China: The Beth Aharon Synagogue, Shanghai. Built in 1927, it stood at 42 Huqiu Road,...

The Beth Aharon Sephardi Synagogue was built in 1927 by the prominent Jewish businessman Silas Aaron Hardoon, one of the wealthiest people in Shanghai, as a gift to the city's Jewish community. It was named after Hardoon's father, Aaron. It was located at 20 Museum Road (now 42 Huqiu Road) in the Shanghai International Settlement, near the Bund and Hongkew, in present-day Huangpu District. The synagogue was designed by the architectural firm Palmer and Turner, which also designed the iconic HSBC Building on the Bund. After the Chinese Communist Party won the Chinese Civil War and established the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Beth Aharon Synagogue became part of the compound of the government newspaper Wenhui Bao. During the Cultural Revolution, the synagogue was structurally changed and turned into a factory. It was demolished in 1985 and replaced by the high-rise Wenhui Bao office building.