Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2017 | Page 3

Old Shanghai
Internatinal Christian School, Lee, Leanna - 8
I
n the 1840’s in Shanghai there were a lot of wars like the Opium wars (1842,1860) World
War 1 (1914) and World War 2 (1934). China lost the Opium wars so they had to give up
some things. They gave away Shanghai’s parts away like the French concession and other
parts for the British, American and German governments (concessions). What was left was the old city of
Shanghai.
Each of the little areas had their own particular way of doing something like restaurants, special
(rich) houses and their own rules. Chinese people sometimes lived there. The rest of Shanghai lived in
the old Chinese city which wasn’t very nice because it was poor, old, torn and damaged. Many slaves
(Chinese people) who served wealthy people lived there.
In the little areas there were many beautiful houses. It had dancing halls, restaurants and even a
racetrack. They did not have to follow Chinese rules and could do whatever they wished for. It was very
fun living there except for violence.
Starting in 1850, there was violence because a guy named Hong Xiquan led the Taping rebels and
he was trying to get rid of the Qing government there was violence, many people died.
Then in 1939, Japan invaded China and they took out little parts of Shanghai. This time there was
more fighting then last time. A lot of homeless people died. Over 20,000 people died on the streets.
Therefore, in 1941 the Japanese also took away the French part and the international part of Shanghai.
Finally, World War 2 ended. In 1949, the Japanese lost the war, therefore they had to give back
Shanghai.
In 1949, Mao Zedong won the war against the Nationalists and created the Republic of China.
Today, Shanghai is one of the most important and successful cities in China. It has an amazing
airport, many tall buildings and even Formula1 raced there. Shanghai has gone through a lot but
Shanghai overcame them. From Shanghai we can learn to persistent.