Shanghai

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Shanghai
[[Image:
Pudong Waterfront, Shanghai
|250px| ]]
Presidency:
Coordinates: 31.202462°N, 121.49743°E
Altitude: 4 m (13 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name: Shanghai
State/Province: Shanghai Metropolitan Area
Country: China
Transport links

Shanghai, the largest centre of commerce and finance in China, is situated at the mouth of the Yangtse River. First opened as a treaty port following the 1st China War, it became a multinational business hub by the 1930s.

History

Capture of Shanghai 1842
Battle of Shanghai 1860

Records

  • China Families, previously called China Coast Family History, and part of the Chinese Maritime Customs project, University of Bristol. The website provides "a growing body of information about men and women of many different nationalities, professions and ages, who lived and worked in China between the 1850s and 1940s. These records have been drawn from government department lists, legal and diplomatic records, cemetery lists, and during research undertaken for a number of projects on the history of modern China and of the foreign relations of China". There is a Search facility and links to a number of online Directories. Look under Records for the databases specifically about Shanghai, including Municipal Policeman and Shanghai’s refugees, 1944.
  • The FamilySearch Catalog for microfilm/digitised microfilm records includes "Cemetery records of old and new cemetery, 1859-1899 and Seaman's cemetery, Pootung, in Shanghai, China, 1859-1879" catalogue entry microfilm 418134 which has been digitised and may be viewed at a FamilySearch Centre.
  • Guide to the Scholarly Resources Microfilm Edition of the Shanghai Municipal Police Files 1894-1949 library.uoregon.edu
The SMP files represent a large portion of the archives of the British-run municipal police force based in Shanghai's former International Settlement. This force was established shortly after the formation in 1854 of the settlement's presiding body, the Shanghai Municipal Council. The files are, for the most part, the records of the SMP Special Branch, which investigated and reported on alleged subversive activities and maintained peace and stability in the International Settlement. The time period covered by the SMP files extends from 1894 to 1949, The collection is housed [at the time of the guide] in the Military Archives Division of the National Archives, Washington, DC.

Military

  • For a British Army overview, see China.

Shanghai Volunteer Corps

A reserve force in time of emergency in the International Settlement. By the 1930s, the Volunteers were a truly international force, with American, English, Scottish, Chinese, Italian, Jewish, Portuguese, Filipino and White Russian units. C 1937 it consisted of one professional battalion of young White Russians, superbly disciplined and impeccably turned out in British Army uniforms. The other companies were manned by volunteers from the civilian population. There was 'A' Company formed by Britons of pure-white descent. 'B' Company contained Eurasians. 'C' Company was the Chinese unit.[1]

Regimental histories

  • Eighty Five Years of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps by I I Kounin, published Shanghai c 1938. Available at the Imperial War Museums, catalogue number LBY 96 / 1685
  • Article: "Notes On The Shanghai Volunteer Corps" by A. McKenzie Annand Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research Vol. 53, No. 214 (Summer 1975), pp. 98-102.

Shanghai Defence Force

The Shanghai Defence Force was a tri-service military formation established by the British Government to protect European nationals and their property in Shanghai from Chinese nationalist forces during a period of tension in 1927.

National Archives catalogue reference Despatch of Shanghai Defence Force to Shanghai in 1927. FO 371/63436

External links

Historical books online

1923 edition includes as "Part II": The Unexpurgated Diary of a Shanghai Baby, from page 209. Also see next item. Archive.org
  • Online Library from the archived website Tales of Old Shanghai. Note, most of the books appear to have text. If the book you select does not appear to contain text, try clicking on an earlier (or later) archived link, and text may be available.
    • One of the books available to read is The Unexpurgated Diary of a Shanghai Baby, by Elsie McCormick first published c 1922, or earlier. A review[2] says "The writing is easy to read and very humorous. It is a great introduction to old Shanghai, but also contains many details of the period that make in an invaluable resource for research on this topic".
    Also available as selected extracts (not complete text) in Maclean’s “Canada’s National Magazine” 1 February 1924 to 1 April 1924. With illustrations by Lou Skouce. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 macleans.ca
  • China's Trial by Fire : the Shanghai War of 1932 by Donald A Jordan 2001. Hathi Trust Digital Library
  • Shanghai, the Paradise of Adventurers by G E Miller (Pseudonym) Diplomat 1937 Hathi Trust Digital Library. Elsewhere, the author is stated to be Mauricio Fresco, the Mexican Honorary Consul, whose position had long been deeply implicated in the large-scale organized gambling in the city of the 1920s[3]
  • The Shanghai Problem by William Crane Johnstone 1937 Hathi Trust Digital Library
  • Shanghai and Tientsin, with special reference to foreign interests by F C Jones 1940. Hathi Trust Digital Library
  • Shanghai: City For Sale Ernest O. Hauser 1940 Archive.org. Elsewhere, this book is stated to contain factual errors.[4]
  • Economic Shanghai: Hostage to Politics, 1937-1941 by Robert W. Barnett 1941 Hathi Trust Digital Library.
  • Shanghai Lawyer by Norwood F. Allman 1943 Hathi Trust Digital Library.
  • Yellow Creek : the Story of Shanghai by J V Davidson-Houston 1962. Archive.org Lending Library.
  • Shanghai by Harriet Sergeant 1998, originally published 1991. Shanghai in the 1920s and !930s. Archive.org Lending Library. Based on many interviews with past residents.
  • Shanghai Refuge: A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto by Ernest G. Heppner 1993. Books to Borrow/Archive.org Lending Library.
  • Digital Book originals Visual Cultures in East Asia, a website connected with Virtual Shanghai, (refer above). The books are mainly connected with Shanghai and include a number of Handbooks for travellers and residents. Pdf downloads.
  • Books including Shanghai in the title Archive.org.
  • Fiction
    • Yangtze Skipper, by Thomas Woodrooffe 1937. HathiTrust Digital Library. Set in 1919 Shanghai, Toby Warren is First Lieutenant on the "Beetle", a (fictious) Royal Navy river gunboat. The author served on HMS "Scarab" (river gunboat) in 1919-1920.
    Note, this may be the American title. Appears to be the same book as River of Golden Sand by Thomas Woodrooffe. A review of River of Golden Sand [5]
  • Empire of the Sun by J G Ballard, first published 1984. Book File 1 1994 reprint, Book file 2 1985 reprint. Archive.org Lending Library. A novel based on the author’s experiences in Shanghai during the Second World War, including internment from 1942 to 1945.

References

  1. ↑ "Shanghai Volunteer Corps" talesofoldchina.com, now archived, quoting an excerpt from Sin City, by Ralph Shaw, 1976, originally published in the UK as Sweet and Sour 1973, published in USA as China Nights 1974. 1976 edition is available at the British Library UIN: BLL01012684846 . Ralph Shaw was sent to Shanghai as part of the UK military force, then became journalist then night editor, of the North China Daily News, see Sin City shanghailander.net.
  2. ↑ The Unexpurgated Diary of a Shanghai Baby shanghailander.net
  3. ↑ Page from Empire Made Me: An Englishman Adrift in Shanghai by Robert Bickers 2004 Google Books
  4. ↑ See article "From 'Hunting Opium and Other Scents'..." by Hugo Restall, in External links , above.
  5. ↑ Books of the Week: Morning Tribune, 28 January 1937, Page 16 nlb.gov.sg

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