The city in the wider sense covers an immense area. The Inter national Settlement, made up of the original British and American concessions and with boundaries extended in 1893, comprises acres and has a pop. (1931) of 36,471 foreigners and 971,397 Chi nese. The adjacent French concession, about 2,525 acres in extent, contains 15,146 foreigners and 440,866 Chinese. The settle ments, and particularly the original British concession, form the central districts, comprising the principal commercial quarter and the famous river front or Bund. Their hinterlands and especially that of the French concession, are mainly residential in char acter, laid out in long avenues. But the "eastern" district of the International Settlement, following the southward bend of the Whangpoo below the Bund, and also both shores of the Soochow Creek for a distance of about seven miles, both within and beyond the Settlement's limits, are completely industrialised and thickly studded with factories and warehouses. Of the same character are Pootung on the southern side of the Whangpoo and the suburb of Nantou, which is a westward outgrowth along the river banks of the old native city of Shanghai. The built-up portions of Greater Shanghai outside the International Settlement and the French Concession are estimated to cover about 2,800 acres. The total population of the Shanghai urban aggregation, greater Shang hai, was estimated at 3,259,114 in 1931. The resident foreign population (on basis of five years' residence) has been (1926) estimated as follows: Japanese, 14,230; British, 7,047 (including 1,177 British Indian subjects) ; Russians, 2,972; Americans, 1,80o; Portuguese, 1,402 ; other nationalities, 3,034. The Chinese pop ulation is drawn from many areas, but a very important element is represented by the large influx of men from Hangchow and Ningpo, who maintain close relations with their own home towns and are said to number 400,00o. There are also some 16o,000 labourers from Canton and Swatow.
Apart from native industrial establishments, Shanghai is the headquarters of many important Chinese organisations, such as the Y.M.C.A., and the centre of many modern movements of a cul tural, religious and educational character. It contains a large num ber of colleges and higher-grade institutions, some maintained by missionary organisations (many of which have their headquarters in Shanghai) and some by the provincial (Kiangsu) or national government, as well as many private enterprises. There is in this great city, where perhaps more than in any other oriental centre East meets West, abundant opportunity for cultural interchange, and in the sphere of religious and similar movements this has already been productive of good results. In the main, however,
the Western commercial communities in Shanghai have so far come little into contact with the Chinese apart from business rela tions, chiefly transacted through compradores.
The administration of Shanghai reflects the special circum stances of its origin and growth and has no exact parallel else where. Although it forms a single urban unit, there are three dis tinct administrative areas : the International Settlement, the French Concession, and the Chinese Greater Shanghai. The Inter national Settlement, as such, dates from 1854 when the British, French and American consuls drew up a code of regulations applic able to the two concession areas which then existed, those of Great Britain and France. The concession subsequently obtained by the United States was included within the same jurisdiction in 1863, but meanwhile (1862) France had withdrawn from the joint ar rangement, and ever since the French Concession has constituted a distinct municipality. Other Treaty Powers, particularly Japan, have since entered the field and have adhered to the regulations governing the International Settlement. It exercises complete powers of self-government, including police control, and the effi ciency of its administrative arrangements soon earned it the title of "The Model Settlement." The executive power is a Municipal Council, elected until recently entirely by the foreign ratepayers. The Settlements were originally intended only for foreign mer chants, but at a very early period Chinese refugees and others were allowed to reside within their boundaries; and especially since the period of the Taiping Rebellion, which created great insecurity in the lower Yangtze region, they have constituted the immense majority of the population. As participants in the benefits of the Settlement administration they were required to pay municipal taxes, but until 1926 they had no voice in the conduct of its affairs. In that year, in deference to the rising demands of Chinese nation alism, the Municipal Council sanctioned the appointment of three Chinese members to the Council, which now consists of five British members, two American, two Japanese and three Chinese. An other important recent development is the Chinese scheme to unify the administration of the urban district outside the Settle ments, including Chapei, Nantou, Pootung and Woosung, and a large area at present agricultural in character, into a new municipality or "Directorate of the Port of Shanghai and Woo sung." The conception of a Greater Shanghai involves the co operation of the Settlement and Chinese authorities in a re gional planning scheme and the adjustment of many difficult issues, such as the status and control of extra-concessional roads. The problems involved in the promised relinquishment of extraterri torial rights in China by the western Powers must also be particu larly acute in the case of Shanghai.