上海租界史：从地图看城市变迁与历史印记The Shanghai Concessions: A City's Changes Traced in Maps

Wukang Mansion, the plane-tree district, Citywalks along Julu, Fumin and Changle Roads... In recent years Shanghai's tourist hotspots seem to have returned to the turbulent history of the concessions. Let us follow the thread of history, starting from maps, to explore the background to the formation of Shanghai's concessions, how they were governed, how they expanded, what life was like within them, and how this complex history has profoundly shaped the urban fabric of Shanghai today. 1. Was Shanghai before the Opium War really just a "small fishing village"? What allowed it to transform into an international metropolis in so short a time? 2. What is the difference between a "concession" and a "colony"? Why are Shanghai's International Settlement and French Concession named so differently in English? 3. How did the Shanghai Municipal Council and the French Municipal Council operate internally? 4. What kind of expansion was "building roads beyond the boundaries"? What far-reaching effect did it have on Shanghai's urbanisation? 5. What did the concessions mean to people of different identities at the time? 6. Beyond the buildings and plane trees that bear the marks of history, what codes from the concession era are hidden in Shanghai's rivers, road network and even its drainage system today?