Shanghai French Concession
The Shanghai French Concession was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943. For much of the 20th century, the area covered by the former French Concession remained the premier residential and retail district of Shanghai. It was also one of the centers of Catholicism in China. Despite re-development over the last few decades, the area retains a distinct character and is a popular tourist destination.
History
Establishment
After the British victory in the First Opium War, foreign powers, including France, obtained concessions in China through the unequal treaties.The French Concession was established on 6 April 1849. The French Consul in Shanghai, Charles de Montigny, obtained a proclamation from Lin Kouei, the Circuit Intendant of Shanghai, which conceded certain territory for a French settlement.
The extent of the French Concession at the time of establishment extended south to the Old City's moat, north to the Yangjingbang canal, west to the Temple of Guan Yu and the Zhujia Bridge, and east to the banks of the Huangpu River between the Guangdong-Chaozhou Union and the mouth of the Yangjingbang canal.
The French Concession effectively occupied a narrow "collar" of land around the northern end of the Old City, south of the British settlement. At an area of 66 hectares, the French Concession was about a third of the size of the British settlement at that time.
Development
A small strip of riverside land to the east of the Old City was added in 1861, to allow the construction of the quai de France, which would service shipping between China and France. A further expansion, agreed to in 1899 and proclaimed in 1900, allowed the French Concession to double in size. The area newly added to the concession sat immediately to the west of the original grant.Meanwhile, from 1860s, the French Concession authorities had begun constructing "extra-settlement roads" outside the concession. The first such road was built to connect the west gate of the Old City to the Catholic stronghold at Zi-ka-wei, to allow French troops to quickly move between the concession and the Catholic Church land located in the area. Controlled by concession authorities, extra-settlement roads effectively gave France and the other treaty powers a form of control over land extending outside their formal concessions.
In 1913, France requested police powers over its extra-settlement roads, effectively meaning a further expansion to the concession. The government of Yuan Shikai agreed, giving France police and taxation powers over the so-called extra-settlement roads area, in return for France agreeing to evict revolutionaries from the area under its jurisdiction. This agreement proclaimed in 1914, gave the French Concession control over a significantly larger area between the Old City and Xujiahui, 15 times the size of the original grant. As a nod to the more numerous Chinese residents in the new territory, two seats were given to Chinese members on the Administration Council. Encouraged by the successful expansion by the French, the Shanghai International Settlement also requested the grant of administrative powers over its own extra-settlement roads area in 1914, but this was refused.
In 1902, the French introduced from France London planes as a roadside tree on Avenue Joffre. Now popular as a roadside tree throughout China, because of its history it is known in Chinese as the "French plane".
By the 1920s, the French Concession was developed into the premier residential area of Shanghai. In particular, the expansive and initially sparsely populated "New French Concession" obtained under the second expansion of 1914 became popular for foreign nationals of all nationalities, and later well-to-do Chinese residents as well, to build houses on larger plots of land than they could obtain in the more crowded original concessions. As demand grew, numerous apartment buildings at varying levels of luxury were built, as well as some shikumen residences to meet demand from the increasing number of Chinese residents. Vibrant commercial areas also developed, helped by the influx of White Russians after the Russian Revolution.
World War II era
In 1937, during the Battle of Shanghai, the Chinese bombed the concession twice by mistake and killed several hundred people. When the Japanese took Shanghai in battle, their troops crossed the International Settlement unopposed. However, at the entrance of the French Concession, Vice Admiral, then commanding the Naval Forces in the Far East, sat on a folding chair in the middle of the street in front of their vehicles. He forced them to negotiate, finally letting only an unarmed supply convoy pass. On 4 December 1937, Japanese unarmed convoys were allowed to cross the concession.As early as 1941, the occupation of Shanghai by the troops of the Japanese Empire forced tens of thousands of Chinese to take refuge in the concessions. The Bataillon mixte d'Infanterie coloniale de Chine, many of whose troops were Annamese, provided security.
In 1943, during World War II, the government of Vichy France announced that it would give up its concessions in Tianjin, Hankou and Guangzhou. These were handed over to the pro-Japanese Wang Jingwei Government on 5 June 1943, with the Shanghai Concession following on 30 July.
After World War II
After the war, neither Vichy France nor Wang's Nationalist Government were universally recognised as legitimate. The Sino-French Accord of February 1946, signed by Chiang Kai-shek's ruling Kuomintang, led to Chinese troops pulling out of the northern half of French Indochina in exchange for France relinquishing all its foreign concessions in China.The former French Concession remained largely unchanged during the early decades of Communist rule in China. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, however, largely unregulated re-development of the area tore apart many old neighbourhoods. For example, the London planes on the former Avenue Joffre were removed in the 1990s, only to be later replaced after public outcry. The old French Club building and its gardens, which used to be a sports field in the early days, were removed and became the base of the high-rise Okura Garden Hotel.
After the 2000s
After the 2000s, the government enforced more stringent development and planning controls in this area. The municipal government began to promote heritage protection alongside the city’s rapid growth. Authorities designated large areas of the former French Concession as historical-cultural conservation zones, often branding it as “Hengfu Historical and Cultural Area.”In 2007, the city luanched its first renovation conservation plan for the district, with efforts including the protection of the original street patterns, plane-tree-lined avenues, iconic lilong neighborhoods, and other historically significant buildings. Wukang Road, among all historic roads, was first selected to be renovated, turning the historic but decayed-looking road into a delicate, attractive area with cafés and boutiques for tourists and high-income residents with diverse backgrounds. The project’s success subsequently became a template for other redevelopment cases across the Hengfu area in the former French Concession.
Redevelopment and gentrification
The former French Concession has experienced substantial gentrification since the 1990s. The formerly mostly residential area was turned into a commercial district with trendy cafes, restaurants, bars, art galleries, and boutique retail stores. High-end shopping malls, such as iAPM Mall, and luxury apartments emerge along Avenue Joffre, making the area among the most expensive in Shanghai.The redevelopment was initially led by the government, which was later taken over by a property-led scheme carried out by developers worldwide. The best-known case is Xintiandi, where developers and the government cooperated to convert a previously old residential area into a space of dining, retail, and entertainment. The redevelopment kept the architecture of the existing Shikumen houses built by French developers while renovating their interiors to fit modern needs. Shanghai's unique redevelopment is marked by the return of capital and globalization that links to its cosmopolitan past during the colonial periods, despite wars and socialist periods that intervened.
That said, the gentrification also sparked debate about the use of public space. For example, during Xintiandi's renovation, 25,000 local families and 800 work units were displaced. Critics pointed out that the fake, nostalgic bourgeoisie aesthetic of the renovation can erase original communities and contribute to rising inequality.