from Hacker News

Shanghai Before the Foreigners

by jxub on 10/19/24, 8:42 PM with 42 comments

• by Animats on 10/23/24, 9:12 PM

  Here's Shenzhen, before and after tech. Shenzhen really was a fishing village in 1950, and a small town into the 1970s. All the action was in Hong Kong nearby. A local photographer has been taking pictures from the same spots every year since 1985.[1]

  Population of Shenzhen:

      1950      3,000
      1960      8,000
      1970     22,000
      1980     59,000
      1990    875,000
      2000  7,193,000
      2010 10,223,000
      2020 12,357,000
  

  [1] https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d414d306b6a4d31457a6333566d54/...

• by fuzztester on 10/23/24, 11:10 PM

  Related:

  Taipan by James Ckavelk.

  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai-Pan_(novel)

  I had read it some years ago. Interesting depictions of that period, Hong Kong, interactions between the British and Chinese then, and more. Good writing, IMO.

  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clavell

  Excerpt:

  >Clavell wanted to write a second novel because "that separates the men from the boys".[21] The money from King Rat enabled him to spend two years researching and then writing what became Tai-Pan (1966). It was a huge best-seller, and Clavell sold the film rights for a sizeable amount (although the film would not be made until 1986).[22]

  King Rat was also good.

• by contingencies on 10/23/24, 7:58 PM

  Nice share but after reading the article my existing view that the area of greater Shanghai was an agricultural area without substantial urban development until the opium wars is unchallenged.

  Nice to see some familiar spots. About 21 years ago I used to go to the Jing'An temple for lunch on weekends and chat with the monks. They had excellent vegetarian food in the temple, and often the monks would buy me lunch.

  If you want to look at hydro-engineering wonders, the nearby grand canal is amazing. I would post a wayback machine link of a trip I did up there circa 2005 but archive.org are still half down right now.

  Can't stand Shanghai - no nature.

• by fbn79 on 10/23/24, 8:13 PM

  Can I suggest you the novel "Maiden Voyage" by Denton Welch. Is a portrait of Shanghai in 1930 by an english boy

• by tmtvl on 10/23/24, 6:39 PM

  This kinda reminds me of how Edo (nowadays known as Tokyo) was a little fishing village back in the Sengoku period.

• by phyalow on 10/24/24, 8:58 AM

  Loosely related, but two of my favourite quirks of historic international development / trade relating to China

  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_International_Settl... The Americans/British and other European powers held and administered sovereign territory in Shanghai. Truly remarkable considering the historical implications.

  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Factories

  Also the “factories” in Canton each administered by a foreign power or “Hong” (i.e. Jardine Mathieson (worth a google if you are unfamiliar), the portraits on the wiki link paint an otherworldy romantic picture of what was a remarkably profitable and wild trade…

• by ngcc_hk on 10/24/24, 7:41 AM

  Not before f but United Kingdom, even though for Shanghai later it is not just. One can say up until 2019 also not just …