Historic Overview Of Shanghai

Shanghai was, for more than ten centuries, an important commercial centre. Thanks mainly to its location, at the confluence of the Yangzi River, the Grand Canal and the Pacific Ocean. Even during the time of the Song dynasty (circa 1000 A.D), the port was dispatching huge shipments of cotton to Beijing and Japan. By the time of the Qing dynasty (in the 17th century), Shanghai had large mercantile guilds, a flourishing trade and enough wealth to lure foreign traders. This was why, in the 1840s, both the British and the French established foreign enclaves- `concessions’- in the city, which became privileged areas for foreign traders. It was around this time that Shanghai started acquiring the reputation, that remained with it for a long time (and still endures, to an extent)- one of extreme wealth and prosperity surviving side-by-side with grim squalor, crime and complete decadence

The Chinese Communist Party arrived in Shanghai in 1921, was driven underground in 1927, and returned to power in 1949, when the Republic was proclaimed. Shanghai was the city from where Mao launched his infamous Cultural Revolution in 1966; this is also the city which is the most Westernised, the most fashion-conscious and the most tourist-friendly in the country.