Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2017 | Page 13

The History of the Old City of Shanghai
A.D.& F.D. of Pok Oi Hospital Mrs Cheng Yam On School, Ka Ming, Tai - 10
T
he Old City of Shanghai, also formerly known as the Chinese city, is a traditional urban core of Shanghai, China.
It was the country seat for the old county of Shanghai. It became a part of Shanghai’s urban core with the advent
of foreign concessions in Shanghai. However, it continued for decades to be the seat of the Chinese authority in
Shanghai. Inside the city, the City God Temple was included as a notable feature which is located in the center of the Old
City and connected to the Yuyuan Garden. The walls were demolished in 1912 due to the exception of two short
sections.
In ancient times, the Old City of Shanghai stands on the site of a relatively small settlement which began to
develop in importance in the 12 th and 13 th century due to the siltation of waterways further upstream, causing dock and
market activities to move from larger-upstream towns to this location. In 1267, Shanghai was raised to township status
with a military garrison within Huating Country. In 1277, Shanghai township was chosen to be the location of one of
seven customs authorities across the empire to handle overseas trade and the surrounding Hanting County was raised to
prefecture level. The location of the customs office became a center around which the Old City grew.
The importance of this trade function led to Shanghai being raised to county status in 1292, the Old City became
the seat of the new county. Under the Qing, it also became the seat of the local circuit and its administration headed by an
intendant. While the foreign concessions developed into new urban areas of Shanghai, the Old City remained the seat of
the county, which normally included the foreign concessions. However, the fact is that the county’s authorities extended
only over the Chinese areas of the city, being the Old City, the Western suburbs which are today’s Minhang District and
the docklands and factory areas in the northeast. After the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, the Old City
was officially raised to city status but under the Shanghai county.
In1927, in a bid to establish a tangible Chinese authority in Shanghai, the republic of China Government
established the Special Municipality of Shanghai. The municipal government was moved out of the old city to near
Xujiahui. In 1928, the Old City was reduced to district status under the Special Municipality. In 1930, Shanghai County
became a separate parallel administrative unit to the Special Municipality, and the county government was moved out to
Minhang. This was the end of the Old City’s role as the seat of government of Shanghai.
From 1928, the Old City was Hunan District, which is the “southern Shanghai”. In1937, the collaborationist
puppet government under Japanese occupation renamed the district “Nanshi” , which is the “southern city”. In1945,
upon recovering Shanghai at the end of world war two, the republic of China Government spilt Nanshi district into
Yimiao district and Penglai district. In 1959, the people’s Republic of China re-combined the two districts in to Nanshi
district. It was merged into Huangpu district, thus ending the separate existence of the old city as an administrative
division.
Today, the Old City contains some ancient but renovated features, such as the Yuyuan Garden Complex and the
City God Temple. The Old City is a combination of ancient winding streets with some modern high-rise buildings
progressively encroaching on the older areas.
In 2006, the Shanghai municipal government enacted the Protection Plan for the Old City Historical Cultural
Scenery Area. Under the plan, the entirety of the Old City is protected as a Historical Cultural Scenery Area.34 streets,
including Dajing Road and West Fangbang Road, are specifically protected as “scenery protected laneways”. However,
large-scale demolition of the Old City is continuing in the same period. The Garden of the Fragrance of Dew area and
almost the entire northwest quadrant of the Old City was demdished starting from 2002. Part of the site has been
redeveloped into a high-rise hotel and residential building and multi-storey buildings, drastically changing the streetscape,
while the remainder of the site is intended to be a low-rise residential area. The development has also roused controversy
as it involved the demolition of a significant section of surviving city wall, as well as the destruction of several houses of
historical significance.
I think the Old City’s history was wonderful and it has plenty of its historical value. I hope the government will
protect the Old City more. Let’s stop destroying such a wonderful city with its interesting history.