Foreign settlement · 1863–1943
International Settlement
公共租界
The united British and American settlements from 1863, governed by the Shanghai Municipal Council; the extension of 8 May 1899 made it 33,503 mu, divided into Central, Northern, Eastern and Western districts, until it was handed back on 1 August 1943.
- Dates
- 1863-09-21 – 1943-08-01
- Area
- 33,503 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
- Shanghai Municipal Council, elected by foreign ratepayers; Chinese members from 1928.
Boundaries over today's map
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Boundaries in 1863
- International Settlement, 1863英美租界 / 公共租界（1863）1863-09-21–1899-05-08 · 10,676 mu · approximate line
Boundaries in 1900
- International Settlement, 1899公共租界（1899 扩展）1899-05-08–1943-08-01 · 33,503 mu · approximate line
Boundaries in 1914
- International Settlement, 1899公共租界（1899 扩展）1899-05-08–1943-08-01 · 33,503 mu · approximate line
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.
Dotted lines from 1900: the Central, Northern, Eastern and Western districts of the International Settlement, as the Council used them; it never printed a definition, so the lines follow Suzhou Creek, Xizang Road and Hongkou Creek as its usage implies.
Timeline
Click a year on the axis to read what happened and set the map to that period.
Boundary1 of 7
British and American settlements unite
英美租界合并
The two settlements north of the Yangjingbang were united under one council; from 1899 the merged area was called the International Settlement.
Boundary2 of 7
Forty boundary stones in Hongkou
虹口界石四十块
The American section's line, proposed by consul Seward in 1863, was finally surveyed and marked with forty stones on 10–11 June 1893; the settlement then measured 10,676 mu.
Boundary3 of 7
The great extension, 33,503 mu
公共租界大扩张，33,503亩
The daotai's proclamation extended the settlement east to Zhoujiazui, west to Jing'an Temple and north to the county line, more than tripling its area.
People4 of 7
May Thirtieth
五卅惨案
Police of the Louza station fired on demonstrators on Nanking Road; the strike and boycott that followed changed the settlement's politics.
Government5 of 7
Chinese members join the Council; the parks open
华董入局，公园开放
Three Chinese councillors took their seats in April 1928 and the Council's parks opened to Chinese residents from 1 June; the number of Chinese seats rose to five in 1930.
The end6 of 7
Japanese troops enter the Settlement
日军进占公共租界
On the morning of 8 December 1941 Japanese troops crossed the Suzhou Creek bridges; the French Concession, under Vichy, was not occupied.
The end7 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.
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.
Who could vote: the ratepayers' meeting, 1869–1941, and the jubilee of 1893
A city of a million run by a few thousand votes: the franchise in the Land Regulations, the polls, the meetings without a quorum, and the jubilee of 1893.
Boundary stones and outside roads: where the Settlement ended, and where it didn't, 1893–1940
Forty stones set in 1893, a line the police could not see, forty-eight miles of roads beyond it: how the edge of the Settlement was marked and crossed.
The Settlement's budget from $25,000 in 1854 to 15 million taels in 1932: who paid the rates, who bought the debentures, what the 1929 power sale bought.
The Municipal Police: from eight constables to five thousand, 1854–1932
Foreign, Sikh, Chinese and Japanese branches, the stations, the armed robbers of the 1920s, and a bill of 43 per cent of the budget, by its own reports.
Every five years the police and tax office counted the Settlement: 1,666 foreigners in 1870, 29,947 in 1925, and Chinese from 75,047 to 810,279.
May Thirtieth and the three Chinese seats: the Council's own account, 1925–1930
What the Council printed about the shooting on Nanking Road in 1925, the strike, the demands, the inquiry, and how three Chinese members came to sit on it.
The Mixed Court: who judged the Chinese of the International Settlement, 1864–1927
A Chinese magistrate and a foreign assessor on one bench for sixty-three years: how the court worked, the 1905 riot, the 1911 seizure, the 1927 return.
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.
Central District 中区
Asia Building亚细亚大楼
Bund No. 1: the 1916 McBain Building, home of the Asiatic Petroleum Company from 1917 and now an art venue with the Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum.
Bank of China Building中国银行大楼
The Bank of China's 1937 head office at Bund 23: a 17-storey tower by Luke Him Sau with a blue-tiled Chinese roof, cut down from a planned 34 storeys.
Bank of Communications Building上海市总工会大楼
The last building finished on the Bund before 1949: Gonda's late Art Deco Bank of Communications of 1948, now the city's Federation of Trade Unions.
Bank of Taiwan Building台湾银行大楼
Four-column bank of the 1920s at No. 16 the Bund, designed by Lester, Johnson & Morriss for the Bank of Taiwan; now a China Merchants Bank branch.
Banque de l'Indochine Building东方汇理银行大楼
A French bank of 1914 by Atkinson & Dallas at Bund No. 29, three tall storeys behind a Baroque doorway; now China Everbright Bank.
Chartered Bank Building (Bund 18)麦加利银行大楼
Five-storey Chartered Bank of 1922–1923 by Palmer & Turner, restored in 2002–2004 as Bund 18, a complex of shops, restaurants, bars and an art space.
China Merchants Steam Navigation Building轮船招商局大楼
Head office built in 1901 at No. 9 the Bund by the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company on the old Russell & Co. garden; restored in 2004.
Customs House上海海关大楼
Shanghai's 1927 Customs House by Palmer & Turner, whose clock tower, with a Joyce clock first struck in 1928, still sounds the hours over the Bund.
East Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street南京东路步行街
Shanghai's best-known shopping street, pedestrianised in the late 1990s and extended east to the Bund in September 2020.
Former British Consulate-General原英国驻沪总领事馆
The Bund's oldest surviving Western-style building: the British consulate rebuilt in 1872-73 after a fire, now an exhibition venue (Bund Origin No. 1).
Glen Line Building格林邮船大楼
1922 shipping office by Palmer & Turner at Bund No. 28; later the US consulate and Shanghai's radio station, now the Shanghai Clearing House.
Great Northern Telegraph Building大北电报公司大楼
Early-1900s Renaissance-style office of the Danish Great Northern Telegraph Company at No. 7 the Bund, designed by Atkinson & Dallas; now Bangkok Bank.
Shanghai's red-brick Gothic Revival Anglican church of 1869, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, now a national protected site on Jiujiang Road.
HSBC Building上海浦东发展银行大楼
Palmer & Turner's 1923 head office for HSBC, the widest building on the Bund, with a mosaic dome hidden under paint from 1956 to 1997; now SPD Bank.
Imperial Bank of China Building中国通商银行大楼
Gothic Revival bank at Bund No. 6, head office of the Imperial Bank of China, the first modern Chinese bank, founded by Sheng Xuanhuai in 1897.
Jardine Matheson Building怡和洋行大楼
Jardine Matheson's 1922 head office at Bund No. 27, granite with Corinthian columns, on a lot the firm held from 1845; now shops and restaurants.
A Neo-Gothic Methodist church designed by László Hudec and opened in 1931, beside People's Square, with Sunday services.
Nissin Building日清大楼
Six-storey granite office of the Japanese shipping line Nisshin Kisen Kaisha, built 1921–1925 by Lester, Johnson & Morriss at No. 5 the Bund.
North China Daily News Building (AIA Building)字林大楼
Home of the North China Daily News, finished in 1924 as the Bund's tallest building; eight stone figures hold up its cornice. AIA's offices since 1996.
Palace Hotel (Swatch Art Peace Hotel)汇中饭店大楼
The Palace Hotel of 1906–1908, host of the 1909 International Opium Commission; later the Peace Hotel's South Building, now the Swatch Art Peace Hotel.
Rockbund Art Museum上海外滩美术馆
A contemporary art museum with no permanent collection, in the 1933 Art Deco Royal Asiatic Society building off the Bund, redesigned by David Chipperfield.
Russo-Chinese Bank Building华俄道胜银行大楼
Small classical bank of 1902-03 at No. 15 the Bund, built for the Russo-Chinese Bank, later the Central Bank of China; now a currency trading centre.
Sassoon House (Fairmont Peace Hotel)沙逊大厦
Victor Sassoon's 1929 granite tower with the green copper pyramid, home of the Cathay Hotel and since 1956 the Peace Hotel, now run by Fairmont.
Shanghai Club Building上海总会大楼
Former British Shanghai Club, opened 1910 with a 30-metre bar; today the Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund and its restored Long Bar.
Three on the Bund (Union Building)有利大楼
Shanghai's first steel-framed building (1916) and Palmer & Turner's first Bund work, rebuilt by Michael Graves in 2004 as Three on the Bund.
Yangtze Insurance Building扬子大楼
1920 office of the Yangtsze Insurance Association at Bund No. 26 by Palmer & Turner, with a mansard roof; now the Agricultural Bank of China.
Yokohama Specie Bank Building横滨正金银行大楼
The 1924 Shanghai branch of the Yokohama Specie Bank at Bund No. 24, by Palmer & Turner, with a samurai and a bodhisattva on the facade; now ICBC.
Northern District 北区
Brown-brick Art Deco tower of 1934 at the north end of Waibaidu Bridge, built as a hotel and apartments for foreigners; renamed Shanghai Mansions in 1951.
General Post Office Building上海邮政总局
Shanghai's head post office, built 1922-24 beside Suzhou Creek, still handles mail; the free Shanghai Postal Museum is on its second floor.
North Sichuan Road Commercial District四川北路商圈
A long north-south shopping street in Hongkou, laid out in the 1870s and now one of Shanghai's city-level commercial centres.
Eastern District 东区
1933 Old Millfun1933老场坊
A 1933 municipal slaughterhouse of the International Settlement, built in reinforced concrete with covered walkways, now a creative complex in Hongkou.
Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum上海犹太难民纪念馆
A 1927 synagogue in Hongkou restored as a museum on the Jewish refugees who lived in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s; closed Mondays, ticketed.
Yangpu Riverside杨浦滨江商业中心
A long-term city-level commercial centre planned along Yangshupu Road, on a Huangpu riverfront that has kept its old industrial structures.
Western District 西区
Built in 1920 by the Sassoon family, Shanghai's first purpose-built synagogue seated 700. It sits in a compound and is rarely open to visitors.
Park Hotel国际饭店
An 83.8 m, 24-floor hotel tower of 1934 by László Hudec, with a survey 'origin' marker for Shanghai's coordinate system in its lobby.
People's Park Marriage Market人民公园相亲角
A weekend gathering in People's Park where parents post notices to find partners for their unmarried adult children.
Shanghai History Museum上海市历史博物馆
Shanghai's city history museum since 2018, in the 1934 Shanghai Race Club building at People's Square, with the port-era story from 1843 to 1949.
Shanghai Museum上海博物馆
Shanghai's flagship museum of ancient Chinese art, in a bronze-vessel-shaped building on People's Square, opened in 1996. Check hours; it closes Mondays.
Shanghai Natural History Museum上海自然博物馆
Shanghai's natural history museum, in a nautilus-shaped building in Jing'an Sculpture Park since 2015; its old home was on Yan'an Road.
Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center上海城市规划展示馆
An exhibition hall on People's Square built around a 1:500 scale model of central Shanghai; open again since August 2022 after renovation.
Waibaidu Bridge外白渡桥
Riveted steel truss bridge of 1907 over the mouth of Suzhou Creek, the first steel bridge on the creek; its name recalls a toll-free crossing of the 1870s.
West Nanjing Road Shopping District南京西路商圈
Shanghai's high-end mall strip, along a 3.8 km road; one of the 29 city-level commercial centres in the city's 2022–2035 plan.
District not determined
Shanghai's first Western hotel, founded 1846 and rebuilt c.1907–1911 by Waibaidu Bridge; site of the 1990 stock exchange, now a securities museum.
A rebuilt Buddhist temple on West Nanjing Road, dated by its own stele to 247, now beside a metro interchange and shopping towers.
Walks inside
Sources
- 1.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
- 2.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
- Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer (Shanghai zujie zhi): General survey上海租界志·总述
- A Short History of ShanghaiA Short History of Shanghai: Being an Account of the Growth and Development of the International Settlement