On Frederic E. Wakeman’s Shanghai

City, as the central place for people’s daily life, cultural production and social reproduction, develops unceasingly. During the process of urban growth, all kinds of social problems, political conflicts and cultural issues have gradually become more serious. Then all these matters in return affect the changing city as well as its spatial patterns. Frederic Evans Wakeman Jr., a prominent international historian, contributes the last period of his life to researching the history of Shanghai, and his Shanghai Trilogy is also an indispensable achievement in Chinese modern history field. In this thesis, the author will analyze and expound the conditions of the old Shanghai based on Wakeman’s two significant books, which include Policing Shanghai, 1927-1937 and The Shanghai Badlands—Wartime Terrorism and Urban Crime, 1937-1941. On the basis of the urban space theory philosophy criticism put forward by American postmodern political geographer Edward Soja, the author will apply Soja’s theories of socio-spatial dialectic and spatial justice to elaborate the historical background, geographical environment and political situation of old Shanghai. Furthermore, through analyzing the racial conflicts and party struggles in Wakeman’s works, the author aims to reveal that the Shanghai in these books is a reconstructed space carrier, and it is actually an arena for political discourse.Besides introduction and conclusion, this thesis will be divided into three chapters. The first chapter is going to analyze the security space and entertainment space of Wakeman’s Shanghai, which reflects Shanghai’s spatiality in its practical space. The second chapter is going to analyze the governmental crimes in Shanghai under the theory of dialectical space, which reveals that the chaotic Shanghai is the product of dialectic social relations and spatial relations, especially in its discursive space. The third chapter is going to analyze Shanghai’s national oppression and resistance, which presents its deficiency of spatial justice in its cognitive space.Through the analysis of Wakeman’s Shanghai, the following conclusion could be drawn: it is inseparable between urban spatial development and political situations, namely the spatial disorder is closely related to political contentions. The research and expound of this thesis is profitable for the propagation of constructing social harmony, upholding social justice and realizing national rejuvenation.