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SHANGHAI
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SHANGHAI , a See also:city in the See also:Chinese See also:province of`Kiang-su. The native city of Shanghai is situated in 310 15' N., 1210 27' E. and stands on the See also:left or W. See also:bank of the Hwang-p'u See also:river, about 12 M. from the point where that river empties itself into the See also:estuary of the Yangtsze-kiang. The walls which surround it are about 31 m. in circumference, and are pierced by seven See also:gates. The streets and thoroughfares may be said to illustrate all the worse features of Chinese cities; while the want of any See also:building of architectural or antiquarian See also:interest robs the city of any redeeming traits. On the E. See also:face of the city, between the walls and the river, stands the See also:principal suburb, off which the native See also:shipping lies anchored. Situated in the extreme E. portion of the province of Kiang-su, and possessing a See also:good and commodious anchorage, as well as an easy See also:access to the ocean, it forms the principal See also:port of central See also:China. From the W. See also:wall of the city there stretches a See also:rich alluvial See also:plain extending over 45,000 sq. m., which is intersected by waterways and See also:great chains of lakes and bears a See also:population of Boo to the sq. m. The products of this fertile See also:district, as well as the teas and silks of more distant regions, find their natural outlet at Shanghai. The looms of Suchow and the See also:tea plantations of Ngan-hui, together with the See also:rice of this " See also:garden of China," for many years before treaty days, supplied the Shanghai junks with their richest See also:freight. But though thus favourably situated as an See also:emporium of See also:trade, Shanghai did not attract the See also:attention of See also:foreign diplomatists until the outbreak of the See also:War of 1841, when the inhabitants See also:purchased See also:protection from the attacks of See also:Admiral See also:Parker by the See also:payment of a See also:ransom of £145,000. In the See also:Nanking treaty, which was signed in the following See also:year, Shanghai was included among the four new ports which were thrown open to trade. In 1843 See also:Captain (afterwards See also:Sir) See also:George See also:Balfour was appointed See also:British See also:consul, and it was on his See also:motion that the site of the See also:present See also:English See also:settlement, which is bounded on the N. by the Suchow See also:creek, on the S. by the Yang-See also: The site, thus defined on its three sides (on the W. no boundary was marked out), is three-fifths of a mile in length, and was separated from the native city by a narrow See also:strip of See also:land which was subsequently selected as the site of the See also:French settlement. Later again the Americans established themselves on the other See also:side of the Suchow creek, on a piece of
land fronting on the river, which there makes a See also:sharp turn in an easterly direction.
A handsome bund runs along the river frontage of the three foreign settlements, and the public buildings, especially in the British settlement, are large and See also:fine. The See also:cathedral, which is built in the See also:Gothic See also:style,_ is a notable example of Sir G. See also: At first merchants appeared disinclined to take See also:advantage of the opportunities offered them at Shanghai. " At the end of the first year of its See also:history as an open port Shanghai could See also:count only 23 foreign residents and families, r consular See also:flag, 11 merchants' houses, and 2 See also:Protestant missionaries. Only See also:forty-four foreign vessels had arrived during the same See also:period."' By degrees, however, the manifold advantages as a port of trade possessed by Shanghai attracted merchants of all nationalities; and from the See also:banks of the Hwang-p'u arose handsome dwelling-houses, which have converted a See also:reed-covered swamp into one of the finest cities in the See also:East. The number of foreigners, other than British, who took up their See also:abode in the British settlement at Shanghai made it soon necessary to adopt some more See also:catholic See also:form of See also:government than that supplied by a British consul who had See also:control only over British subjects, and by common agreement a See also:committee of residents, consisting of a chairman and six members, was elected by the renters of land for the purposes of See also:general municipal See also:administration. It was expected when the See also:council was formed that the three settlements—the British, French and Americans—would have been incorporated into one See also:municipality, but See also:international See also:jealousy prevented the fulfilment of the See also:scheme, and it was not until 1863 that the Americans threw in their See also:lot with the British. In 18J3 the prosperity of the settlements received a severe check in consequence of the See also:capture of the native city by the T'ai-p'See also:ing rebels, who held See also:possession of the walls from See also:September in that year to See also:February 1855. This incident, though in many ways disastrous, was the cause of the See also:establishment of the foreign customs service, which has proved of such inestimable advantage to the Chinese government. The confusion into which the customs See also:system was thrown by the occupation of the city by the rebels induced the Chinese authorities to See also:request the consuls of Great See also:Britain, See also:France and the See also:United States to nominate three See also:officers to superintend the collection of the See also:revenue. This arrangement was found to See also:work so well that on the reoccupation of the city the native authorities proposed that it should be made permanent, and H. N. See also:Lay, of the British consular service, was in consequence appointed inspector of the Shanghai customs. The results of Mr Lay's administration proved so successful that when arranging the terms of the treaty of 1858 the Chinese willingly assented to the application of the same system to all the treaty ports, and Mr Lay was thereupon appointed inspector-general of maritime customs. On the retirement of Mr Lay in 1862 Sir See also:Robert See also:Hart was appointed to the See also:post.
From 1856 to 1864 the trade of Shanghai vastly increased, and its prosperity culminated between 186o and 1864, when the influx of Chinese into the foreign settlement in consequence of the advance E. of the T'ai-p'ing rebels added enormously to the value of land. Both in 186o and again in 1861 the rebels advanced to the walls of Shanghai, but were driven back by the British troops and See also:volunteers, aided by the See also:naval forces of See also:England and France. It was in this connexion that General See also:Gordon assumed the command of the Chinese force, which under his direction gave a reality to the boastful See also:title of " ever-victorious See also:army " it had assumed under the two See also:American adventurers See also: Shanghai, moreover, is not only a port of trade, but is rapidly becoming a large manufacturing and See also:industrial centre. In this See also:category the first place must be given to cotton See also:mills, which, though not very numerous, give promise of considerable development. The demand in China for cotton See also:yarn, chiefly the produce of the Bombay mills, has been steadily on the increase. On the other See also:hand, China produces raw cotton in indefinite quantity, and has hitherto been the See also:main source of supply for the See also:Japanese mills. See also:Cloth See also:weaving has been tried in two of the mills, but abandoned in favour of See also:spinning. Next in importance is the ' The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, by W. F. Mayers. reeling of silk cocoons by machinery. This is gradually supplanting the wasteful method of native reeling, giving a much better finished and consequently more valuble See also:article. Shanghai also contains three large establishments for docking, repairing and building See also:ships. Among See also:minor See also:industries are match factories, rice and See also:paper mills, ice, cigarette, piano, See also:carriage and See also:furniture factories, See also:wood See also:carving, &c. The vastness of British interests in China and the large British population at Shanghai gave rise in 1865 to the establishment of a British supreme See also:court for China and Japan, Sir See also:Edmund See also:Hornby, then See also:judge of the British court at See also:Constantinople, being the first judge appointed to the new See also:office. Now, by virtue of extra-territorial clauses in the various See also:treaties, all foreigners, subjects of any treaty See also:power, are exempted from the See also:jurisdiction of the Chinese authorities, and made justiciable only before their own officials, As there are now fourteen treaty See also:powers represented at Shanghai, there are consequently fourteen distinct courts sitting side by side, each administering the See also:law of its own See also:nationality. In addition, there is also a Chinese court, commonly called the Mixed Court, though it is no more mixed than any of the others in an international sense, except that a foreign See also:assessor sits with the Chinese judge in cases where any of his own nationality are interested as plaintiffs. At first sight this arrangement seems somewhat complicated, but the principle is See also:simple enough, viz. that a See also:defendant must always be sued in the court of his own nationality In criminal cases there is, of course, no difficulty. For the British, English law alone prevails, and they can only be tried and punished in the British court, and so on for every nationality. In See also:civil cases, where both parties are of the same nationality, there is also no difficulty, e.g. for British subjects the British court is the See also:forum, for See also:German subjects it is the German court. In cases involving See also:cross actions with mutual accounts, say between an Englishman and a German, if the German constitutes himself See also:plaintiff he must See also:sue his opponent before the British court, and See also:vice versa. The greatest See also:anomaly, however, in respect of the government of Shanghai is the See also:local municipal control. This is exercised by the foreign community as a whole without regard to nationality, and is a See also:share of the power which properly belonged to the Chinese local authorities, but which by See also:convention or usage they have allowed to fall into foreign hands. It is exercised only within the See also:area termed the foreign settlements, which were originally nothing more than the " area set apart for the See also:residence of foreign merchants." Of these " settlements " there were and are still. only three—the British, acquired in 1845, the French, acquired in 1849, and the American, acquired in 1862. At an early date, as a foreign See also:town began to spring up, the See also:necessity of having some authority to lay out and pave streets, to build drains, &c., for the common benefit, became evident, and as the Chinese authorities shirked the work and the expense, the foreigners resolved to tax themselves voluntarily, and appointed a committee of See also:works to see the See also:money properly laid out. In 1854 the consuls of Great Britain, France and the United States See also:drew up a See also:joint See also:code of regulations applicable to both the then settlements, British and French, which being ratified by the respective govermnents became binding on their respective subjects. The two areas thus became an international settlement, and the subjects of all three nationalities—the only powers then interested—acquired the same privileges and became liable to the same burdens. The code thus settled was acquiesced in by the Chinese authorities and by other nationalities as they came in, and it conferred on the foreign community local self-government, practically See also:free from See also:official control of any description. In 1863 the area covered by the regulations was extended by the addition of the American settlement, which meanwhile had been obtained by that government from the Chinese. But about the same See also:time, 1862, the French decided to withdraw from the joint arrangement, and promulgated a set of municipal regulations of their own applicable to the French area. These regulations differed from those applicable to the joint settlement, in that a general supervision over municipal affairs was vested in the French consul-general, his approval being made necessary to all votes, resolutions, &c., of the ratepayers before they could be enforced at law. Since the above date there have, consequently, been two municipalities at Shanghai, the French and the amllgamated British and American settlements, to which the See also:original regulations continued to apply. The area of the latter now amounts to some 9 or 10 sq. m. The regulations have been altered and amended from time to time, and they have been accepted expressly or impliedly by all the treaty powers which have since come into the See also: Taxes are payable by every one living within the settlements, Chinese included, though the latter have no voice in the local administration. The executive is entrusted to a municipal council of nine, elected annually from among the general See also:body of foreign ratepayers, irrespective of nationality. The legislative See also:function is exercised by all ratepayers possessing a certain pecuniary qualification in public See also:meeting assembled. Proxies for absentee landlords are allowed. One such public meeting must be held annually to pass the See also:budget and See also:fix the See also:taxation for the year. No official See also:sanction is required, and no See also:veto is allowed for such money votes. See also:Special meetings may be held at any time for special purposes. New legislation of a general See also:kind requires to be approved by all the treaty powers in See also:order to be binding on their several nationalities, but within certain limits the ratepayers can pass by-See also:laws which do not require such sanction. The French municipality is worked on similar lines, except that every See also:vote and every disbursement of money is subject to the approval of the French consul-general. The executive council consists of eight members, four of whom must be French and four may be foreign. The.French consul-general is chairman ex officio, so that the control in any See also:case is French and practically official. Both settlements were originally intended for the residence of foreign merchants only, but as the advantages of living under foreign protection became evident by See also:reason of the See also:security it gave from arbitrary taxation and See also:arrest, Chinese began to See also:flock in. This See also:movement has continued, and is now particularly See also:notice-able in the cases of retired officials, many of whom have made Shanghai their See also:home. The total native population in the settlements by the See also:census of 1895 was 286,753, and the estimated population of the native city was 125,000, making a total for all Shanghai of 411,753. The census of the foreign population in 1905 showed 3713 British, 2157 Japanese, 1329 Portuguese, 991 Americans, 785 Germans and 568 See also:Indians, out of a total of 11,497. The magnitude of the foreign interests invested in Shanghai may be gathered from the following rough See also:summary: Assessed value of land in settlements registered as foreign-owned £5,500,000; docks, wharves and other industrial public companies—See also:market value of stock, X2,250,000; private See also:property estimated £1,500,000 — total £9,250,000. This is exclusive of banks, shipping and See also:insurance companies, and other institutions which draw profits from other places besides Shanghai. SHANHAI-KWAN, a See also:garrison town in the extreme east of the province of Chih-li, China. Pop. about 30,000. It is situated at the point where the range of hills carrying the Great Wall of China dips to the sea, leaving a kwan or pass of limited extent between China proper and See also:Manchuria. It is thus an important military station, and the thoroughfare of trade between Manchuria and the great plain of China. The Imperial See also:Northern railway from See also:Tientsin and Taku, 174 in. from the former, runs through the pass, and skirts the See also:shore of the Gulf of Liao-tung as far as the treaty port of Niu-chwang, where it connects with the See also:railways leading from Port See also:Arthur to the Siberian main See also:line. The pass formed the See also:southern limit of the See also:Russian See also:sphere of See also:influence as defined in the convention between Great Britain and See also:Russia of the 28th of See also:April 1899. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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