Global Shanghai, 1850&82112010 A History in Fragments [Paperback]

This book explores the play of international forces and international ideas about Shanghai, looking backward as far as its transformation into a subdivided treaty port in the 1840s, and looking forward to its upcoming hosting of Chinas first Worlds Fair, the 2010 Expo. As such, Global Shanghaiis a lively and informative read for students and scholars of Chinese studies and urban studies and anyone interested in the history of Shanghai.

1. 1850The Birth of a Newspaper  2. 1875Putting the City on the Map  3. 1900Fire and Sword  4. 1925In the Streets  5. 1950An In-Between Year  6. 1975The East Was Red  7. 2000A City in a Hurry  Conclusion: Ten Theses on 21^stCentury Shanghai

 

'Like Walter Benjamin in his 'Arcades project', Wasserstrom uses elegant, shrewdly chosen vignettes to illuminate the paradox of urban modernity as simultaneous rupture and nostalgia. If he deflates some of Shanghai's current, boosterish hyperbole, it is only because he is so attentive to the many faces of its past.' - Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz

'Professor Jeffery Wasserstrom has written the most enthralling history of modern Shanghai there is. Global Shanghaidoes not claim to be a definitive history (it focuses on seven pivotal years set a quarter of a century apart - 1850, 1875, 1900, 1925, 1950, 1975, 2000 - hence the fragments of the title), nor does it claim to provide definitive answers to the intriguing questions it raises. Instead, the University of California history professor seeks to frame those questions into a meaningful historical context. The result is a meticulously researched, cornucopic splendiferous wonder. Yes, we did say history book.' - J.F.K. Miller, That's Shanghai 

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