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Once known as "Paris of the East," Shanghai in the early 20th century laid claim to being the most glamorous, decadent and cultured city in China—and all of Asia. After years of being closed off to the rest of the world, Shanghai is rapidly regaining its reputation as a cosmopolitan city. While Beijing remains the capital, the center of politics, culture, information and academia, the world knows Shanghai as China's financial center and a progressive enterprising city open to new ideas.
Unlike Beijing, Shanghai's history does not date far back. Until 1842 it was a sleepy fishing village. Shanghai, in Chinese, means on the sea. Its advantageous location, on the banks of the Yangtze (Chang Jiang) River delta, close to the silk and tea producing regions of China, soon propelled it to prominence.
The 1842 Opium Wars are central to Shanghai’s origins as a cosmopolitan destination. To even out the trade imbalance between England and China, England began importing Indian opium to China, against the wishes of the Qing imperial court. Unable to stop the opium trade, which was quickly affecting every social class in China, the Qing declared war on opium traders. The English quickly the war and as indemnity the Qing were required to open Shanghai to foreign merchants. Before the opium wars foreign merchants were restricted to the treaty ports of Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Portuguese held Macao.
After the war, Britain declared Shanghai a treaty port, and the sleepy village was suddenly transformed into a cosmopolitan destination. The British, French and Americans took up autonomous concession zones in the city, each of which was independent of Chinese law. All three brought colonial influences to the city, which can still be seen today in the European architecture of the buildings on the Bund and in the Old French Concession area. The current French Concession area is a chic section of town, home of the famous shopping street, Huai Hai Road. Containing a high concentration of urban shops, restaurants, cafes and boutiques, many of the old buildings are unfortunately being torn down in favor of glossy department stores and high-rises.
Shanghai quickly became an important industrial center and trading port in China. During these prosperous times, Shanghai gained a reputation for being one of the world's most cultured and sophisticated cities. The rich, foreign tai pans led self-indulgent lives in casinos, cabarets and brothels. One such remnant of Shanghai's decadent past is the Great World Entertainment Center, once a den of illicit pleasures, the building today offers more wholesome pleasures—such as Chinese acrobatics, karaoke and a video arcade.
Amidst the imported splendor of the concessions was the poverty of the Chinese controlled parts of town. The dichotomy became brewed into the social discontent that helped bring down the Qing court in 1911. In the ten years between the founding the Republic of China and the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 Shanghai was the portal for the new ideas of the May Fourth Movement. Today, people can trace history by visiting a number of historical sites commemorating the birthplace of the Communist Party and its original members such as the Memorial Hall of the Site of First National Congress of Communist Party of China and the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Former Residence & Memorial Hall.
Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek’s power base was in Shanghai and during the Republican time an uneasy and sometimes violent relationship existed between the Communist party and the Nationalist Party. The invasion of Japan forced the two into an alliance that did not last beyond the end of World War II.
In 1949, the People's Republic of China emerged under Communist rule by Mao Ze Dong. Shanghai's reign as the most cosmopolitan city in China ended. Chairman Mao’s wife Jiang Qing was formerly a Shanghai actress and during the Cultural Revolution she made Shanghai the base for new cultural experimentation, most famously remembered in her revolutionary operas. Several of her former rivals suffered greatly during this time. Following the Chairman’s death, Madame Jiang and her colleagues, referred to as the Gang of Four, were arrested in Shanghai as they planned a coupe. In 1979, Deng Xiao Ping initiated a program of market liberalization and reform to kick-start China's economic development. Shanghai did not immediately benefit from these reforms because it was considered more industrially advanced than most of China.
In 1992, reforms opened to new economic conditions that allowed it to quickly regain its place as the country’s economic head. A booming construction industry, increased private businesses, larger personal incomes and growing foreign investments made it one of the most industrialized bases in the country. The city's resurgence in economic prosperity is best exemplified in the development of the Pu Dong New Area. The Shanghai government invested millions of dollars on infrastructure projects in Pu Dong, such as the aggressively modern Pu Dong International Airport. With its economic progress, Shanghai continues to undergo a renaissance of its arts and culture. The impressive Shanghai Museum and the architecturally striking Shanghai Grand Theater are just two examples of Shanghai's cultural rebirth. During the last ten years the city has gained a reputation for experimental and extravagant architecture rivaled domestically only by Beijing. The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center contains a model of the city as planners anticipate it for the 2010 World Expo, including the rebuilding of entire neighborhoods.
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