Figure 1.--We believe this is a scene of children being cared for in the SIS by an American missionary project, proaably in the 1910s. The children are waving American flags and wearing linked paper necklaces. Six teachers stand in a line in the back. Above their heads are written numbers 1-5 (except the middle teacher). Writing on verso in script, reads: "A picture of the children/ with the teacher./ 1. is a Chinese girl/ 2. is a Hawaiian girl/ 3. is a part Hawaiian and part Chinese girl/ 4. is a English girl/ 5. is a Chinese girl./ Yours truly is standing in the middle."

The Europeans eventually joined by the Japanese carved up Chjina into autonomous concessions. The largest and most importnt was Shanghai. The city was administered primarily by the British, but with other Europeans and Americans participating. Eleswhere in China, Europeans establisghed largely national concessions. Shanghai and Hong Kong were the two largest internationl settlements. The British began the process by establishing a formal concession safter the First Opium Wae (1839-42). The firt concession was negotiated (1846). The British demanded its expansion (1848). And then steadily grew and attracted other foreigners. This was the age of the great clipper shps, meaning a commercil competition between America and Britain (1830s-80s). The whole purpose of the clippers was to get Chinese tea and other products to the cities of tbe United States and Britain as soon as posible and the British were astonished to find themselves being outcompeted at sea. (By the United States we mean the big cities of the North East.) Until after the American Civil War (1861-65), this had to be done entirely by sea. So it is not surprising that soon an American settlemnt developed. The bishop of the American Episcopal Church, W. J. Boone, sought to build a church. He purchased an area in Hongkew (1845). Later Boone sought establish an American settlement (1848). The Shanghai County eventually agreed. American consul George Seward signed an agreement with the head of Shanghai County Huang Fang (黃芳) to establish the American Concession in Shanghai including the boundaries. [Shanghai Office for Local Chronicles] A proposal to make Shanghai an independent 'free city was rejected (1862). Finally, the British agreed to merge their area with the American area (1863). This was the origin of the Shanghai International Settlement (SIS). These concessions were all completly beyond Chinese law and administration. Each foreign presence impacted the culture, architecture, and society within the International Settlement (SIS). Most European countris joined in th SIS instead of estanlishing thir own concession. France was an dxceoption. The French Concession was established (1849). French Consul to Shanghai, Charles de Montigny, obtained authorization from Lin Kouei (麟桂), the Imperial Circuit Intendant of Shanghai. The French Settlement, unlike the SIS, was not seized by Japasnese (1941). The Germans forced the French to turn it over to the Japanese pupppt regime--the Reorganized National Government of China in Nanjing (1943). A major change occurred as the Japanese presence grew in Shanhai after the Meiji Restoration (late-19th centutry). The Japanese set up a separate enclave in Hongkew. This was theoretically part of the SIS. After the First Sino-Japanese war (1894-95), Japanese aggressive ambitions becm increasingly clear and anti-Japanese sentiment began to develop. After Japan seized Manchuria (1931), the Japaanese assumed responsibility for security in Hiongkew. An associated area was the "Outside Roads" (越界筑路). This was Chinese territories outside any foreign concession. It was, however, controlled and administrated by SIS authorities.

Sources

Cassel, Pär (2003), "Excavating Extraterritoriality: The 'Judicial Sub-Prefect' as a Prototype for the Mixed Court in Shanghai", Late Imperial China (2003), vol. 24, pp. 156–82.

Shanghai Office for Local Chronicles.

Created: 12:08 AM 1/27/2022
Last updated: 12:08 AM 1/27/2022