Shanghai

Shanghai, or SHANGHAE a city and port of China, on the Hwang-p'u or Woosung river, 12 miles above its junction with the Yang-tsze-Kiang. Surrounded by walls 3-1/2 miles in circumference, it is a poorly-built and dirty place, but its situation makes it the outlet of the products of Central China, and in 1842 it became a treaty port. Immediately to the N. of the walls lies the European settlement, the French and English quarters being separated from the American by the Soochow Creek. Here a fine modern town has sprung up, with a broad promenade along the quay, a Gothic cathedral, municipal buildings, club-house, hospitals, etc. After the seizure of the city by the Taeping rebels in 1852, the customs were handed over to the management of the foreign consuls, and this system was extended to all the treaty ports.