Shanghai

Not long after its establishment as a treaty port in 1842, and roughly until the Japanese invasion of China proper in 1937, Shanghai maintained a reputation as one of Asia’s most spellbinding, entrepreneurial, and freewheeling cities. It had served as the mainland China’s commercial, industrial, and cultural hub during that period, and since 1991, it has indisputably re-emerged as China’s second most important city after the capital, Beijing. Yet, although first mentioned by name in Chinese records dating back to the 12th century, Shanghai was not among the 10 most populous cities on the mainland on the eve of Western settlement in 1842. Perched advantageously 15 km downstream from the confluence of the Huangpu River, the Yangtze River (Changjiang), and the East China Sea, Shanghai’s Chinese population numbered around two hundred thousand inhabitants in 1842, most of whom resided within the ancient city walls. By the 1930s, the city’s population exceeded three million, with new neighborhoods sprawling far beyond the historic walled area west of the Huangpu River. Today, the Shanghai Municipality (6,340 sq km) is one of four self-governing urban areas not affiliated with any other province. The city’s perimeters are thus much wider than was the case before 1949, including jurisdiction over fifteen districts, one county, and several offshore islands. Over twenty-three million people now reside in Shanghai, making it the most populous city in China, and one of the largest in the world. Shanghai’s newly built port, sprawling tens of kilometers along the East China Sea, is the busiest in the world, and the skyscrapers in the Pudong district have come to symbolize China’s re-established economic power. Interest in the city’s pre-war legacy has increased in recent years as a result of China’s rapid economic reforms and the opening up of its archives to foreign scholars. Western academics have begun engaging with these newly declassified materials in ways that often reshape our understanding of Chinese modern history. Yet the development path that makes Shanghai so vital to what may be loosely defined as “Chinese modernity,” has not yet been agreed on. One of many testaments to Shanghai’s enduring appeal, is the 2006 CBC television documentary Legendary Cities of Sin, in which Shanghai is portrayed as a megalopolis on par with Paris and Berlin between the two world wars. Shanghai’s mystique is even more potent in the realm of cinema, with scores of Hollywood and Chinese productions set in the pre-Communist era—Ang Lee’s acclaimed feature film Lust, Caution (2007) is an obvious example. Shanghai is also the city where past and present are most studied and written about by China specialists. The body of scholarly literature on post-1842 Shanghai is particularly abundant.