Shanghai International Settlement

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The flag of the Shanghai International Settlement

1933 map of Shanghai.

"The Gardens (Huangpu Park) are reserved for the Foreign Community".

The Shanghai International Settlement (上海公共租界) (1854–1943) was the name of the combined British and American foreign concessions in Shanghai, China. It was located to the south of the Soochow Creek. Its governing body was the Shanghai Municipal Council (工部局, literally "Works Department", from the standard English local government title of 'Board of works'), which was established in 1854 to reorganise the existing concessions. Wholly foreign-controlled, the council was staffed by individuals of all nationalities, including Britons, Americans, New Zealanders, Australians, Danes and Japanese. Chinese members were not permitted to join the council until 1928.

History of the Shanghai International Settlement

The Shanghai International Settlement was effectively established in July 1844 when a Massachusetts politician, Caleb Cushing, was dispatched by US President Tyler with orders to "save the Chinese from the condition of being an exclusive monopoly in the hands of England" as a consequence of the Treaty of Nanjing. Cushing signed a treaty with the Imperial Chinese government at Wangxia which contained a clause that in effect carved out Shanghai as an extraterritorial zone within Imperial China. ^[1]

Representing a wide spectrum of nations, the Shanghai Municipal Council (SMC) along with the foreign residents of the International Settlement recreated the architecture and institutions of their homelands in Shanghai. It maintained its own police force, the Shanghai Municipal Police and even possessed its own military reserve in the Shanghai Volunteer Corps (萬國商團). The immense presence of the council and the settlement's foreign residents can still be seen throughout present day Shanghai, most notably the architecture of The Bund.

The Western residents of the Shanghai International Settlement, known as "Shanghailanders", refused to pay taxes to the Chinese government except for land tax and maritime dues, and claimed the right to exclude Chinese troops from the concession areas. On 11 July 1854 a committee of Western businessmen met and held the first annual meeting of the Shanghai Municipal Council, ignoring protests of consular officials, and laid down the Land Regulations which established the principles of self-government. In 1863 the American concession (land fronting the Huangpu River to the north-east of Suzhou Creek) joined the British Settlement (stretching from Yang-ching-pang Creek to Suzhou Creek) to become the Shanghai International Settlement. The French concession remained independent and the Chinese retained control over the original walled city and the area surrounding the foreign enclaves. This lead to absurd administrative outcomes, such as the need to have three drivers' licenses to travel through the city.

Amongst the many members who served on the council, its American chairman during the 1920s, Stirling Fessenden, is the most notable. In addition to serving as the settlement's main administrator during Shanghai's most turbulent era, he was also remembered for being more "British" than the council's British members. The International Settlement was not a British full possession in the sense that Hong Kong or Weihei were. It was ruled as treaty port under the terms of the Treaty of Nanking 1842, and Chinese sovereignty still prevailed on the territory. The SMC did however exercise a considerable degree of political autonomy, not always wisely. Actions in the 1920s in particular, such as the May 30, 1925 shooting of Chinese demonstrators by members of the Shanghai Municipal Police, embarrassed and threatened the British Empire's position in China.

A 1939 Japanese map of Shanghai. The area for "stateless refugees" (Jews) is marked in black.

Over the years a large number of Chinese took up residency at the International Settlement, either to escape civil conflict, or to seek better economic opportunities. In 1932 there were already 1,040,780 Chinese living within the International Settlement, with another 400,000 fleeing into the area after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937. Moreover, Shanghai was for a time the only place in the world that unconditionally offered refuge for Jews who were escaping from the Nazis^[2], although they often lived in squalid conditions in an area known as the Shanghai ghetto in Hongkew. On 21 August 1941 the Japanese government closed Hongkew to further Jewish immigration.

The Council was formally abolished twice. In July 1943 it was retroceded to the City Government of Shanghai, then in the hands of the pro-Japanese Wang Jingwei Government, by its then Japanese leaders on the Council. Anglo-American influence had effectively ended after 8 December 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Army entered and occupied the city. Although senior Allied personnel and councillors were removed from their posts, most Allied nationals working for the administration remained in their jobs until they were interned after February 1943. The Settlement was also returned to Chinese control in the Sino-British Friendship Treaty of February 1943 between Britain and the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek. After the war a Liquidation Commission fitfully met to discuss the remaining details of the handover. The Council's headquarters building still stands in downtown Shanghai.

After 1949, city government was re-instated under the Mayor of Shanghai.

List of Chairmen of the Shanghai Municipal Council

Some of the persons who chaired the Shanghai Municipal Council were:^[3]

• Arnold Foster
• William J (Tony) Keswick
• J. S. Fearon
• Godfrey Phillips
• Henry Keswick—British Quarter
• Stirling Fessenden
• Harry Edward Arnhold (born 16 January 1879 in London)

Consul General of France (Shanghai)

The French Concession was governed by a separate municipal council, under the direction of the Consul General. The French Concession was not part of the International Settlement.

See also

• The Blue Lotus
• The Bund
• China Marines
• Eugene Pick
• Klaus Mehnert
• List of historic buildings in Shanghai
• List of historic Shanghai newspapers
• Princess Sumaire
• Richard Sorge
• Shanghai Club
• Shanghai French Concession
• Shanghai Municipal Police
• Shanghai Paperchase Club
• Tu Yueh-sheng

Notes

Further reading

• Hann, J.H. "Origin and Development of the Political System in the Shanghai International Settlement", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 22 (1982):31–64.
• Hann, J.H. "The Shanghai Municipal Council, 1850–1865: Some Biographical Notes, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 24 (1984):207–229.

External links

• Flag of the SIS