page_title: HSBC Building, the Bund
section_title: Bronze lions
hierarchical_section_title: HSBC Building, the Bund / Bronze lions
caption_attribution_description: English: The roof of the HSBC on the Bund in Shang Hai
context_page_description: The HSBC Building is a six-floor neo-classical building in the Bund area of Shanghai, China. It served as the headquarters of the Shanghai branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1923 to 1955, and currently houses the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. The building is situated at number 12, the Bund. Designed by the British architecture firm Palmer & Turner Architects and Surveyors, construction of the building lasted from 5 May 1921 to 23 June 1923.
context_section_description: The bank commissioned two bronze lions from the United Kingdom at the time of construction, to be placed outside the front doors flanking the entrance staircase. They were cast by J W Singer & Sons in the English town of Frome, to a design by Henry Poole RA. One of the lions is depicted roaring, to symbolise protection, the other is calm, and symbolises security. Affectionately nicknamed Stephen and Stitt (after A G Stephen, once Manager Shanghai and the driving force behind the construction of the building, and by then the Bank's Chief Manager; and G H Stitt, Stephen's successor as Manager Shanghai, and the incumbent when the building was opened on 23 June 1923). An in-joke: Stephen's was said to be the louder character, Stitt the quieter man.
  These lions were the inspiration for a second and much larger pair to a completely new design by Shanghai-based British sculptor W W Wagstaff that were commissioned for the bank's new Headquarters in Hong Kong, opened in 1935. This second pair of lions was cast in Shanghai.
  During the wartime occupation of Shanghai, the lions were removed by the Japanese to be melted down for their valuable bronze, but they escaped this fate and were restored after the end of the war. They were removed once again in 1966, during the Cultural Revolution. The Shanghai Artefact Administration Board stored the lions in the warehouse of the Shanghai Comedy Troupe. In 1980, they were handed over to the Shanghai Museum where they are on display today. In 1997, when the Pudong Development Bank moved into the building, replicas were made and placed in front of the building.
caption: The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation building's ceiling, a delicate mosaic.
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