The Ponedelnik (Monday) art society was formed in October 1929 on the initiative of writer Lev Grosse, journalist Valentin Prisiajnikoff (pseudonym Vale), architect Nicholas Sokolovsky, and others. The goal of the society – also referred to as the “fraternity” – was to unite Russian artists in the Far East, deepen their knowledge of Chinese culture and establish links with art societies in Europe. Because the meetings took place every Monday, the society adopted this name.

At Ponedelnik, writers and journalists outnumbered visual artists, yet painters and designers were its most active members – among them Alexander Yaron, Sofia Moszepan, Vasily Zasipkin, Victor Podgoursky, Vera Kuznetzova, and others. By the autumn of 1933, Ponedelnik counted 45 permanent members in Shanghai and eleven overseas members. Initially, the society held meetings at the residence of P. M. Yankovsky, at 443 Route Cardinal Mercier. These meetings were described in the local Russian press as edifying and comprehensive, even if excessively formal and possibly intimidating for beginners.

In September 1930, the society published the first issue of its eponymous magazine, Ponedelnik. It contained poems and short stories by Shanghai-based Russian writers; there was also a review of the city’s art scene. Vasily Zasipkin provided illustrations, while his former student Alexander Yaron designed the cover. Printed in vivid colours on high-quality white paper, the Ponedelink magazine became the pinnacle of Russian periodical publishing in Shanghai. But in 1933, accusations of plagiarism among members of the Ponedelnik “fraternity” slowed down work on the magazine. In its five years of existence, only four issues came out. By 1934, when the final double issue was released, the society had split into two groups, with twelve members leaving and forming a new society, Vostok (The East), which started to meet on Wednesdays.

The remaining members continued to meet on Mondays, in the studio of the artist Mikhail Kichigin, at 10 Avenue Dubail. Kichigin had become the society’s chairman. The local magazine Rubezh described these meetings: “In the dimly lit huge studio with a single desk lamp, with its large vitrines reflecting the headlights of the passing cars and the blue flashes of the trams – here the poets gather to recite their own and other poets' verses. Sometimes the reader has to pause, because Shanghai's street noise fills the studio. This city never lets you forget where you are.”

As the Russian community in Shanghai continued to grow, reaching more than 35,000 toward the end of the decade, cultural organisations for émigrés multiplied. Their focus and character varied, but their membership and target audiences often intersected, so meetings were organised on different days of the week. Mondays were reserved for the “serious” meetings of the Ponedelnik society. On Tuesdays, the gatherings of the Russian Club – with paid entry – took place in the club’s opulent mansion in the French Concession. On Wednesday evenings, the public flowed into the Renaissance, Alcazar or Arcadia, where the HLAM members were putting on a performance. The Thursday Society meetings were a platform for music, dance, singing and poetry readings. On Fridays, the literary soirées of the ex-Harbin poetry society Churaevka attracted hundreds of visitors.

Ponedelnik’s activities stopped with the tightening of the Japanese occupational regime in 1941, when Kichigin lost access to his studio space and some other members of the society left China.