Shaping Modern Shanghai
Colonialism in China's Global City

An innovative study of colonialism in China, examining Shanghai's International Settlement as the site of key developments in the Republican period.

Isabella Jackson (Author)

9781108411639, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 August 2019

288 pages, 10 b/w illus. 2 maps 2 tables
23 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.6 kg

'This is an extremely valuable book for those seeking to understand the inner workings of colonialism in Shanghai and its complex legacies … Scholars of imperial and international history will also find a useful theoretical contribution, which complicates our current understanding of colonialism.' Jennifer Bond, Family & Community History

Shaping Modern Shanghai provides a new understanding of colonialism in China through a fresh examination of Shanghai's International Settlement. This was the site of key developments of the Republican period: economic growth, rising Chinese nationalism and Sino-Japanese conflict. Managed by the Shanghai Municipal Council (1854–1943), the International Settlement was beyond the control of the Chinese and foreign imperial governments. Jackson defines Shanghai's unique, hybrid form of colonial urban governance as transnational colonialism. The Council was both colonial in its structures and subject to colonial influence, especially from the British empire, yet autonomous in its activities and transnational in its personnel. This is the first in-depth study of how this unique body functioned on the local, national and international stages, revealing the Council's impact on the daily lives of the city's residents and its contribution to the conflicts of the period, with implications for the fields of modern Chinese and colonial history.

List of figures
Acknowledgements
Note on the text
Introduction: the transnational colonialism of the Shanghai Municipal Council
1. Funding transnational colonialism
2. Electing and serving: the municipal councillors and staff
3. Policing and conflict in Shanghai
4. Public health and hygiene
5. Industry, welfare and social reform
Epilogue. Dismantling and remembering transnational colonialism
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: International economics [KCL], International institutions [JPSN], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], Asian history [HBJF]