Shanghai

Ji IMG:p518_29.png:Chinese characters the most important of the treaty ports. It was the most northern of the five opened by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 and it long remained the northern limit of foreign trade. It is situated 13 miles up the Huang p'u H Jg which debouches into the Yangtze estuary. The latitude is IMG:p518_30.png:Chinese characters 14' N.; the longitude 121°. 29' E. The early history of the native port is somewhat obscure and of little interest; yet a good many papers on the subject or translations of the Chinese records have been printed. It may be regarded as having been the port for Soochow,. at the mouth of the Woosung river, now called the Soochow Creek, but once many miles wide at this point. Till the 13th century the Huangpu was a canal. There haa naturally been a great deal of change in the waterways of such a plain during the centuries and there is a good deal of confusion and uncertainty in all accounts of the hydrography of the district. 519 Shanghai began to be of importance as a place of trade in the 11th century; but as far as foreign acquaintance with it is concerned its history begins in 1832, when Lindsay and Gutzlaff visited it in the Lord Amherst (q.v.). Ten years later (June 19, 1842) it was taken by the British forces, and by the Treaty of Nanking was opened to foreign trade on November 17, 1845. Captain Balfour, the first British Consul, fixed the limits i of the settlement. They were, to use the present names of streets, the Yang king pang or Avenue Edward VII on the south, Peking Road' on the north, the Huang-pu on the eajt and Pukien Road on the west. Balfour with the Tao-tai drew up Land Regulations two years later, and the intention was that the Settlement, acquired with British blood, money and labour, should be a British Settlement. The American Consul, however, later on hoisted hig flag in the Settlement in spite of British and Chinese protest, and the Settlement has ever since been International. The French, however, acquired and have always retained a Conce ion of their own. In September, 1853, the Triad Society rebels took po e ion of the native city. One result of this was that the Customs Service had to be put under foreign management, as it has ever since remained. For seventeen months the insurgents held the city, while the Settlement suffered from the proximity of Imperialist troops. In April, 1854, the newly-formed Volunteer corps, with some men from the ships, attacked and fired the Imperialist camp near the Race Course: this is the Battle of Muddy Flat. At the end of the year the French Admiral found hi* excuse for attacking the city; the French lo was forty-five killed and wounded. The city was not taken, but a month later the insurgents fled. The T'ai P'ing rebels threatened Shanghai in August 1860. Hundreds of you sands of refugees poured into the Settlement. The energetic action of foreign and Chinese troops, under Ward, BuROEViNE, Hope, Staveley, Protet and others, kept Shanghai safe. In 1863 the Mixed Court was established; the Shanghai Club and the General Hospital in 1864; H.B.M. Court for China and Japan in 1865. In 1874 the Shanghai-Woosung Railway was opened as far as Kiang-wan IMG:p519_1.png:Chinese characters miles). It was bought by the Chinese authorities and torn up. The Recreation Fund originated in 1862, when some land in the old Race Course, for which some fifty reidents had paid le than Tls. 5,000, was sold for Tls. 49,000. Thisi money was handed over as a free gift to the community. The Fund now owns all the land within the present Race Course, and it a ists many Shanghai Institutions with loans. The International Settlement and the French Conce ion are governed according to. certain Land Regulations. The first Regulations, as already stated, were drawn up by Consul Balfour and the Tao-tai, November 29, 1845. These were in force till July 11, 1854, when new Regulations were i ued, by which the Municipal Council was instituted. These Regulations were amended in 1869, and again in 1898. The French Land Regulations, at least since 1866, have been separate from those applying to the Settlement. The so-called American Settlement (Hongkew) and the so-called British Settlement were formally united under one rule in December, 1863. Shanghai has continued to increase and prosper, in spite of many difficulties — the Woosung Bar being one. The history of a growing commercial port is, however, in itself without much interest. It is to be noticed that de Jesus' Historic Shanghai is three-fifths taken up with the T'ai P'ing Rebellion; all the rest of Shanghai's history only fills a hundred pages. The appearance of the place if approached by water is very fine; the river bank is a busy and, broad road with handsome buildings fronting the water. Except the Bund, however, Shanghai has nothing to show the visitor, — unle he comes to see Mi ions or cotton-mills'. The whole district is a mud-flat with no natural beauty, while art has done little to improve matters, except in IMG:p519_2.png:Chinese characters of the buildings on the Bund. The following are H.B.M. Consuls or Consuls- General who have had oflfice at Shanghai, with dates of appointment. 1843, Captain George Balfour, (later General Sir George), Consul. 1846, Rutherford Alcock, (later Sir Rutherford), Consul. 1854, Daniel Brooke Robertson, (later Sir Daniel), Consul. 1858, Harry Smith Parkes, (later Sir Harry), December 21, Consul. 1865, Charles Alexander Winchester, March 28, Consul. 1871, Walter Henry Medhurst, (later Sir Walter), January 24, Consul. 1877, Daniel Brooke Robertson, (later Sir Daniel), October 24, Consul-General (did not proceed). 1880, Patrick Joseph Hughes, February 25, Consul. 1884,,,,, March 1, Consul- General. 1891, Nicholas John Hannen flater Sir Nicholas), April 1, Consul-General. 1897, George Jamie son, November 13, Consul- General. 520 1899, Bybon Brenan, May 13, Consul-General. 1901, Pelham Laird Warren, (later Sir Pelh,am), July 1, Gonsul-General, 1911, EvERAUD Duncan Home Feaser, (now Sir Everard), January 20, Consul-General. The last census of Shanghai was taken on October 16, 1915. It shewed a total foreign population of 18,519 in the International Settlement and 2,405 in the French Conce ion; total, 20,924. Of these 7,387 were Japanese, 5,521 British, and 1,448 American. The Chinese in the Settlement and Conce ion numbered 787,920; including those outside the Settlement limits the total population of the port is estimated at nearly 1,500,000. The totals of the different foreign nationalities are as follows: — Settle- Con- 1915 Total ment ce ion Nationality 218 Japanese 7,169 699 Biitish... 7,337 4,822 29 Portuguese.. 5,521 1,323 141 American 1,352 1,307 1,448 270 German 1,155 Ptu ian 1,425 361 402 364 244 41 French 608 185 4 181 Spanish 114 169 Italian 33 145 55 178 Danish 150 123 27 Austro-Hungarian 108 110 2 Turkish 27 109 82 35 Norwegian 114 Swi 10 79 83 Swedish 73 23 55 Dutch 78 50 18 48 Belgian 41 32 7 Greek — 39 Persian 20 _. 39 20 Korean 16 18 2 Rumanian — a 8 Egyptian — 5 Armenian 9 4 5 Latin-American — 2 2 Mon tene grin — 2 2 Bulgarian — — — Arabian 18 Irdian 13 1.027 1,009 Sundries • 5 364 377 Total... 2.405 18,519 20.924 1915 1916 IMG:t520_1.png:Table (image of the original) Exports IMG:p520_1.png:Chinese characters Total Hk.Tls.... 208,173,308 240,472,340 Maclellan: The Story of Shanghai; de Jests: Historic Shanghai,