Shanghai var ikke kun et sted, hvor voksne kunne forlyste sig – der var også mange muligheder for morskab for de udstationerede familiers yngre medlemmer.

Else Christiansen, datter af den udstationerede danske skibskaptajn ved Store Nordiske Telegraf-Selskab, fortæller i august 1931 om forlystelsesstedet Luna Park i et brev til sin bror Erik, der går på kostskole i Danmark.

Selvom familien er dansk, skriver Else på engelsk til sin lillebror i Danmark. Else går nemlig i engelsk skole i Shanghai, og er derfor ikke særlig bekendt med et skriftligt dansk. I brevet  sammenligner hun Luna Park med Tivoli i København, men hendes begrænsede viden om det skrevne dansk forårsager, at navnet bliver skrevet uden i-endelsen, Tivol.

31/8/31.

12 Baikal Rd.

Dear Erik,

I hope you are well and that you like beginning school again. I am beginning school on September 7. Bitten is not very well, she has a sore stomach and fever. Papa is out sailing and mama is O.K. Ah Mar is sick and has been sick for the last month, but he is getting better. The Amah is very sick she can’t walk and has a sore stomach. There is expected a terrible flood on the twelfth of September. The water will rise about 6ft. to 12ft. We had a terrible typhoon it was impossible to go out and you could not stand and trees were falling down and many fences too. But the weather is all right now. Near Wayside Park there is a place called Luna Park; Luna Park is something like Tivol. In Luna Park there are many stalls and side shows and there is the flea circus where you see fleas dancing, pulling brass rickshaws and many other things. The fleas one hour a day are put on the trainers arms and fed on him so the fleas and the man go 50%-50%. There is Dodgem, Ferris wheel, Merry-go-round, Mix-up, Whip, Butterfly, Frolic, Sea-plane, Caterpillar, and many side-shows there also have free shows. Once mama saw a very big, strong man be on the ground with a plank on him, then a big motor-car with six grown-up people in it ran right over him, as soon as the car had passed over he jumped up and was all right. Now I have no more to say.

Love from Bitten and Else.”