As cities have evolved over history as a function of human behaviour, they represent the rich social laboratories of a particular civilization. Because of its ancient roots and its particular historical evolution, the urban tradition in China is appreciatively unique, but yet as China is rapidly thrust into modernity and post-modernity of global interdependence most evident in its urban centres, one can discern clearly the serious cultural disparities that threaten the social fabric of the Chinese people. It is through the massive development of its major metropolises that China is embarking on a disturbing trend of false development, a top-down process which imposes disparate images and illusory expectations on a politically-fatigued society. As the centrepiece of China's entrance onto the international stage, the city of Shanghai represents both the vision of Chinas future, but perhaps also its social demise.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-114). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Cornell University, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Following the footsteps of British merchants, Jewish merchants began migrating to China's coastal ports starting from the 1840s. Small in their number, they exerted great influence on Shanghai's economic development. The community of Jews from Baghdad, for instance, wielded enormous clout in coastal China's economic and financial markets. To fill the gap of the economic and financial activities of the Jewish merchants' community in the existing literature, this dissertation considers Jewish economic activities in Shanghai using the Kadoorie enterprise as a case study. It examines the emergence, development and retreat of the Jewish merchants' community and argues that the Jewish merchants' community seized the opportunity of the changing political and economic environment in China to engage in the capital market in Shanghai and to enlarge their influence in the Chinese economy. Through the case study of the Kadoories, this dissertation focuses on the financial side of their operations and suggests that the Jewish merchants' community in Shanghai had established their identity and status in the Far East through expanding their economic influences. This dissertation starts by analyzing how the Kadoories knocked over the obstacles on the problem of nationality and started their business in Shanghai with the British legal tools. It further investigates their methods of raising capital and highlights their economic contributions. This dissertation examines the business strategies of the Jewish merchants, as a migration diaspora given the vagaries of the global economy and the changing political situation in coastal China. It then explores the interactions and power struggles between the Kadoories and their business partners to explain the business network of the Jewish merchants and account for the building up of the economic influence of the Jewish merchants' community in China. Furthermore, the case study examines how the Jewish merchants adapted their business strategies in response to political and economic changes. Examining the economic activities of these Jewish merchants provides insight into China's economic history. The case study of the Kadoories also reveals the fluctuations in Shanghai's economy and the characteristics of economic changes in contemporary China. Finally, this dissertation highlights the retreat of the Kadoories from Shanghai after 1945. At present, the Kadoories are still conducting business in China.

No description available.

It is 30 years after Post-Mao reforms, 20 years after Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and the next generation of “comrades” are emerging in China. They are called the Balinghou or “Post- 80s” generation, referring to the cohort born between 1980 and 1989. This study addresses an empirical gap by exploring the narrative resources Shanghai’s Post-80s young adults call on to construct their identities, given the historical situation in which they live. This exploration is achieved through qualitative empirical data by employing a combination of narrative analysis and ethnography. Data analysis uncovers narrative resources clustered around three common themes: generational identity, structural resources, and personal lives. Further refection reveals that the extent to which identity is narratively expressed can be culturally constrained. Although the Balinghou encounter unique external factors such as the One Child Policy and rapid economic growth and reform in China, their narrative identity resources are more related to their perceptions of life stages than unprecedented historical circumstance. Keywords: narrative, identity, life course, symbolic interactionism, China, Shanghai, Balinghou, Post-80s generation

This thesis investigates various representational modes and strategies in the Shanghai courtesan illustrations in Dianshizhai Pictorial. The aim of the study is to examine how Shanghai's early modern identity was imaged, imagined and contested through the courtesan figure. I argue that by establishing a new urban iconography, Dianshizhai Pictorial transformed the Shanghai courtesan from a traditional archetypical meiren to a universal image of the urban beauty. On the one hand, the modern city, previously an alien concept, was made familiar and acceptable through the image of the Shanghai courtesan. On the other hand, the ambivalence of the courtesan's new image mirrored a mixed feeling of fear, anxiety and disdain towards the emerging metropolis. The courtesan illustrations, hence, served as an important domain where different public understandings of the city were negotiated and expressed in pictorial terms.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, December 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

No description available.

The city of Shanghai was transformed from a treaty port of around half a million people when the British first arrived after the end of the Opium War to become the most populous, prosperous, and cosmopolitan metropolis in China by the early 20th century. The development of public transportation systems contributed significantly to the urban expansion and growth of the city, as well as in reshaping the city's identity. This dissertation examined the impact of public transportation on the urban landscape of Shanghai by focusing on three major issues: "tradition versus modernity", state and society relations, and the relationship between technology and society. As a divided city governed by three separate political jurisdictions, Shanghai offered a unique perspective in understanding the roles public transportation and urban planning played in changing a city's layout. This dissertation addressed the specific differences in the development of urban infrastructure and its impact on population growth, mobility and accessibility, and economic prosperity of the British controlled International Settlement, the French Concession, and the Chinese city. The first half of the dissertation analyzed the roles in which "traditional" man-powered vehicles such as the wheelbarrow, sedan chair, horse-drawn carriage, and rickshaw played, before delving into the arrival of "modern" machine-powered vehicles such as automobiles, trams, trolleys, and buses in the early 20th century. Each form of transportation vehicle is discussed for its specific role, and the type of clientele it catered. This dissertation argued that man-powered vehicles and machine-powered vehicles did not necessarily compete with each other for passengers, as each type of vehicle served its specific purposes and clients. Public transportation; just like food, clothing, or housing is a form of material culture where one's socioeconomic or class status is revealed by the type of transport one chooses. Because the different types of vehicles did not directly compete with each other, they all saw significant increases in ridership. The 'tradition versus modernity" theme is aimed at addressing the bigger picture of "continuity and change", where Shanghai was transformed by foreign influences yet at the same time it still retained traditional Chinese characteristics to form a complex identity. The second half of the dissertation dealt with state and society relations, and the relationship of technology and society. The issue of public versus private responsibility is addressed with historical analysis of government orchestrated urban planning and the private sector providing the services to fulfill the people's needs and demands. In focusing on these two themes, this dissertation argued that technology has inherent political agenda attached to it, as government policies specifically created areas of the city which had better public transportation infrastructure, which led to these parts of the city being more commercially prosperous and vibrant than others. Routes, lines, and stops were designated with specific political purposes in mind, and public transportation accessibility contributed to the uneven economic developments across the city. The Greater Shanghai Project of 1927-1937 was a specific attempt by the Chinese government to create a new city center that could shift the population away from the foreign concessions into the Chinese territories. This dissertation argued that this campaign would not have been feasible even without the Japanese attack due to insufficient public funds. The findings in this dissertation will hopefully add to the scholarship on the history of Shanghai and the history of technology in China.