of the 1940s, wrote about Duoyunxuan’s letter paper in one of her novels. Thus, with limited capital and a small collection, the owner built up a close and intimate relationship with his customers.
According to records, the assets of Duoyunxuan Art Studio exceeded 400,000 yuan (US $40,000) in 1944.
But after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the government wished to stop the flow of Chinese antiques to the West. Many art auction houses were put out of business.
Duoyunxuan, as a shop catering to the rich, was vulnerable. Yet it was not closed down. At first, it had to cut back its business scope, and then it became state-owned.
The shop began to number more ordinary people among its clients, who went there for brushes and ink stones or to sell their private collections rather than, as at one time, buy them.
The shop remained open throughout the disastrous years of the “culture revolution” (1966-1976) and was often visited by government leaders. It was said that if one saw Chairman Mao’s secretary in the shop it was certain the Mao himself was in Shanghai.
During this period, the shop was able to buy up an outstanding collection of Chinese antiques at a giveaway price, creating a wealth of treasure for its later auctions.
More than a decade after China began its policy of opening to the outside world, it was Duoyunxuan that held the country’s first art auction. At that auction, held at the Hilton Hotel in 1993, about HK $8.3 million of business was transacted. From then on, the company has held two auctions each year. The success of Duoyunxuan Art Studio inspired others to follow, and many local art auction houses opened in its wake.
Once a small fan shop, today’s Duoyunxuan owns its own auction house, antique shop and cultural agency. But its over 100-year history has made it a part of the very culture that is now its business.

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