odu, a contemporary nickname for Shanghai, is widely known among the youth. The Chinese word for “Mo” can be interpreted as “being magical and fascinating”, while “Du” means “city and capital”. Thus, the whole word can be understood as “the magical city”. But this is not exactly what it means when many people actually call Shanghai “Modu”, and it means more than that.

It is still less known that the name was coined by a Japanese writer——Shōfu Muramatsu——nearly a century ago. In 1924, Shōfu Muramatsu wrote a novel, Mato, based on his experience in Shanghai. Before he set off for a Shanghai, he mentioned: “When it comes to the purpose of my trip to Shanghai, it was to see a different world. I yearn for a full and varied life and Shanghai is the ideal place to achieve the aim.”

In the 1920s, with the booming commercial and entertainment industry, Shanghai flourished with difficulty against the volatile social environment. The foreign concessions territories were prosperous, while other parts were severely ravaged by unrest. Due to war and poverty, many refugees from the surrounding areas flocked to Shanghai for a chance of life. Shōfu Muramatsu portrayed Shanghai as a dichotomic city where light and darkness coexisted. He was fascinated by the spectacle that how the darker side of the city were hidden under its glamorous appearance. In Japanese, “Mato” equals to “demon city”. The demon sense of the name has its root in the coexistence of ‘two different spaces’ (i.e., the Concession and the County) in Shanghai. The interpenetration and conflict between these “two different spaces” has made Shanghai a “compatible” city in the beginning.

Today, with the spread of Japanese animation culture into China, the name ‘Modu’ reenters the Chinese context, suddenly becomes popular again and develops different meanings from its origins with the development of Shanghai. Now this name is more used to emphasize its modern fascination, talent attractiveness and endless possibilities of this city. Since the reform and opening up, Shanghai has undergone an intense and rapid development to become an international city. Its transformation can be regarded as an epitome of China’s miraculous economic achievements. Shanghai maintains its compatible character and sets a good example for integration of Chinese and western cultural elements. Shanghai signifies the booming economy of China and people, especially young people, from all over China, entrenched by its glamour, rush to Shanghai to seek economic opportunities and fulfill their own “Chinese dream”.