This installment brings two singers who were 'sisters' on the silver screen. They share much in common at the first glance yet each has her very distinct style.

Two very delicate voices that sang with a traditional panache - evergreen movie queen, Li Li Hua and Bai Yun.

This installment presents the true divas, amazing sopranos of Shanghai.

Corrigendum: I mispronounced the name 喻宜萱 in this installment as Yu(2) Yi(4) Xian(2), whereas it should have been Yu(4) Yi(2) Xuan(1).

This installment features two very modern singers in the 1940s, Liang Ping and Yin Min. The production and commercial quality of their songs reached parity with the leading trends of the world. Liang Ping's voice was highly protean and she treated her songs with a classical interpretation, a facile jazz delivery and occasionally a traditional ballad style of singing.

This installment brings you some of the notable gentlemen singers of Shanghai. They were truly a rare breed but one finds their styles no less diverse or engaging.

This installment features two singers whose careers took off in the post WWII Shanghai, the golden era of pop music. They are Wu Ying Yin and Zhang Lu. The bands had perfected their crafts and the music industry had reached its full maturity. The results were very elaborated arrangements and highly refined vocal styles, and even the voices that sang blues were very refined, if not overly refined.

This installment features Bai Hong and Gong Qiu Xia, who joined the entertainment field and achieved fame even before the Golden Voice, Zhou Xuan. What is also afforded here is a rare opportunity to experience the harbingers of antique Shanghai pop music, Li Li Li and Wang Ren Mei, who were indeed the very first of the breed. Though their presence was brief and their vocal styles bespoke a highly experimental phase of the genre, their legacy is not something to be overlooked.

Erratum: "Drizzly Rain" was recorded in late 1938, as listed below, not in 1939 as announced.

You can hear Li Xiang Lan’s (Yamaguchi Yoshiko’s) operatic pop songs and the fascinating stories of her life. Equally stunning is Bai Guang’s incomparable charisma. This installment features the most unique voices of Chinese oldies.

The featured stars of this bimetallic installment are Zhou Xuan and Yao Li. Your host, Ling also takes special care to reveal some facets that distinguish antique Chinese pop music from its western kin.

In this pilot installment, you can hear songs by some of the biggest stars that shone in the night sky of Shanghai in the 30’s and 40’s. Most of the recordings featured here were made at the height of Chinese Antique Pop. They are representative of the sophisticated taste of mid to late 40’s and demonstrate a unique flavor particular to the period - rich, ornate, delicate but devoid of bashfulness. To mention a few resounding names: Zhou Xuan, Li Xiang Lan, Yao Li, Bai Guang, Bai Hong, Wu Ying Yin, and Ou Yang Fei Ying.