Shanghai International Settlement

The Shanghai International Settlement was created in 1863 by merging the British and American concessions established after the opening of Shanghai to foreign trade. It was governed by the Shanghai Municipal Council rather than by the Chinese municipal authorities, while consular jurisdiction and extraterritorial law protected foreign residents. The settlement became a major centre of banking, shipping, publishing and industry.

Its streets and institutions were cosmopolitan but sharply unequal. Chinese residents formed the overwhelming majority, yet political power remained concentrated in foreign hands. The Shanghai Municipal Police enforced public order across divisions of race and class, while labour disputes, organised crime, political surveillance and nationalist demonstrations exposed the coercive foundations of the treaty-port system.

The settlement survived the fall of the Qing and the rise of Nationalist government. After Japan occupied much of Chinese Shanghai in 1937 it remained an isolated foreign enclave until December 1941, when Japanese forces took control. Britain and the United States formally relinquished their treaty rights in 1943.