750 words essay(3 pages)
MMMiffany
284520_Jiajun_Lu_paper2_442882_556165103.docx“Insiders” and “outsiders” in Shanghai
Due to the special location, Shanghai has been the economic center of China. It sees a significant change from the mid-nineteenth century up to the Maoist period. People from different countries gathered here for different reasons. It is a common phenomenon that some Chinese might see themselves outsiders compared to local Shanghainese, and some foreigners may also consider themselves Shanghai "insiders," or "locals," at least compared to other foreigners. Why do they have such a kind of mentality and what they have experience during the period from the mid-nineteenth century up to the Maoist period?
It is a history full of humiliation, struggling and development. People were oppressed, then they stood up and struggled until their final liberation. After the Opium War, Shanghai was turned into one of the first batch of ports of entry opened to the outside world. Many people from other countries came here for different purposes. After the British and French invasion, some other countries followed by. The Japanese invasion lasted for the longest time. Shanghai Concession was the only safe place where people wanted to stay. At that time, just as Ann March noted in her Detainee Camp Memoir that people in Shanghai had no freedom and every corner was heavily controlled by the Japanese guards. People lived in terror while have never given up entertainment especially those businessmen and some foreigners. Some foreigners were controllers while some were not. Thus, those foreigners who had no power experienced the same terror as Shanghainese who were overseen. However, at the beginning, canons and gunshots made the whole city be in a mess. The city was destructed a lot. People hated the invaders while they could do nothing.
War is always cruel and bring people sufferings. As is shown in the film of Empire of the Sun, people craved for peace. In 1941 in Shanghai, China’s War of Resistance against Japan lasted for four years. With the outbreak of the Pacific War, Britain and the United States joined the war. Westerners living in the overseas concessions experienced great turmoil and 11-year-old Jamie was one of them. On the way to escape, Jamie and his parents got lost. He met Americans Bessie and Frank and they were nearly sold. Then they came to the Zhabei concentration camp in which Jamie understood the cruelty of the war and learned the philosophy of survival that “you can do anything for meals”. Although Jamie was a Briton, he never had a chance to be close to the motherland. In other words, his patriotism was not as intense and exaggerated as the average child. On the other hand, although he was born and raised in Shanghai, he was also out of place due to the different education in school and home. Therefore, when he saw the Chinese people experience the bitter invasion, he could not feel sympathetic about them. It was because of the enthusiasm for flying and flying blue sky fighters, he had admiration for Japanese armies.
Different people had different mental maps for Shanghai at that time. As foreigners, they thought that they had helped a lot to promote the economic development of Shanghai. From 1900 to 1937, Shanghai was in a continuous and rapid development stage. The "Shimonoseki Treaty" signed in 1895 made it possible for the imperialist countries to obtain the privilege of investing and setting up factories at China's trade ports. Shanghai became an ideal place for capital outflows by China's capitalists. The “Southeast Mutual Protection Event” in 1900 further highlighted Shanghai’s unique position in China that could not be directly governed by the Qing government. For Shanghainese, their feelings were complicated. On the one hand, the war brought damage to their home and they could not lead a normal life. On the other hand, some businessmen gained benefits by doing business with foreigners. During that period, people from other provinces also gathered in Shanghai. However, these people might see themselves outsiders compared to local Shanghainese, since this city has become completely different from other cities in China. People from other provinces came here for different reasons. Some had the intention of making money, while some were making struggle with invaders. They all had the feeling that they just could not merge into this large pot. some foreigners might consider themselves Shanghai "insiders," or "locals," at least compared to other foreigners, since they had lived here for a long time. Especially foreign people living in Overseas Concession, they had the largest extent of right to do everything they want. Some of them even considered it as their home where they would live one generation after one generation. Compared to people in other provinces of China, they even knew better about Shanghai.
Due to Chinese people’ persistent struggle with invaders under the leadership of Chinese Communist Party, the whole country won its sovereignty, dependence and freedom. Of course, Shanghai was no exception. In spite of the destruction, Shanghai also experienced a significant change which established the foundation of its economic center. Since the fifties and sixties of the 19th century, Shanghai has not only gradually changed from a domestic commercial town to a foreign trade-oriented commercial city but has gradually become an integral part of the capitalist international market. Its foreign trade was completely dependent on international capital market. During this period, various companies were established, and large quantity of investment was attracted here. Shanghainese gained some benefit in this process, they worked on business and established their own family property. There is no doubt that capitalist countries were the biggest beneficiaries. They manipulated the business to a large extent. In the latter period, Shanghai’s situation became better because of the New Democratic Revolution. Shanghainese gradually won back their rights and invaders withdrew. However, some foreign businessmen and residents still lived in Shanghai where they considered it as their home.
