The Conversation

Shanghai, a modern metropolis born of a refugee crisis

Author: Xing Ruan, Professor of Architecture, Associate Dean International and Director of Architecture, UNSW Australia

From its earliest days, the influx of outsiders created the distinctive urban character that has driven the development of Shanghai into a modern metropolis.Wenjie, Zhang/flickr, CC BY

When George Balfour, the first appointed British consul of Shanghai, envisaged the future of his British-only settlement at the end of 1843, he stood on a piece of...

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