Shanghai

 In 1930…

Apart from the river, very little can be reckognised today.

I remember as a kid reading Tintin and the blue Lotus. Somehow from that time on I have always had a fascination about the Orient…

Shanghai is certainly not the most attractive city, there is however something intriguing about it. There is still this vivid contrast between the new and old world.

Today’s Skyline is something else…

and it is still being built.

(Construction on the tallest tower has just begun and should look like as depicted below)

Amazing is the contrast between the old and the new!

Important Dates in Shanghai’s History

1842 Signing of the Treaty of Nanjing at the end of the First Opium War gives the British the right to settle in selected Chinese cities, including Shanghai

1895 After defeating the Chinese in the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese gain the right to engage in trade and set up factories in Shanghai

1922 The first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party is held in Shanghai

1937 Shanghai is bombed by the Japanese amidst their growing control of China

1941 The Japanese take the International Settlement and inter foreign residents in prison camps

1945 Japan surrenders and the American military occupies Shanghai

1949 The People’s Republic of China is born and the Communist People’s Liberation Army enters Shanghai

1976 The death of Chairman Mao and the arrest and trial of the Gang of Four lead to the end of the Cultural Revolution

1978 Deng Xiaoping starts the process of opening up and reforming China

1990 Shanghai is officially chosen to be China’s main hope for its economic future

2002 Shanghai wins the bid for the World Expo 2010