From a small fishing village established over 2000 years ago, Shanghai has become the biggest city in China. With a population of approximately 20 million, Shanghai is the largest city in China and eighth in the World.
In the early twentieth century, Shanghai was probably the largest commercial city in East Asia and the third largest financial centre in the world, after New York and London. In the 1920s and 1930s (because China had lost the Opium Wars), Shanghai was a divided city, with British, French, American and Japanese “Concessions”. Each Concession area developed in its own way, as foreigners who lived there were untouchable by Chinese law and undisturbed by the Chinese world. The French Concession area developed a distinctly European flavour to it, as the French imported Phoenix Trees to line the boulevards and built European-style villas throughout their Concession. Even today, many of the European-style villas survive in the French area, which is why it is commonly viewed as the most charming part of central Shanghai. |
|
 
 |
