Foreign settlement · 1849–1943
French Concession
法租界
Granted on 6 April 1849 between the walled city and the Yangjingbang, 986 mu, and run from 1862 by its own council under the French consul; it grew to 2,135 mu in 1900 and 15,150 mu in 1914, reaching Xujiahui, and was handed back on 30 July 1943.
- Dates
- 1849-04-06 – 1943-07-30
- Area
- 15,150 mu at its largestAreas are in Chinese mu (亩), the unit the sources use: 1 mu is about 667 m², a sixth of an acre; 15 mu make a hectare.
- Governed by
- Conseil d'administration municipale from 1862, under the authority of the French consul-general.
Boundaries over today's map
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Boundaries in 1849
- French Concession, 1849法租界（1849）1849-04-06–1900-01-27 · 986 mu
Boundaries in 1863
- French Concession, 1849法租界（1849）1849-04-06–1900-01-27 · 986 mu
- French riverside strip, 1861法租界小东门外扩展（1861）1861-10-30–1943-07-30 · 37 mu · approximate line
Boundaries in 1900
- French riverside strip, 1861法租界小东门外扩展（1861）1861-10-30–1943-07-30 · 37 mu · approximate line
- French Concession, 1900法租界（1900 扩展）1900-01-27–1914-09-14 · 2,135 mu
Boundaries in 1914
- French riverside strip, 1861法租界小东门外扩展（1861）1861-10-30–1943-07-30 · 37 mu · approximate line
- French Concession, 1914法租界（1914 扩展）1914-09-14–1943-07-30 · 15,150 mu
Boundary lines follow today’s streets where the old creeks and roads ran; dashed lines are inferred. Expect errors of a street or two, not more.
Timeline
Click a year on the axis to read what happened and set the map to that period.
Boundary1 of 7
The French Concession, 986 mu
法租界设立，986亩
Daotai Lin Gui and consul Montigny exchanged letters creating a French concession between the Yangjingbang, the city moat, the river and the Guandi temple at Zhujia bridge.
People2 of 7
The Small Swords take the walled city
小刀会占领县城
Chinese families fled into the settlements and the rule of separate residence collapsed; the settlement's population passed 20,000 that year.
Government3 of 7
The French set up their own council
法租界公董局成立
Consul Edan created a municipal council for the French Concession by consular order, whose decisions needed his approval; the two foreign towns were governed separately from then on.
Boundary4 of 7
French Concession extends west, 2,135 mu
法租界第一次扩张，2,135亩
The extension agreed in June 1899 and proclaimed in January 1900 took the concession west to Gujiazhai, today's Chongqing Road.
Boundary5 of 7
French Concession reaches Xujiahui, 15,150 mu
法租界扩至徐家汇，15,150亩
The Yuan Shikai government gave the French council police and taxation powers over its outside roads; the concession became fifteen times its original size and kept this shape to 1943.
The end6 of 7
The settlements are handed over
租界交还
Britain and the United States gave up extraterritoriality by treaty on 11 January 1943; the Wang Jingwei government took over the French Concession on 30 July and the International Settlement on 1 August 1943.
The end7 of 7
The Sino-French treaty closes the account
中法条约完成交还
The treaty of 28 February 1946 completed the legal return of the French Concession after the war, and the former settlements became districts of the city.
How it was run
How Shanghai's foreign settlements grew, 1845–1943
How the British, American, French and International settlements grew from 830 mu in 1845 to 48,000 mu by 1914, boundary by boundary.
How the French Concession was run: the consul, the council and the règlement, 1849–1943
The other Shanghai: a concession run by a consul-general who chaired, convened, vetoed and could dissolve its council, under rules of 1866 kept to 1943.
Consul versus council: how the French Concession was governed, 1848–1875
A merchant's 2.4 mu, a council of five dissolved by its consul, the règlement of 1866, and the riot of 1874: the French Concession's first thirty years.
The creek that became Yan'an Road, 1862–1916
The Yangjingbang divided the two settlements for sixty years. The reports record its drains, its night-soil boats, the votes of 1909 and 1914 and the road.
Places inside its final boundary
Computed from each place's coordinates against the boundary as drawn along today's streets; places close to a line are marked on their own pages.
Former French Concession
A red-brick Anglican church of 1925 on Fuxing Middle Road, described as Shanghai's only surviving Neo-Romanesque church and still used for worship.
House at 113 Wukang Road where the writer Ba Jin lived from 1955 until his death in 2005; opened to the public as a house museum on 1 December 2011.
A 1924 apartment house on Fuxing Middle Road built by an American missionary, named for its black stone; the ground floor is now a public bookshop-café.
Cathay Theatre国泰电影院
Art Deco cinema on Huaihai Middle Road, opened 1 January 1932 and listed as a Shanghai Outstanding Historical Building in 1994.
Christ the King Church君王堂
A Catholic church founded in 1928 for English-speaking foreigners; the original is gone, and the 1993 Julu Road church has a Good Shepherd mosaic.
Community Church国际礼拜堂
A brick-and-timber Gothic Revival church of 1925 built by Shanghai's American community; still in use, with a Sunday service in English for foreigners.
Dingxiang Garden丁香花园
Garden villa at 849 Huashan Road built for Li Jingmai, son of Li Hongzhang. The popular story of a concubine named Dingxiang is rejected by sources.
Fuxing Park复兴公园
A park laid out by the French Concession authorities and opened in 1909, with a French formal garden, a Chinese garden and a Marx and Engels statue.
A fifteen-storey Art Deco block of 1934, built as the Picardie Apartments by the International Savings Society and run as a hotel since 1955.
Jin Jiang Hotel锦江饭店
Two Sassoon apartment towers of 1929 and 1935, a state guesthouse since 1951 and the place where the 1972 Shanghai Communiqué was signed.
Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Mother of God东正教圣母大堂
A Russian-Byzantine cathedral of 1933–36 on Xinle Road, with five blue domes, now a protected heritage building; check on site whether it is open.
Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts上海工艺美术博物馆
A white French neo-Renaissance villa on Fenyang Road holding carved ivory, jade and lacquer, opera costumes and working craft studios.
Soong Ching-ling's Former Residence上海宋庆龄故居
The 1920 garden house at 1843 Huaihai Middle Road where Soong Ching-ling lived and worked from the late 1940s; a national protected site, open as a museum.
St Nicholas Church圣尼古拉堂
Former Russian Orthodox church on Gaolan Road, built 1932-34 with funds raised by White Russian emigres, later a restaurant and a poetry bookshop.
Sun Yat-sen's Former Residence上海孙中山故居
The pebble-clad villa at 7 Xiangshan Road where Sun Yat-sen lived from 1918 and Soong Ching-ling until 1937; a national protected site, open as a museum.
Wukang Mansion武康大楼
László Hudec's 1924 Normandie Apartments: an eight-storey wedge with a ground-floor arcade where Huaihai Middle Road meets Wukang Road.
Wukang Road武康路
A 1.2 km plane-lined street in the former French Concession with 1920s-40s villas, residents' plaques and Hudec's Wukang Mansion at its south end.
Zhou Enlai's Residence in Shanghai周公馆
A 1920s garden house at 73 Sinan Road used in 1946-47 as the Chinese Communist Party delegation's Shanghai office, now a memorial museum.
Xintiandi and Huaihai Road
Fazang Temple法藏讲寺
A Huangpu temple on Ji'an Road, the only Tiantai-school temple in modern Shanghai, rebuilt after decades as a factory.
Former Site of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea大韩民国临时政府旧址
A restored three-storey lane house on Madang Road, used 1926-1932 as the office of the Korean Provisional Government and now an exhibition hall.
Memorial of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China中共一大纪念馆
The Xintiandi houses where the Communist Party of China's first national congress met in July 1921, now a museum with a new exhibition hall opened in 2021.
Middle Huaihai Road Shopping District淮海中路商圈
Middle Huaihai Road, the former Avenue Joffre: a city-level shopping district through the old French Concession.
Shikumen Open House Museum屋里厢石库门民居陈列馆
A small furnished shikumen house in Xintiandi's North Block showing 1920s-30s Shanghai home life, including a tingzijian attic room.
Sinan Mansions思南公馆
Fifty-one 1920s-30s garden houses on Sinan Road in the former French Concession, restored and reopened in 2010 as shops, cafes, offices and a hotel.
St. Peter's Church (Chongqing South Road)圣伯多禄堂
A Catholic parish church on Chongqing South Road that began as Aurora University's chapel in 1933 and was rebuilt in 1996; it offers English-language Mass.
Tianzifang田子坊
A Taikang Road shikumen block turned from housing and small factories into a maze of craft shops, cafes and studios, with residents still in the lanes.
Xintiandi新天地
A car-free district of restored shikumen houses, now restaurants and shops (2001), with a small museum of 1920s-30s Shanghai life in a stone-gate house.
People's Square
Great World大世界
An amusement hall opened in 1917 and rebuilt in 1928, now a venue for intangible cultural heritage performances at Yan'an Road and Xizang Road.
A 1930 cinema turned concert hall, lifted and moved 66.46 m southeast in 2003 for the Yan'an Elevated Road.
Jing'an
Moller Villa马勒别墅
A Nordic-style garden villa of the 1920s-30s with Gothic and Tudor details, listed nationally in 2006 and now a hotel on Shaanxi South Road.
Old City and Yu Garden
Cixiu Nunnery慈修庵
A small Old City nunnery, begun as a family chapel in 1869 or 1870 and reopened to nuns in 1983.
The Bund
The 1907–08 concrete weather and time-signal tower at the south end of the Bund, moved 22.4 m in 1993 to widen the road; now a history display and café.
Xujiahui and the West Bund
Xujiahui Shopping District徐家汇商圈
A retail district around Xujiahui metro station, where 1990s malls stand on land once held by a Jesuit mission and its estates.
Walks inside
Sources
- 1.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, Part 1 ch. 1 §1: Establishment of the settlements (上海租界志·第一篇 境域人口·第一章 租界境域·第一节 租界设立), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — 第一节 租界设立gazetteer
- 2.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, Part 1 ch. 1 §3: Expansion of the settlements (上海租界志·第一篇 境域人口·第一章 租界境域·第三节 租界扩张), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — 第三节 租界扩张gazetteer
- 3.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer (Shanghai zujie zhi): General survey (上海租界志·总述), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — 总述gazetteer
- 4.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, Part 1 ch. 1 §5: Return of the settlements (上海租界志·第一篇 境域人口·第一章 租界境域·第五节 租界收回), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — 第五节 租界收回gazetteer
- A Short History of ShanghaiA Short History of Shanghai: Being an Account of the Growth and Development of the International Settlement