Shanghai
- Alternate meanings: See Shanghai (disambiguation)
Shanghai (
Chinese: 上海,
pinyin: shàng hǎi;
Shanghainese IPA: /zɑ̃ hɛ/) is
China's largest city and is situated on the banks of the
Chang Jiang delta. In
Chinese, Shanghai's abbreviations are
Hù (滬 or 沪) and
Shēn (申). The name Shanghai literally means "on the sea" or "onto the sea." Administratively, Shanghai is one of 4
municipalities of the
People's Republic of China, which have
provincial-level status.
Administrative divisions
Shanghai is divided into 19 county-level divisions: 18
districts and 1
county.
Nine of the districts govern "Puxi", or the older part of urban and suburban Shanghai on the west bank of the Huangpu River:
"
Pudong", or the newer part of urban and suburban Shanghai on the east bank of the Huangpu River, is governed by:
- Pudong New District (浦东新区 Pǔdōng Xīn Qū)
Eight of the districts govern suburbs, satellite towns, and rural areas further away from the urban core:
- Baoshan District (宝山区 Bǎoshān Qū)\n* Minhang District (闵行区 Mǐnháng Qū)\n* Jiading District (嘉定区 Jiādìng Qū)\n* Songjiang District (松江区 Sōngjiāng Qū)\n* Jinshan District (金山区 Jīnshān Qū)\n* Qingpu District (青浦区 Qīngpǔ Qū)\n* Nanhui District (南汇区 Nánhuì Qū)\n* Fengxian District (奉贤区 Fèngxián Qū)
Chongming Island, an island at the mouth of the
Yangtze, is governed by:
As of 2003, these county-level divisions are further divided into the following 221 township-level divisions: 118
towns, 3
townships, 100 subdistricts. Those are in turn divided into the following village-level divisions: 3,393 neighborhood committees and 2,037 village committees.
List of towns:\n*
Anting, Jiading District
History
Before the forming of Shanghai city, Shanghai was called Songjiang county, a part of Suzhou city. The county was formed around 1000 years ago. From the time of the
Song Dynasty (960-1279), Shanghai gradually became a busy seaport.
A city wall was built in
1553 AD, which is generally regarded as the beginning of Shanghai City. However, before the 19th century, Shanghai was not a major city, and in contrast to other major Chinese cities, there are few ancient Chinese landmarks there. Before 1927 Shanghai belonged to
Jiangsu province with the capital of
Nanjing. Since Shanghai became a
Special Ainistration City in 1927, its official position has been equal to China's province.
The role of Shanghai changed radically in the 19th century, as the city's strategic position at the mouth of the
Yangtze River made it an ideal location for trade with the West.
During the
First Opium War in the early-
19th century, British forces plundered Shanghai. The war ended with the
1842 Treaty of Nanjing, which saw the
treaty ports, Shanghai included, opened for international trade. The Treaty of the Bogue signed in
1843, and the Sino-American Treaty of Wangsia signed in
1844 together saw foreign nations achieve extraterritoriality on Chinese soil.
The
Taiping Rebellion broke out in
1850, and in
1853 Shanghai was occupied by a
triad offshoot of the rebels, called the Small Swords Society. The fighting destroyed the countryside but left the foreigners' settlements untouched, and Chinese arrived seeking refuge. Although previously Chinese were forbidden to live in foreign settlements,
1854 saw new regulations drawn up making land available to Chinese. Land prices rose substantially. The year also saw the first annual meeting of the Shanghai Municipal Council, substantiated in order to manage the foreign settlements. In
1863, the British and American settlements joined in order to form the International Settlement.
The
Sino-Japanese War fought
1894-
95 over control of
Korea concluded with the
Treaty of Shimonoseki, which saw
Japan emerge as an additional foreign power in Shanghai. Japan built the first factories in Shanghai, which were soon copied by other foreign powers to effect the emergence of Shanghai industry. During
World War II, Shanghai was a centre for
refugees from
Europe. She was the only city in the world that was open unconditionally to the
Jews at the time.
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Shanghai was then the biggest financial city in the
Far East. Under the
Republic of China, Shanghai was made a
special city in 1927, and a municipality in May 1930. Shanghai was occupied by
Japan in 1937 until its surrender in 1945.
On May 27, 1949, Shanghai became under communist control and was one of the only two former ROC municipalities not immediately merged into neighbouring provinces (the other being
Beijing). It then underwent a series of changes in the boundaries of its subdivisions, especially in the next decade.
After
1949, however, most foreign firms moved their offices from Shanghai to
Hong Kong. During the
1950s and
1960s, Shanghai became an industrial center and center for revolutionary
leftism. Yet, even during the most tumultuous times of the
Cultural Revolution, Shanghai was able to maintain high economic productivity and relative social stability. In most of the history of the PRC, Shanghai has been the largest contributor of tax revenue to the central government compared with other Chinese provinces and municipalities. In the early eighties, 70-80% of the entire national tax revenue came from the municipality of Shanghai alone. This came at the cost of severely crippling Shanghai's infrastructure and capital development. Its importance to China's fiscal well-being also denied it economic liberalizations that were started in the far southern provinces such as
Guangdong during the mid-eighties. At that time Guangdong province paid nearly no taxes to the central government, and thus was perceived as fiscally dispendable for experimental economic reforms. \nShanghai was not permitted to initiate economic reforms until 1991.
Shanghai has traditionally been seen as a stepping stone to positions within the PRC central government. In the 1990s, there was often described a "
Shanghai clique" which included the president of the PRC
Jiang Zemin and the
premier of the PRC Zhu Rongji. Starting in 1992, the central government under
Jiang Zemin, a former Mayor of Shanghai, began reducing the tax burden on Shanghai and encouraging both foreign and domestic investment in order to promote it as the economic hub of
east Asia and to encourage its role as gateway of investment to the Chinese interior. Since then it has experienced continuous economic growth of between 9-15% annually, leading China's overall growth.
Economy
Shanghai is the financial and cultural center of China. It began economic reforms in 1992, a decade later than many of the Southern Chinese provinces. Prior to then, much of the city revenue went directly to the capital, Beijing, with little return. Even with a decreased tax burden after 1992, Shanghai's tax contribution to the central government is around 20-25% of the national total (Shanghai's annual tax burden pre-1990's was on average 70% of the national). Shanghai today is the biggest and most developed city in
mainland China. As of 2003, the official registered population is 13.5 million; however, 6 million more people work and live in Shanghai undocumented, and of the 6 million, 3 million belong to the "floating population" of temporary migrant workers.
Shanghai and Hong Kong have had a recent rivalry over which city is to be the economic center of China. The city had a GDP of ¥36206 (ca. US$4370) per capita in 2003, ranked no. 13 among all 659 Chinese cities. Hong Kong has the advantage of a stronger legal system and greater banking and service expertise. Shanghai has stronger links to both the Chinese interior and the central government, in addition to a stronger base in manufacturing and technology. Since the handover of
Hong Kong to the PRC, Shanghai has increased its role in finance, banking, and as a major destination for corporate headquarters, fueling demand for a highly educated and westernized workforce. Shanghai's economy is steadily growing at 11%.
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Architecture
As in many other areas in China, Shanghai is undergoing a building boom. In Shanghai the modern architecture is notable for its styling, especially in the highest floors, several supporting restaurants resembling flying saucers.
Geography and Climate
Shanghai faces the East China Sea (part of the Pacific Ocean), and is bisected by the
Huangpu River. Puxi contains the city proper on the western side of Huangpu river, while an entirely new financial district has been erected on the eastern bank of the Huangpu in
Pudong.
Shanghai experiences all four seasons, with freezing temperatures during the winter season and a 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) average high during the hottest months of July and August. Occasionally, the summer temperature reaches 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahreheit). Winter is typically grey, and summers can be quite humid. Autumn and spring in Shanghai are cool and crisp, and generally agreed as the best time to be in Shanghai. Winter begins in mid December and ends around early March. Scattered light rain is frequent around mid-June to July.
Transportation
Shanghai has an excellent public transportation system and in contrast to other major Chinese cities has clean streets and surprisingly little air pollution. The public transportation system in Shanghai is flourishing: Shanghai has more than one thousand bus lines and the Shanghai Metro (subway) has four lines (numbers 1, 2, 3, 5) at present. According to the development schedule of the Government, by the year 2010, another 8 lines will be built in Shanghai.
Shanghai has two
airports:
Hongqiao Airport and
Pu Dong International Airport.
Transrapid (a German
maglev company, which has a test track in
Emsland,
Germany), constructed the first operational maglev railway in the world, from Shanghai's Long Yang Road subway station to its airport. It was inaugurated in 2002. Commercial exploitation has started in 2003. It takes 8 mins to travel 30km.
Three
railways intersect in Shanghai: Beijing-Shanghai Railway passing through
Nanjing(京沪线 Jing Hu Line), Shanghai-
Hangzhou Railway (沪杭线 Hu Hang Line), and Xiaoshan-
Ningbo (萧甬线 Xiao Yong Line).
Shanghai is also connected to the Chinese capital
Beijing via a 1000+ kilometre expressway, the
Jinghu Expressway.
People and Culture
The native language spoken is Shanghainese, a dialect of Wu Chinese; while the official language is
Mandarin. The local dialect is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin, and is an inseparable part of the Shanghainese identity. Nearly all Shanghainese under the age of 50 can speak Mandarin fluently; and those under age of 25, have had contact with English since primary school.
Shanghai is the birthplace of everything considered modern in China; and was the cultural and economic center of East Asia for the first half of the twentieth century. It was the intellectual battleground between socialist writers who concentrated on critical realism (pioneered by
Lu Xun and
Mao Dun) and the more bourgeois, more romantically and aesthetically inclined writers (such as Shi Zhecun, Shao Xunmei, Ye Lingfeng,
Eileen Chang). Besides literature, Shanghai was also the birthplace of Chinese cinema. China’s first short film,
The Difficult Couple (Nanfu Nanqi, 1913), and the country’s first fictional feature film,
Orphan Rescues Grandfather (Gu’er Jiuzu Ji, 1923) were both produced in Shanghai. These two films were very influential, and established Shanghai as the center of Chinese film-making. Shanghai’s film industry went on to blossom during the early Thirties, generating Marilyn Monroe like stars such as Zhou Xuan, who committed suicide in 1957. The talent and passion of Shanghainese filmmakers following World War II and the Communist Revolution contributed enormously to the development of the Hong Kong film industry.
Shanghainese people have been stereotyped by other Chinese (both urban and rural) as being pretentious, arrogant, and xenophobic; and at the same time admired for their meticulous attention to detail, faithfulness in contract, and professionalism. Nearly all registered Shanghainese residents are descendents of immigrants from the two small adjacent provinces of
Jiangsu and
Zhejiang, regions that generally speak the same family of dialects as the Shanghainese, that is Wu Chinese. Much of pre-modern Shanghainese culture is an integration of cultural elements from these two regions. The Shanghainese dialect reflects this as well. Recent migrants into Shanghai, however, come from all over China, do not speak the local dialect and are therefore forced to use Mandarin as a
lingua franca. Rising crime rate, littering, harrassive panhandling, and overloading of basic infrastructure (mainly public transportation, schools) associated with the rise of these migrant populations (over 3 million new migrants in 2003 alone) have been generating some extent of ill will and xenophobia from the Shanghainese. The new migrants are easy to spot by the Shanghainese, and are often targets of both intentional and unintentional discrimination. This further intensifies the misunderstandings and stereotypes between the Shanghainese and the Chinese outside of the Lower Yangtze basin.
One uniquely Shanghainese cultural element is the
Shikumen residencies (longtang), which are characteristic two or three-storey black/gray brick structures cut across with a few decorative dark red stripes. Each residence is connected and arranged in straight alleys, with the entrance to each alley, the gate, wrapped by a stylistic stone arc (the name Shikumen is literally stone gate). The Shikumen residencies is a cultural blend of the elements found in Western architecture with traditional Lower Yangtze Chinese architecture and social behavior. All traditional Chinese dwellings had a courtyard, and the Shikumen was no exception. Yet, to compromise with its urban nature, it was much much smaller, and served mainly as a room without a roof, providing a "interior haven" to the commotions in the streets, allowing for raindrops to fall and vegetation to grow freely within a residence. The courtyard also allowed sunlight and adequate ventilation into the rooms. Before
World War II, more than 80% of the population in the city lived in these kinds of dwellings.
Other Shanghainese cultural artifacts include the cheongsam, a modernization of the traditional Chinese/Manchurian
qipao garment first appeared in 1910's in Shanghai. The cheongsam dress was slender with a high cut, and tight fitting. This contrasts sharply with the traditional qipao which was designed to conceal the figure and be worn regardless of age. The cheongsam went along well with the western overcoat and the scarf, and portrayed an unique East Asian modernity, epitomizing the Shanghainese population in general. As Western fashions changed, the basic cheongsam design changed, too, introducing high-necked sleeveless dresses, bell-like sleeves and, the black lace frothing at the hem of a ball gown. By the 1940s, cheongsams came in transparent black, beaded bodices, matching capes and even velvet. And later, checked fabrics became also quite common. The 1949 Communist Revolution ended the cheongsam and other fashions in Shanghai. However, the Shanghainese styles have seen a recent revival as stylish party dresses.
Much of the Shanghainese culture (Shanghainese Pops) were transferred to
Hong Kong by the millions of Shanghainese emmigrants and refugees after the Communist Revolution. The movie
In the Mood for Love directed by Wong Kar-wai (a native Shanghainese himself) depicts one slice of the displaced Shanghainese community in Hong Kong and the nostalgia for that era, featuring 1940's music by Zhou Xuan.
\nCultural sites in Shanghai include:\n*
The Bund\n*
Shanghai Museum\n*
Shanghai Grand Theater\n* Longhua Temple, largest temple in Shanghai, built during the Three Kingdoms period\n* Yuyuan Gardens\n*
Jade Buddha Temple\n* Jing An Temple\n* Xujiahui Cathedral, largest Catholic cathedral in Shanghai\n* Dongjiadu Cathedral \n* She Shan Cathedral\n* The Orthodox Eastern Church\n* Xiaodaoyuan (Mini-Peach Orchard) Mosque\n* Songjiang Mosque\n* Ohel Rachel Synagogue\n*
Lu Xun Memorial\n* Shikumen site of the
First CPC Congress\n* Residence of
Sun Yat-sen\n* Residence of
Chiang Kai-shek\n* Shanghai residence of Qing Dynasty Viceroy and General
Li Hongzhang\n* Ancient rivertowns of Zhujiajiao and Zhoushi on the outskirts of Shanghai
See also:
Shanghai cuisine
Colleges and Universities
[National]\n*Shanghai Jiaotong University (上海交通大学) (founded in 1896)\n*
Fudan University (复旦大学) (founded in 1905)\n**Fudan University Shanghai Medical College (formally Shanghai Medical University, founded 1927) (复旦大学上海医学院, 原上海医科大学医学院） \n*Tongji University (同济大学) (founded in 1907)\n*
East China Normal University (华东师范大学)\n*East China University of Science and Technology (华东理工大学)\n*Donghua University (东华大学)\n*Shanghai International Studies University (上海外国语大学)\n*Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (上海财经大学)
[Public]\n*Shanghai Second Medical University (上海第二医科大学) \n*Second Military Medical University (第二军医大学) \n*Shanghai Teachers University (上海师范大学) \n*East China University of Politics and Law (华东政法学院)\n*Shanghai Conservatory of Music (上海音乐学院) \n*Shanghai Theater Academy (上海戏剧学院)\n*Shanghai University (上海大学) \n*Shanghai Maritime University (上海海运学院) \n*Shanghai university of Electric Power (上海电力学院) \n*University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (上海理工大学) \n*Shanghai University of Engineering Sciences (上海工程技术大学) \n*Shanghai Institute of Technology (上海应用技术学院) \n*Shanghai Fisheries University (上海水产大学) \n*Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade (上海对外贸易学院)\n*Shanghai Institute of Physical Education (上海体育学院)
[Private]\n*Sanda University (上海杉达学院)
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.
Miscellaneous
The tallest structure in China, the distinctive Oriental Pearl Tower, is located in Shanghai. The
Jin Mao tower located nearby is mainland China's tallest skyscraper, and ranks fourth after
Sears Tower in the world.
Shanghai will be the host of
Expo 2010, a
World's Fair.
Professional sports teams in Shanghai include:
- Chinese Football Association Super League\n** Shanghai Shenhua\n** Shanghai International\n* Chinese Basketball Association\n** Shanghai Dongfang Sharks
Shanghai in fiction
Literature
\n* Han Bangqing (韩邦庆), Shanghai Demi-monde (海上花列传; pinyin: Haishang Hua Liezhuan), also called Flowers of Shanghai, a novel following the lives of Shanghainese flower girls and the timeless decadence surrounding them. First published in 1892 during the last two decades of the Qing Dynasty, with the dialogue completely in vernacular
Wu Chinese. The novel set a precedent for all Chinese literature and was highly popular until the standardization of vernacular
Mandarin as the national language in the early 1920s. It was later translated into Mandarin by
Eileen Chang, a famous Shanghainese writer during World War II. Nearly all her works of bourgeois romanticism are set in Shanghai, and many have been made into arthouse films (see
Eighteen Springs).
Besides Eileen Chang, other Shanghainese "
petit bourgeois" writers in the first half of 20th century: Shi Zhecun, Liu Na'ou and Mu Shiyang, Shao Xunmei and Ye Lingfeng.
Socialist writers include:
Mao Dun (famous for his Shanghai-set
ZIYE),
Ba Jin, and
Lu Xun.
- André Malraux, La Condition Humaine, 1933 (Man's Fate, 1934), a novel about the defeat of a communist regime in Shanghai and the choices the losers have to face. Malraux won the 1933 Prix Goncourt of literature for the novel.
Films
\n* Purple Butterfly (Zihudie, 2003), directed by Ye Lou\n* Suzhou River (Suzhou he, 2000), directed by Ye Lou\n* Flowers of Shanghai (Hai shang hua, 1998), directed by Hsiao-hsien Hou\n* Shanghai Triad, (Yao a yao yao dao waipo qiao,1995), directed by Zhang Yimou\n*
Eighteen Springs, (
Ban sheng yuan, 1998), directed by Ann Hui On-wah. \n*
Le Drame de Shanghaï (1938), directed by
Georg Wilhelm Pabst, actually filmed in
France and in
Saigon
See also:
Shanghai woman
See also
External links
\n* Shanghai Municipality's official website\n*
Daily Life in Shanghai\n*
Shanghai Eye: News and views from the city\n*
Shanghai Guide: City Guide and FAQ about Living in Shanghai\n*
Shanghainese (Wu Chinese): Introduction and Development - A project to introduce Shanghainese (post-1970's) and to promote its development. With dictionary, audio and comprehensive lessons for the language.
Category:World cities
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