The United States And The International Settlement Of Shanghai (1843-1945)

The history of the powers taking concessions/settlements from China by forcewas more than one hundred years, which was from1843to1945. Among all theconcessions, the International Settlement of Shanghai was the most typical one andplayed a very important role.Concession is a form of colonialist system and that is why it has generalcharacteristics of the colonialist system. As one of the capitalist powers, the UnitedStates took part in the development of Chinese concession. In this article, the authortried to do the research on the role that the U.S. played, the effect that the U.S. tookand the characteristics that the U.S. had.In November1843, the Great Britain acquired the right of renting lands inShanghai and begun to delimit resident area. Meanwhile the U.S. asked for the sameright, that was how the history of the Shanghai settlement begun. In the year of1845,when the Great Britain and France asked for the exclusive right in their ownsettlement or concession, the U.S. showed his contradictory standpoint the first time,which was opposed to other countries requirement but wanted to gain the right foritself. In the year of1848, the U.S. acquired Hongkew as his Settlement. In the year of1853, When Shanghai came under attack from the Small Swords, the powers, in thename of protection, set up a united Municipal Council as an administration system ofthe English, American settlements and the French Concession. From this time on, thesettlement or concession in Shanghai grew in to concession in nature. After that,through the diplomatic exercise of the American Minister in China-Anson Burlingame,the settlement of the U.S. amalgamated with the settlement of the Great Britain, andthe two formed the Foreign Settlement, which was also called the InternationalSettlement of Shanghai. At the same time, however, the French minister in Chinadecided that French Concession in Shanghai should maintain independent and cannotamalgamated with the English and American Settlements. From then on, there weretwo concessions in Shanghai, the International Settlement and the French Concession.It is thus clear that, the U.S. took part in the development of Chinese concession fromthe very beginning and played a very important role in it. The American diplomatic policy for the International Settlement of Shanghai wasshaped primarily in the China and the U.S. Treaty Amendment. In this treaty, AnsonBurlingame described his so-called "corporatism" diplomatic principles; the maincontent of the principles is to maintain the territory integrity of China. But in order tocooperate with the other capitalist powers, the U.S. came to a compromise on hisprinciple constantly meanwhile his rights and interests in China grew gradually. Butthe frenzy of seizing Leased Territory from China caused by the expansionism of thelate19th century was against American interests. So the policy of "Open Door" and"Preserve China" were approved.In the20th century, in order to deal with the crisis of claiming for theconcession of Chinese territory on the back of the Russo-Japanese war, the U.S.revised and extended the "Open Door" policy constantly. The U.S. claimed tomaintain the integrity of China but acted contrary. By keeping extending theInternational Settlement of Shanghai, strengthening the rights of paving road,collecting tax and policing of the Settlement, the U.S. was slowly encroaching onChinese sovereignty.Until after the1920s, under the pressure of Chinese movement to reclaim profitsand rights, the U.S. attitude towards the mixed court appeared to soften. After the July7Incident of1937, the International Settlement of Shanghai and the privileges of thepowers was severely demolished by the Japan, which force the U.S.to recalibrate hisdiplomatic policy. As things progress in the Second World War, with all the Chinesepeople bloody struggle against the fascist countries, giving up the InternationalSettlement of Shanghai became the one and only option for the U.S. and the GreatBritain. On January11,1943, the U.S. and the U.K. made a compact with the Chinesegovernment respectively, in which they promised that the International Settlement atShanghai should revert to the administration and control of the Government of theRepublic of China and that the rights in relation to those settlements shall cease.The diplomatic policy of the U.S. towards China is ever-changing, however,despite all the changes, the main aim is stable and clear, that is protecting andextending the benefits’ gained in China and making China a part of his Open Empire.On one hand, the U.S. claimed to protect the integrity of China, on the other hand heencroached on Chinese sovereignty, his standpoint seems contradictory, but in fact,the essence of the U.S. diplomatic policy is to protect his own benefits. The reflection of this contradictory on the U.S. value system manifest as two dreams-"democraticdream" and "empire dream", the relation and the distinction between the two dreamspuzzled generation of Americans. The diplomatic policy of the U.S. towards Chinaand the diplomatic policy of the U.S. towards the International Settlement of Shanghaiare the reflection of this contradictory.