During the colonial era, just south of Yanˇan Donglu (then called Edward VII Avenue) ran the Rue du Consulat  todayˇs Jinling Donglu  leading from the waterfront to the French Concession. Somewhere off this road was a small lane called Rue Chu Pao San, renamed Xikou Lu after 1949, but since, apparently, swept away in the tide of redevelopment. In its heyday Rue Chu Pao San rejoiced in the European nickname ˉBlood Alleyˇ  a lane of teeming vice, brothels and low bars frequented by sailors on shore leave from the Huangpu docks. Ralph Shaw, a Briton who lived in Shanghai during the 1930s, records that Blood Alley fairly swarmed with ˉa legion of Chinese, Korean, Annamite, White Russian, Filipino and Formosan womenˇ, in search of a similar legion of ˉkilted Seaforth Highlanders, tall U.S. Navy men, seamen from the Liverpool tramps, and French Grenadiersˇ, who ˉhad ears only for the girls clinging to them in the half light of dance-floor alcovesˇ. Blood Alley, as the name suggests, was a rough and violent place ˉentirely dedicated to wine, women, song and all-night lecheryˇ.