IT is widely known that the old horse racing course in pre-war Shanghai, near today's People's Square, was a place of thrills, parades and entertainment.

Occupying an area of 7,500 hectares in the former International Settlement, the race course also was an ideal place in which to held sports games, parades, mass rallies and grand celebrations.

On top of horse-racing, the area also boasted a golf course, a footfall field, a ball park, a cricket field and a swimming pool. Sometimes, a part of the race track was turned into temporary lawn tennis courts.

Different sports clubs could rent the race course for activities, and the rent constituted a considerable part of its income. The race course had long been reserved exclusively for foreigners, and Chinese were not allowed to enter unless there were Chinese teams playing games with foreigners.

Since many countries had military forces stationed in Shanghai, they often used the race course for drills and parades. On September 22, 1900, an officer named Waldersee, the commander of the Eight-Power Allied Force reviewed troops based in Shanghai from different countries, an event which lasted an hour.

During the Taiping Rebellion (1851-64) and its occupation of Zhenjiang, a city near Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province, in April 1853 foreigners living in Shanghai set up a force to resist any attack from the Taiping army.

To commemorate the establishment of the force, a parade involving several thousands of members of the unit was held in April or May each year.

Take the ceremony in 1923 for example. The parade began at 5:00pm and units taking part included a cavalrytroop, two artillery detachments, a machine-gun detachment and several motorized units. Then, there were the military formations from different countries headed by a British unit, followed by US, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese and Scottish troops. According to historical records, the ceremony lasted for about an hour and a half.

Foreigners also used the spacious area to celebrate their National Days and holidays.

On June 22, 1911, the Coronation Day of King George V, magicians performed on the race course, accompanied by a fireworks display.

In 1937, the celebration for the coronation of King George VI on May 12 was considered unprecedented. Performances were arranged on evenings from May 10 to 12, with the show on May 10 as a rehearsal.

A castle was set up in the centre of the race course, with performers for every item on the programme emerging from the castle. After the flag-raising, the 21-gun salute and a musical performance, there were group calisthenics, rope skipping and another parade.

The most wonderful item involved 200 performers, who were divided into three teams holding red, white and blue lights and who formed different patterns in the darkness. Their show concluded with a pattern spelling the initials "GR", the latin abbreviation of the King's name and title.

The performances over these three days created a stir in the city, and also drew the attention of many overseas newspapers.

Horse-racing on the course came to a halt after the Japanese entered the International Settlement in late 1941, although occasional celebrations and mass rallies were still held there.

After the War of Resistance against Japan (1937-45), the leader of the Kuomingtang regime, Chiang Kai-shek, came to Shanghai and delivered a speech at the race course. It was reported that a total of 200,000 people attended to celebrate the victory over Japan.

After Liberation in 1949, the government of the People's Republic of China rebuilt the race course as the People's Park in the north and People's Square in the south, The square was opened in 1951 and the park in 1952.

(The author is from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences)