The Nineteenth Century, The 1970s British And American Nationals In The Eyes Of Chinese Social Life

Shanghai International Settlement was under a steady-going developing period in 1870's after a phase of rapid expansion and recession in 1960's.It was undeveloped in the early years after British men were allowed to come in.But brushfire brought thousands upon thousands of Chinese as well as fortune into the settlement which was once set apart for foreigners.Westerners could not say No Admittance to Chinese because they could not say that to profits,but they were unwilling to share peaceful life with Chinese,moreover,they found their comfortable life gone due to Chinese' indiscipline.Westerners felt uncomfortable with Chinese from time to time; meanwhile,they began to find the interesting part of Chinese society and culture. They gradually changed their concept of Chinese and then changed their plan to stay in Shanghai for longer.To study this change of concept,we need to know what the Westerners really concerned and what they put interests in.The newspapers of the time seem to be the best materials for these questions.Fortunately we can find 3 kinds of the most valuable daily newspaper in Shanghai;they are North China Daily News,Shanghai Courier and China Gazette,Shanghai Mercury.From the correspondents of these three English daily newspapers from 1876 to 1879,we can read the most direct thoughts of general British and American nationals in Shanghai 130 years ago,who governed the settlement.This study relies on the analysis of the letters,and it is also an attempt to utilize the foreign newspapers as a kind of new resource to study Shanghai History.