ABSTRACT
The great city of Shanghai, called the Pearl of the Orient and the Paris of the East during its heyday of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, came from humble beginnings. It started as a small fishing village established on the site in approximately A.D. 750, making it a relative newcomer among great Chinese cities. Strategically located south of the mouth of the Yangtze River on the East China Sea, Shanghai grew and prospered in part because of its proximity to these waterways, as well as the smaller Huangpu River that runs through town.
