Leaky pipe leads photo shop to treasure of old Shanghai photos

And just recently in Shanghai, a set of remarkable photographs was discovered because of a leaky pipe. Nearly 20,000 pictures from The Wang Kai gallery were brought to light after decades under cover.

The photos, though they've yellowed some, are still in good condition. Most were taken in the 1920s and 30s. Miraculous among them are the studio shots of Shanghai film stars. ...

The discovery also includes family portraits, and pictures of old buildings, valuable for research into Shanghai's early architecture.

The find was a complete accident, taking place during the repair of a water pipe. Decades ago, gallery staff had saved several cases of pictures in the basement. And the photos, once dusted off and sorted, proved to be priceless.

We assume, although we are not sure, the gallery mentioned above is the Wangkai Photography Shop mentioned here and here. The address is listed as 378 Nanjing Dong Lu and the phone number is 6322-1098. We called several times to find out of they have plans to display the photos in some way, but no one ever answered the phone.