Former French concession area.

Set up in 1849, small expanded in 1900, significant expanded in 1914. Around 1920, it has become the most exclusive residential area in Shanghai. 23rd of Feb, 1943, French government agreed to give up all the concessions in China. 30th of July, the temporary government of China took back the most important Shanghai French concession, titled it the 8th zone. The Shanghai French Concession ended since then, It last for hundred of years.

Shanghai French Concession area was not developed well as the public concession area before the first world war.1910, there are only 1476 foreigners in Shanghai French Concession with the 1/9 amount compare to the public concession. There are 441 American, 336 French, 314 English and 148 German. From 1914, the French Concession got significant expanding, the west area become the exclusive residential area since then. There were 12341 foreigners in French Concession area in 1930.

We can clearly watch the historical development of Shanghai when we review some famous streets and architectures in Shanghai former French concession area.

1). Huaihai road.

One of the most important street in Shanghai, it starts from the east side Rniming road, ends in the west side Kaixuan road. There are many shops, classic architectures and some former residences of celebrities hiding behind the thick trees and Broad Street.

Huaihai road divided into 3 parts---east huaihai road, middle huaihai road and west huaihai road, Completed in different period. East huaihai road is the road between Yongshou road and south Congqing road, completed in 1897, named xijiang road at that time. Middle huaihai road is the road between south congqing road and huashan road, completed in 1901, named BaoChang road at first, BaoChang was the president of the French CONSEIL MUNICIPAL; in 1906, both east and middle huaihai road were named Baochang road. 1915 change Baochang road to Joffre road, in order to honor the French general Joffre who performs exploits in the First World War. The west huaihai road was built in 1925, named Jordan road at first time, who was the British ambassador. In 1950, after China was found, in order to honor the huaihai Campaign in Chinese civil war, the name of east huaihai road, middle huaihai road and west road were born since then.

Western style was one of the most important features of Huahai road since it was built at the beginning. The French government in Shanghai French concession was planning to create an oriental Paris when they started to build Joffre road. We can find the construction rules from the official document: In the west of SongShan road, the building must be at least two floors with the brick and stone masonry structure, at least 10 feet to the road, must be with garden of plants, no walls or fences. In 1902, the government planted chinar lined on both sides of the road. They complied some construction plans in the area around Xijiang road and Fahua road(west fuxing road). Then there were many western garden houses with different culture style appeared after that. During 1920s and 1930s, because of the business developing and population explosion, many garden houses were renovated as lane houses or apartment buildings. There was a Spanish style and Baroque lane houses named ShangXian Fang located at lane 358 of Middle Huaihai road, it was built in 1920s on the great lawn of ShangXian hall.

One of the most interesting history stories is that who lay a foundation to make Huaihai road become an elegant business street was those Russian exile in Shanghai. After the October Revolution in Russia, 1917, many Russian came to Shanghai, which includes some Russian nobleman; another group of Russian came to Shanghai from the northeast of China after the incident of September 18, 1931. Most of these Russian are well educated, even some of them are famous artist, such as Russia composer Alexander Tcherepnin, pianist Mark Zakharov, artist B R Epomehk and more. They were all working and living in Shanghai as the second home town. There were hundreds of shops on Joffre Avenue founded by Russian before Anti-Japanese War, especially the restaurant and coffee shops.

Then the business man from all over the world set up all kinds of shops on Joffre Avenue. The huaihai road has become a syncretic shopping street with east, middle and west culture. In the east, from Boulevard de Motigny(South Xizhang road) to Rue Brenier de Montmorand(Madang road), many shops sell secondary suits, The middle, from Rue Brenier de Montmorand to Rue Massenet(Sinan road),sell jewelry here, The west, from Rue Massenet to Avenue du Roi Albert(South Shanxi Road), most foreigner’s shop were here, sell deluxe suit and some other clothe, most of restaurants, coffee shops and bars were all in this area.

Huaihai road is the complex of culture of East and West, where the taste and spirit of Shanghai could be found. After sediment for half of a century, Huaihai road is famous as Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris, the Fifth Avenue in New York and GINZA mall in Tokyo, and it is still popular for the people living in Shanghai.

 

MAP OF FORMER FRENCH CONCESSION AREA IN SHANGHAI